NSW Ombudsman’s special report - Investigation into inmate discipline in NSW correctional centres, tabled in Parliament today 

The NSW Ombudsman has tabled a special report – Investigation into inmate discipline in NSW correctional centres, in Parliament today.

The report follows an investigation involving a systemic examination of how inmate discipline is managed across all correctional centres. The inmate disciplinary system deals with inmates who are alleged to have committed a ‘correctional centre offence’ while in custody.

The investigation carried out a trend analysis of the more than 57,000 inmate discipline charges determined between 2018 and 2023, and conducted an in-depth review of a sample of over 350 individual determinations.

In addition to the immediate penalties that can be imposed, including reprimand, withdrawal of privileges (such as visits), and confinement in cell, a finding of guilt can negatively affect an inmate in other ways. This includes impacting their security classification, which in turn affects their placement and treatment, and parole decisions, which can ultimately affect the time they serve in custody.

The NSW Ombudsman’s investigation found a systemic failure across all correctional centres to follow the requirements of the legislation and the relevant policies in relation to inmate discipline. In its in-depth reviews of determinations, the NSW Ombudsman also found several issues.

The Ombudsman also tabled a separate report today – Investigation into actions taken against bystander inmates following an incident at Clarence Correctional Centre. The report concerns an investigation into actions taken by the operator of Clarence Correctional Centre (Serco) against inmates who witnessed an assault on an officer by an inmate, at the centre in September 2023.

Following complaints made to the Ombudsman by some of those inmates, the NSW Ombudsman investigated further and found that procedural requirements designed to ensure a fair inquiry had not been followed, and that inmates were found guilty despite relevant evidence (including CCTV footage) not supporting such findings.

The NSW Ombudsman has made recommendations in both reports in response to the findings.