NEWS Airline left in dark on crim Prisoner allowed to fly without escort

A PRISONER who flew to Darwin unaccompanied for health treatment had been jailed 18 different times, mostly for violent offences.

The Sunday Territorian can reveal senior management was aware of the man’s violent past but agreed to send him on the commercial QantasLink flight anyway.

This is despite Qantas having a strict policy requiring any prisoner on its flights to be accompanied by a trained escort.

The man then stayed at the Royal Darwin Hospital for four days, with staff unaware he was an inmate until they discharged him.

In an email, a senior member of Corrections staff said the prisoner, who has an open security rating, was “well known” to officers.

“His current crime is a minor assault in a domestic dispute as is the common factor in most of his offending CORRECTIONS WORKER’S EMAIL over the years. Alcohol involved,” the email stated.

The prisoner was expected to finish his sentence in January 2019.

In the same email, it was outlined that another prisoner, who was also receiving treatment at the Alice Springs Hospital, would be left unguarded despite his violent past.

“(The prisoner is) also wellknown to us having served some 26 periods of imprisonment, all for domestic violence incidents and most when also under the influence of cohol,” the email stated.

The NT News first reported the story on Tuesday when it revealed the prisoner was one of two who had been left unguarded while attending health treatments. On Thursday, the paper revealed prison officers passed a motion of no confidence in senior management over the incident.

The motion of no confidence came after Corrections officers lodged an application to strike with Fair Work.

It can be revealed that the action has been approved and is now expected to take place in about a month.

NT Corrections declined to comment on either issue, stating previous statements regarding the prisoners remained in place and that the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment was the lead agency on strikes.

Previously it defended its decision to leave two prisoners unguarded. al-

“His current crime is a minor assault in a domestic dispute”