Staff ‘ treated like punching bags’

ST STAFF at the Townsville Corrections Centre are b being pushed, spat on and injured by prisoners at a rate of three assaults a month.

The Bulletin can reveal there have been 110 a assaults on staff working at both the men’s and women’s prisons in the three years to March 2018.

Three assaults — in December 2016, May 2017 and March 2018 — were classed as “serious,” which refers to acts of physical v violence resulting in injuries to the victim requiring medical treatment involving overnight hospitalisation or ongoing medical treatment.

There were 33 assaults defined as acts of physical violence resulting in a physical injury to the victim that may or may not have required short- term medical intervention.

Two of these assaults occurred in the “low custody” area of the male prison. The remaining 76 assaults were for incidents where there was “no identifiable injury to the victim” such as pushing, spitting or hitting.

Of the total assaults, 40 took place in the women’s centre.

Burdekin LNP MP Dale Last said the rate of assaults was cause for serious concern.

“Crime is out of control in Townsville, police are getting run down by cars and now we find out that if the crims are locked up they are using prison staff as punching bags,” he said.

Corrective Services Minister Mark Ryan said the State Government had zero tolerance for violence in Queensland’s correctional facilities.

“The Palaszczuk Government has provided additional body- worn cameras for Queensland’s publicly run correctional centres, with vests to be progressively rolled out in the coming months,” he said.

Mr Ryan acknowledged custodial officers worked in “highly dynamic and potentially dangerous situations”.