On or about 6 June 2022 a 29 year-old man, recently placed on remand in the 1,700 bed capacity Clarence Correctional Centre was found unresponsive in the medical holding room of the Serco-run facility before he was later pronounced dead by NSW Police.
This was the second death in custody at this privately managed gaol within the space of six weeks.
On 30 April 2022 a 41 year-old man had been found unresponsive in his cell and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
The leading cause of deaths in prison custody in Australia is now said to be medical issues and it appears that the death rate may be slightly higher in privately managed prisons.
On 9 February 2022 the Cootamundra Herald reported two deaths between 26 & 29 January at the 1,270 bed capacity Junee Correctional Centre which is privately managed by GEO Group Australia. The 48 year-old woman and a 47 year-old man were both found unresponsive in their cells. Three months later The Border Mail reported the death of a 28 year-old woman at the same prison who was found unresponsive in her cell on 3 May 2022.
Understaffing and staff turnover have also been issues at the not quite two year-old Clarence Correctional Centre, with 82 job vacancies being reported last month. Worker shortages are being blamed in part on poor pay and conditions.
The Daily Telegraph reported on 4 May 2022 that:
Whistleblowers inside Clarence Correctional Centre, run by private company Serco, alongside senior Corrective Services NSW staff, have lifted the lid on issues surrounding the safety and wellbeing of officers, staff and inmates in the north coast prison.
In June, officers at Australia’s second largest correctional facility sounded the alarm over claims officers were left “trapped in yards” after the door operating system crashed inside the facility. While in November, there were claims that staffing levels were so low that officers were running units with 40-plus inmates on their own.
A senior CSNSW source told The Daily Telegraph it was “not unusual” for officers to be left on their own to oversee up to 40 inmates in the privately run facility.
Former Grafton jail boss John Heffernan (pictured) is concerned about the lack of transparency within the facility. “The biggest problem with Clarence … is it’s totally non-transparent and they are such a big conglomerate they get away with it,” he said....
There has also been brief mention in the media of sexual harassment allegations concerning the Centre.
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