A prisoner has been taken to hospital after an alleged assault at South Australia’s Yatala Labour Prison.
It is the second alleged violent attack in the past two weeks, with a corrections officer and prisoner taken to hospital after an incident at the Adelaide Women’s Prison last weekend.
The Department of Correctional Services spokesperson confirmed the incident at Yatala Labour Prison in a statement on Sunday.
“One prisoner has been taken to hospital,” the statement read.
“The matter has been reported to SAPOL for investigation.”
The alleged assault comes after another incident at the Adelaide Women’s Prison at Northfield last month. (ABC News: Dean Faulkner)
Union calls for change
The PSA, which is the union representing South Australian correctional officers, issued a statement condemning the alleged assault.
“Nine prisoners reportedly attacked a single inmate in a sustained assault that continued even after the victim lost consciousness,” the union claimed.
“Responding officers intervened immediately and were forced to physically restrain the attackers after repeated refusals to comply.”
PSA correctional officer liaison and vice-president Craig Bates said he understood “drugs were involved” in the incident, which was reported to the union by members who work within the prison.
The PSA is currently undergoing enterprise bargaining with the South Australian government and seized on the incident to highlight its position.
“The state’s prison system has been in disarray since the staff cut that occurred under the Liberal government,” Mr Bates said.
“Unfortunately, the Labor government also hasn’t rectified any of those staff cuts at this point in time, and we’ve repeatedly raised with a number of ministers the fact that the staffing complement within the state’s prisons is very low.”
He said there were concerns about the welfare of the prisoner.
“He was unconscious and officers had to basically physically remove the prisoners off of him,” he said.
The union said the prisoner was taken to hospital by ambulance. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
Mr Bates said he understood the incident occurred at a rehabilitation unit within the prison.
“You would think these particular areas would have a really good vetting process and that the prisoners that are in these areas are prisoners close to release, with the department doing all they can to try to help them reintegrate into the community safely,” he said.
“Since the reduction of correctional officers, there’s a lot less supervision, which leads to a lot more contraband and drugs there.”
He said South Australia’s correctional services officers were the “lowest paid in the country”.
“The correctional officers’ wages at the moment start as low as $58,000,” he said.
“They do feel very undervalued.”
The exterior of Yatala Labour Prison at Northfield. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
In a statement, Correctional Services Minister Rhiannon Pearce said she was continuing to negotiate with the PSA.
“The alleged assault at Yatala Labour Prison has been reported to SAPOL for investigation and I am therefore unable to comment on the matter,” it read.
“The government is continuing to bargain in good faith with the PSA on the enterprise agreement and has offered real wage increases to correctional officers.”
Attorney-General Kyam Maher said he didn’t have any information about this particular incident.
“But I do know that when there are incidents that occur in our prison system, they are properly and thoroughly investigated, and people are held to account for what they do, like they are outside the prison system.”