Prisoners were routinely strip-searched on their way into one of New South Wales’s biggest maximum security prisons, which the Inspector of Custodial Services has found to be “unsafe” for inmates and staff.
The state government was handed a scathing report on Friday from the inspector after a 2022 visit to Silverwater’s Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, where “obvious ligature points” – also known as hanging points – were found throughout.
Older parts of the centre, in Sydney’s west, were “unsafe” for “inmates and staff”, according to the inspector.
“These safety issues included obvious hanging points and poor visibility from staff areas,” the report read.
Of major concern to the inspector was the Darcy unit, which at the time served as a reception for new inmates. The inspector found the infrastructure was poor and in need of refurbishment.
“The presence of ligature points was especially troubling,” the report said.
“Entry into custody can be a period of increased stress, anxiety and depression associated with being incarcerated and uprooted from the community. This can heighten the vulnerability of new reception inmates.”
More than 200 incidents of self-harm were recorded at the facility in 2021. Almost one in 10 inmates had a history of mental illness at the start of 2022.
According to the report, Corrective Services NSW has been undertaking “ligature point reduction” throughout the centre since the inspector’s visit.
The report also included the story of an Indigenous Australian transgender inmate who attempted self-harm while in custody.
“We were disappointed to observe staff play ‘scissors, paper, rock’ to determine who would screen this inmate, giving us the impression that staff did not want to engage with this person because they had high needs,” the report read.
“This behaviour is unprofessional, disrespectful and has no place in a modern correctional environment.”
Data released this week revealed that while the overall prison population in the state had dropped to its lowest level since October 2015, the number of Indigenous Australian prisoners had increased. About a third of the adult prison population were Indigenous Australian.
The report was released just days after a second inmate died in a suspected suicide at Sydney’s Parklea correctional centre in as many months.
The 53-year-old man died on Saturday morning half an hour after prison officers found him unresponsive in his cell and tried to revive him, a spokesperson for operator MTC Australia said.
The Greens’ justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said the report was “particularly concerning” after the apparent suicide.
“The evidence is damning. There is no longer any excuse to house prisoners in these conditions,” she said.
“The existence of these ligature points is not only dangerous, it is reckless. These points represent an existential threat for prisoners already suffering under the most abject conditions.”
The inspectors at Silverwater also found that while the centre had a body scanner that could be used in place of strip-searches, the scanner was under-utilised and inmates were still routinely being strip-searched.
The inspectors visited the prison in early 2022, when the facility was in the grips of a large Covid outbreak. They found quarantining inmates were subjected to “particularly poor” conditions.
“The cells in these areas were often dilapidated and unclean,” the report read.
Those inmates were often confined to their cells for more than 23 hours a day and sometimes were not allowed out at all.
“The quarantine period was 10 days, and we observed inmates who had been in quarantine conditions notably longer,” the report read.
The inspector made 15 recommendations, including training staff on appropriate management of LGBTIQA+ people and how to use body scanners. It also recommended increased use of body-worn cameras.
A spokesperson for Corrective Services NSW said all of the recommendations would be reviewed and changes would be made “at the earliest possible opportunity”.
“Ligature reduction refurbishments are taking place throughout the MRRC, with seven accommodation pods completed or nearing completion and Darcy Pod scheduled as a priority,” the spokesperson said.
They said more staff had been trained to operate the body scanners since the inspection in 2022.
The corrections minister, Anoulack Chanthivong, has been contacted for comment.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
