Big rise in jail smuggling

Weapons, drugs and booze among banned items

BANNED items including drugs, alcohol and weapons are being increasingly smuggled into the Townsville men’s prison.

New figures revealed in the past 10 months 145 prohibited items were uncovered in the Townsville Male Correctional Centre, up from 98 items discovered in the previous financial year of 2018-19.

The Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre saw a drop of 15 banned items detected in the jail, from 41 found in the previous financial year to 26 recorded from July 1, 2019 to the end of May.

Contraband found at the Townsville Correctional Complex included drugs and drug utensils, alcohol, homemade weapons, tattoo implements, mobile phones and chargers and tobacco products and cigarette lighters.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said the safety and security of its staff and prisoners were paramount, and it had a zero tolerance approach.

“Anyone attempting to bring contraband into the centre is putting the lives of our custodial correctional officers and prisoners at risk,” he said.

“Whether it’s illicit drugs, cigarette lighters or mobile phones, these are all prohibited items that cannot be brought into a correctional centre.”

The spokesman said people caught attempting to smuggle contraband into Queensland prisons faced fines and imprisonment.

“We deploy a range of strategies to detect and seize contraband, including intelligence gathering, physical and electronic searches, Passive Alert Drug Detection dogs and perimeter response vehicles, all of which help to keep our officers and prisoners safe,” he said.

“As well as searching individuals, the centre itself is also regularly checked for prohibited items.”

Together Union Townsville organiser Norm Jacobsen said drugs and alcohol in the jails helped raise the level of aggression among prisoners and endangered the safety of the correctional officers.

“You have that risk of prisoners getting high but you’ve got the other issue with other prisoners wanting to get a high and it increases the level of risk for violence and incidents inside.

“When you’re talking about weapons they are extremely dangerous for other prisoners and staff, and places them at a greater risk.

“We want to make sure at least that the amount is as low as possible if not zero.”

Mr Jacobsen said the union’s members regularly reported the safety issues they encountered as a result of contraband.

WE DEPLOY A RANGE OF STRATEGIES TO DETECT AND SEIZE CONTRABAND, INCLUDING INTELLIGENCE GATHERING, PHYSICAL AND ELECTRONIC SEARCHES, PASSIVE ALERT DRUG DETECTION DOGS AND PERIMETER RESPONSE VEHICLES

A QCS SPOKESMAN