Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know, as we've just spoken about with the
Chief Minister, Lea Finocchiaro, emergency measures have been implemented in
response to rapid and continuing surge in prison numbers. We
know that it's reached a record high those prisoner numbers
of twenty three hundred and seventy. On Friday, the Northern
Territory Corrections commis Commissioner announcing six urgent actions to respond
(00:25):
to the crisis, as the department has statutory obligation to
receive prisoners committed or remanded into custody. Commissioner four Corrections
Matthew Varley joins me in the studio. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Good o Katie Now, Commissioner. First off, where are things
ash in terms of the discussions with the union? Are
we expecting staff to take industrial action?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The short answer is, Katie, I don't know, and we've
been in close consultations with the union and Miss Early
since Thursday evening when I called her and wrote to her.
We held a three hour disultation meeting on Friday. I
wrote to the union every day over the weekend keeping
them updated, and then of course yesterday we had another
union meeting with both the UWU and the CPSU. They
(01:12):
are saying that they intend to survey their members to
take industrial action. But then about quarter past five yesterday,
I will serve papers in Fair Work Commission.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So I expect that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
To flow through the week and we'll work through that
as we get through the next couple of days. I'm
hoping that that's not what the union decides to do.
I don't want to see prison officers walk off the job.
I need them on the tools at work, and to
be honest, Katie, they've been doing a remarkable job over
the last few days under extreme pressure, and I thank
them for it. But at the end of the day,
the union's doing their thing, I'm doing mine and I'm
(01:45):
just trying to make sure the prisons are safe.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So papers served to you yesterday afternoon at five point fifteen.
What exactly does that mean for the everyday person listening
this morning?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It means is the union have decided to take me
to the Fair Work Commission. Frankly, and I now have
to appear at an appropriate date That could be as early
as the next couple of days.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm not sure, and frustrating for you, like you're trying
to manage an emergency situation within our correctional facilities.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, the union is exercising it's I guess entitlements under
Fairwork legislation.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They've listed that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Matter at Fair Work and I have to respond to it.
What they have said in their application is that I've
misinterpreted my powers and I've misapplied them to their enterprise agreement.
And look, that's a matter for Fair Work to decide.
I'll respond accordingly. I can't obviously debate that on radio,
but it means that the thread of industrial action is
pretty real. We know that the union is out there
(02:39):
surveying its members online as to whether they support a
walk off. Now again, I met with the unions yesterday
intensively with all of my senior team.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I don't want them to do that.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And my message to staff, and I was in the
prison at Darwin on the weekend. My message to staff
is stick on the tools, do what we need to do,
get through this. We can work together and solve the problem.
But the union is convinced that I've misapplied my powers,
and I guess I'll have to be accountable for that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Commissioner, I mean, you've touched on it then, but look.
I know a lot of the correctional officers listen to
the show. They're probably hearing you this morning. What is
your message to them today?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
My message is, we're under pressure, we're working hard. You're
doing an awesome job. I was in the prison on
the weekend. I was at the airport when the plane
took off. I visited both Palmerston and Darwin watchhouses and
spoke to the staff there and they've got lots of
questions about what our plans are. But you know what, Katie,
they're out there every day doing it tough under significant pressure.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But they're doing an amazing job and I thank them
for it. My message is, tough it out, let's get
through this together, let's work hard on it. We've got
a plan, but we can't control the prison numbers that
come to us, and that's really what precipitated this act.
Police are out there doing their thing, and by the
end of Friday we'd hit twenty three seventy prisoners. I
started the week about twenty three, I don't know twenty something,
(04:01):
So we spiked about fifty prisoners in watchhouses in the
space of five days.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And so you don't attribute that to the legislative changes
that have come into place, like over the last week.
That is more so the police are out there. They
are arresting people that are breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The legislation has been passed through Parliament, but I think,
as the government has said, it doesn't take effect just yet.
This is the cops out there doing what the cops do.
And you know, as we've said before, I don't get
to decide who comes to jail. But what we know
is by Thursday evening when I wrote to the union,
and then by Friday, we were up over I think
two three hundred and seventy odd prisoners and there were
(04:38):
twenty something in Catherine that I couldn't bring to Darwin
because there was no room at Palmeston and Palmerston Watchhouse.
I had ninety one I think prisoners in our custody.
That's not what police are dealing with in their fresh charges.
So not only do I have to make sure we
manage the prisoners that have been remanded to us by
the courts, but I've got to keep an eye down
the track a couple of days because the police are
going to keep coming.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
People are still continuing to break the law unfortunately. I mean,
I guess can you assure listeners as well, because for
a lot of people listening this morning, they get that
it's a juggle, and they get that you guys are
absolutely bursting at the seams. But what they also want
to be sure of is that we're not going to
wind up in a situation where people are back out
on the street who shouldn't be, you know, because the
(05:23):
jail is full.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well that's the point, Katie, is if the court issues
me a warrant to say, you know, Bob's coming to jail,
then I don't have a lawful power to refuse that warrant.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It's my job to take them into custody.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
The warrants addressed to me on the top of the
other document from the court, right, so I don't get
to decide how many I have to keep. My job
is to keep them, and that's what we've been doing
over the last few days. And that's why I made
those decisions on Friday, and frankly, I've stopped worrying about
why they're coming to jail. My job is to respond
to that operational absolutely, and that's what we did on
the weekend, Katie, and I think the point I'd make
(05:55):
to your listeners is when corrections does what it does best,
which is sole problems. We moved some of the largest
prisoner movements over those two days Saturday Sunday, I think
in history, and not just the aircraft I'm talking probably
we moved in Alice Springs one hundred and twenty odd
prisoners around in blocks to make that work. So our
troops are out there behind the scenes every day, cracking
(06:18):
on with the job and we've just got to get
through this.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
So Commissioner, it seems to me, and we had this
discussion with the Chief Minister just a short time ago,
it's a bit of a moving beast at the moment.
We know that the new youth detention yep.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So my plan is to have the young people transitioning
to out of don Dale, I should say, two Holts
later this week. I expect that facility at Holts to
be operational with that first batch, well, sorry, the batch
of kids from Darwin yep, Monday, the fourth of November.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Monday, the fourth of November next week is when it's
going to be operational. What about the young people from
Alice Springs?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So We're not going to move them straight away.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Obviously, We're going to hold those whilst we settle down
the operations of the new center, make sure the thing works,
make sure the staff have got the plan place running well.
Obviously we want to make sure the kids out of
don Dale adapt to that new environment. So there's a
clever science that our youth justice folks do around making
sure that the temperature is right. Then we'll go and
(07:12):
we already have started consulting with the kids in Alice
Springs and eventually we'll feed those up. But I'm not
going to do it all at one hit, because I
want to make sure that center is safe.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But so once it becomes operational, then you've got a
situation where the female prisoners, as I understand it, can
move to Alice Springs, or some of them can move
to Alice Springs. You've then got greater capacity up here
in Darwin in the sense that the old don Dale
or Berrama prison is going to become operational again. How
quickly are you expecting all of these pieces to come
(07:44):
into place.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, there's a series of really quick pieces, Katie, and
some of those I actually advanced on the weekend and
I'll explain that in a moment. But then there's the
longer term piece, as the government has said with the
master plan. So you're right, fourth and November, kids into
the new Holt Center and then will be hell for
leather in the Behrama Center for men by doing the
(08:05):
security and the upgrade works. The trades and the work
parties are already in there.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We're fixing electrical, we're fixing interocoms, we're fixing alarms and radios.
I expect we'll have the first batch of male prisoners
in there by early December.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
That's my target, early December, yep.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And then i'd say, right is my original plan obviously
was to relocate the young people from the Ala Springs
Center up to Holts, move the women temporarily to Darwin
Correctional Center. Because I had twenty one spare female beds
and I had thirty six prisoners female prisoners in Alice Springs.
So twenty one of those female beds in Holts I
filled up and then I put what's that another fifteen
(08:43):
or so on mattresses on the floor whilst I sought
out the youth center in Alice Springs for a few weeks.
Why do I do that because as of today, Katie,
I've got twenty five male prisoners in the women's sector
that we vacated on Saturday Sunday. They're in there now,
So I've brought that for twenty five prisoners were moved
in there, I think yesterday, which meant I could get
(09:04):
the Alice Springs Watchhouse down from about forty prisoners which
we were on the weekend.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Since this morning there's eight.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So what we've been doing is moving the checkerboards around,
working with the general managers and their staff to make
this work. And we're responding to that crisis and that emergency.
And I think that's what territories expect me to do.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, I think it is as well. I think that
they do expect you to have to, you know, to
actually have to move things around and make sure that
you know that you're able to deal with potential potentially
more prisoners coming in as well. Commissioner, I guess you know.
The other really important part here though, is do we
have enough staff to deal with all of what is
going on? And one of the things that erin early
(09:42):
had said yesterday is that they would like to see
some of the middle management potentially step away from their
desks and you know, boots on the ground helping out
the correctional staff around those facilities. Is that something that's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Well, I would say that, firstly, all of your senior
executive team was in the prison or weekend. The escort
plane from Darwin to Alice Springs and back again was
commanded by a deputy superintendent. I was in the prison
on Sunday and I saw chief correctional officers doing their thing,
managing that reception of those thirty six women. Let's remember
(10:17):
that some of these chief correctional officers and the deputy
superintendents also have a day job, which is running the place.
I can tell you down in Alice Springs a large
chunk of the leadership team was working over the weekend too,
because I talked to them. So I understand erin as criticism,
I don't agree with it. I think there's more that
we all need to lean in together as a team,
and to be frank, I don't think it helps taking
potshots at each other.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Just lastly, I mean, when you look at the situation
that's currently you know that is currently underway, you look
at the fact that you know, it does seem as
though we do need extra staff. We needned that you're
able to go, that you're going to be able to
keep things safe, avoid any kind of you know, right,
(11:00):
bad behavior within those prisons.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, firstly, I would say that the safety of my
people and my staff.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Is my top of mind. That's what keeps me awake
at night.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yes, the prisons are overcrowded, but I want to be
really clear about some things, and that is we need
to remember that prisoners watch the news, they have televisions,
they talk to their families and friends over the phone.
So let's not get into this alarmist, you know, just
the sky is falling in thing about riots. I want
to make sure that the prisoners don't get any ideas
(11:30):
in their heads, right. My job is to make sure
we manage the temperature and the security climate of that prison,
and raising rhetoric around riots doesn't help.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I just make that point. However, Yes, we're short staffed.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
We've got more correctional offices than ever before, but we're
also manning more posts than ever before. That's why we're
juggling these balls. I recruited, I think, I sorry, I
swore in fourteen new correction offices last Friday, KT after
we met last week. There's another fifteen in training. We're
still recruiting. I hear the unions concerned. What I'm saying
to the union, but more importantly, what I'm saying to
(12:03):
my correction officers on the ground is stick with me.
Judge me on my leadership, Judge me on the results.
We're going to deliver together, and we're going to get
this job done.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley, really appreciate your time. I know
that you are incredibly busy. I think that everybody can
hear that this morning. Appreciate you taking the time, though
to come in and speak with us. We'll talk to
you again, hopefully not too soon.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Great. Thanks Katie, thank you,
Now we know, as we've just spoken about with the
Chief Minister, Lea Finocchiaro, emergency measures have been implemented in
response to rapid and continuing surge in prison numbers. We
know that it's reached a record high those prisoner numbers
of twenty three hundred and seventy. On Friday, the Northern
Territory Corrections commis Commissioner announcing six urgent actions to respond
(00:25):
to the crisis, as the department has statutory obligation to
receive prisoners committed or remanded into custody. Commissioner four Corrections
Matthew Varley joins me in the studio. Good morning to you, Commissioner.
Good o Katie Now, Commissioner. First off, where are things
ash in terms of the discussions with the union? Are
we expecting staff to take industrial action?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
The short answer is, Katie, I don't know, and we've
been in close consultations with the union and Miss Early
since Thursday evening when I called her and wrote to her.
We held a three hour disultation meeting on Friday. I
wrote to the union every day over the weekend keeping
them updated, and then of course yesterday we had another
union meeting with both the UWU and the CPSU. They
(01:12):
are saying that they intend to survey their members to
take industrial action. But then about quarter past five yesterday,
I will serve papers in Fair Work Commission.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
So I expect that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
To flow through the week and we'll work through that
as we get through the next couple of days. I'm
hoping that that's not what the union decides to do.
I don't want to see prison officers walk off the job.
I need them on the tools at work, and to
be honest, Katie, they've been doing a remarkable job over
the last few days under extreme pressure, and I thank
them for it. But at the end of the day,
the union's doing their thing, I'm doing mine and I'm
(01:45):
just trying to make sure the prisons are safe.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So papers served to you yesterday afternoon at five point fifteen.
What exactly does that mean for the everyday person listening
this morning?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It means is the union have decided to take me
to the Fair Work Commission. Frankly, and I now have
to appear at an appropriate date That could be as early
as the next couple of days.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm not sure, and frustrating for you, like you're trying
to manage an emergency situation within our correctional facilities.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, the union is exercising it's I guess entitlements under
Fairwork legislation.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They've listed that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Matter at Fair Work and I have to respond to it.
What they have said in their application is that I've
misinterpreted my powers and I've misapplied them to their enterprise agreement.
And look, that's a matter for Fair Work to decide.
I'll respond accordingly. I can't obviously debate that on radio,
but it means that the thread of industrial action is
pretty real. We know that the union is out there
(02:39):
surveying its members online as to whether they support a
walk off. Now again, I met with the unions yesterday
intensively with all of my senior team.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I don't want them to do that.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And my message to staff, and I was in the
prison at Darwin on the weekend. My message to staff
is stick on the tools, do what we need to do,
get through this. We can work together and solve the problem.
But the union is convinced that I've misapplied my powers,
and I guess I'll have to be accountable for that.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Commissioner, I mean, you've touched on it then, but look.
I know a lot of the correctional officers listen to
the show. They're probably hearing you this morning. What is
your message to them today?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
My message is, we're under pressure, we're working hard. You're
doing an awesome job. I was in the prison on
the weekend. I was at the airport when the plane
took off. I visited both Palmerston and Darwin watchhouses and
spoke to the staff there and they've got lots of
questions about what our plans are. But you know what, Katie,
they're out there every day doing it tough under significant pressure.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
But they're doing an amazing job and I thank them
for it. My message is, tough it out, let's get
through this together, let's work hard on it. We've got
a plan, but we can't control the prison numbers that
come to us, and that's really what precipitated this act.
Police are out there doing their thing, and by the
end of Friday we'd hit twenty three seventy prisoners. I
started the week about twenty three, I don't know twenty something,
(04:01):
So we spiked about fifty prisoners in watchhouses in the
space of five days.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And so you don't attribute that to the legislative changes
that have come into place, like over the last week.
That is more so the police are out there. They
are arresting people that are breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The legislation has been passed through Parliament, but I think,
as the government has said, it doesn't take effect just yet.
This is the cops out there doing what the cops do.
And you know, as we've said before, I don't get
to decide who comes to jail. But what we know
is by Thursday evening when I wrote to the union,
and then by Friday, we were up over I think
two three hundred and seventy odd prisoners and there were
(04:38):
twenty something in Catherine that I couldn't bring to Darwin
because there was no room at Palmeston and Palmerston Watchhouse.
I had ninety one I think prisoners in our custody.
That's not what police are dealing with in their fresh charges.
So not only do I have to make sure we
manage the prisoners that have been remanded to us by
the courts, but I've got to keep an eye down
the track a couple of days because the police are
going to keep coming.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
People are still continuing to break the law unfortunately. I mean,
I guess can you assure listeners as well, because for
a lot of people listening this morning, they get that
it's a juggle, and they get that you guys are
absolutely bursting at the seams. But what they also want
to be sure of is that we're not going to
wind up in a situation where people are back out
on the street who shouldn't be, you know, because the
(05:23):
jail is full.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well that's the point, Katie, is if the court issues
me a warrant to say, you know, Bob's coming to jail,
then I don't have a lawful power to refuse that warrant.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
It's my job to take them into custody.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
The warrants addressed to me on the top of the
other document from the court, right, so I don't get
to decide how many I have to keep. My job
is to keep them, and that's what we've been doing
over the last few days. And that's why I made
those decisions on Friday, and frankly, I've stopped worrying about
why they're coming to jail. My job is to respond
to that operational absolutely, and that's what we did on
the weekend, Katie, and I think the point I'd make
(05:55):
to your listeners is when corrections does what it does best,
which is sole problems. We moved some of the largest
prisoner movements over those two days Saturday Sunday, I think
in history, and not just the aircraft I'm talking probably
we moved in Alice Springs one hundred and twenty odd
prisoners around in blocks to make that work. So our
troops are out there behind the scenes every day, cracking
(06:18):
on with the job and we've just got to get
through this.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
So Commissioner, it seems to me, and we had this
discussion with the Chief Minister just a short time ago,
it's a bit of a moving beast at the moment.
We know that the new youth detention yep.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So my plan is to have the young people transitioning
to out of don Dale, I should say, two Holts
later this week. I expect that facility at Holts to
be operational with that first batch, well, sorry, the batch
of kids from Darwin yep, Monday, the fourth of November.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Monday, the fourth of November next week is when it's
going to be operational. What about the young people from
Alice Springs?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
So We're not going to move them straight away.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Obviously, We're going to hold those whilst we settle down
the operations of the new center, make sure the thing works,
make sure the staff have got the plan place running well.
Obviously we want to make sure the kids out of
don Dale adapt to that new environment. So there's a
clever science that our youth justice folks do around making
sure that the temperature is right. Then we'll go and
(07:12):
we already have started consulting with the kids in Alice
Springs and eventually we'll feed those up. But I'm not
going to do it all at one hit, because I
want to make sure that center is safe.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But so once it becomes operational, then you've got a
situation where the female prisoners, as I understand it, can
move to Alice Springs, or some of them can move
to Alice Springs. You've then got greater capacity up here
in Darwin in the sense that the old don Dale
or Berrama prison is going to become operational again. How
quickly are you expecting all of these pieces to come
(07:44):
into place.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, there's a series of really quick pieces, Katie, and
some of those I actually advanced on the weekend and
I'll explain that in a moment. But then there's the
longer term piece, as the government has said with the
master plan. So you're right, fourth and November, kids into
the new Holt Center and then will be hell for
leather in the Behrama Center for men by doing the
(08:05):
security and the upgrade works. The trades and the work
parties are already in there.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
We're fixing electrical, we're fixing interocoms, we're fixing alarms and radios.
I expect we'll have the first batch of male prisoners
in there by early December.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
That's my target, early December, yep.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And then i'd say, right is my original plan obviously
was to relocate the young people from the Ala Springs
Center up to Holts, move the women temporarily to Darwin
Correctional Center. Because I had twenty one spare female beds
and I had thirty six prisoners female prisoners in Alice Springs.
So twenty one of those female beds in Holts I
filled up and then I put what's that another fifteen
(08:43):
or so on mattresses on the floor whilst I sought
out the youth center in Alice Springs for a few weeks.
Why do I do that because as of today, Katie,
I've got twenty five male prisoners in the women's sector
that we vacated on Saturday Sunday. They're in there now,
So I've brought that for twenty five prisoners were moved
in there, I think yesterday, which meant I could get
(09:04):
the Alice Springs Watchhouse down from about forty prisoners which
we were on the weekend.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Since this morning there's eight.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
So what we've been doing is moving the checkerboards around,
working with the general managers and their staff to make
this work. And we're responding to that crisis and that emergency.
And I think that's what territories expect me to do.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, I think it is as well. I think that
they do expect you to have to, you know, to
actually have to move things around and make sure that
you know that you're able to deal with potential potentially
more prisoners coming in as well. Commissioner, I guess you know.
The other really important part here though, is do we
have enough staff to deal with all of what is
going on? And one of the things that erin early
(09:42):
had said yesterday is that they would like to see
some of the middle management potentially step away from their
desks and you know, boots on the ground helping out
the correctional staff around those facilities. Is that something that's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Well, I would say that, firstly, all of your senior
executive team was in the prison or weekend. The escort
plane from Darwin to Alice Springs and back again was
commanded by a deputy superintendent. I was in the prison
on Sunday and I saw chief correctional officers doing their thing,
managing that reception of those thirty six women. Let's remember
(10:17):
that some of these chief correctional officers and the deputy
superintendents also have a day job, which is running the place.
I can tell you down in Alice Springs a large
chunk of the leadership team was working over the weekend too,
because I talked to them. So I understand erin as criticism,
I don't agree with it. I think there's more that
we all need to lean in together as a team,
and to be frank, I don't think it helps taking
potshots at each other.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Just lastly, I mean, when you look at the situation
that's currently you know that is currently underway, you look
at the fact that you know, it does seem as
though we do need extra staff. We needned that you're
able to go, that you're going to be able to
keep things safe, avoid any kind of you know, right,
(11:00):
bad behavior within those prisons.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Well, firstly, I would say that the safety of my
people and my staff.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Is my top of mind. That's what keeps me awake
at night.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yes, the prisons are overcrowded, but I want to be
really clear about some things, and that is we need
to remember that prisoners watch the news, they have televisions,
they talk to their families and friends over the phone.
So let's not get into this alarmist, you know, just
the sky is falling in thing about riots. I want
to make sure that the prisoners don't get any ideas
(11:30):
in their heads, right. My job is to make sure
we manage the temperature and the security climate of that prison,
and raising rhetoric around riots doesn't help.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
I just make that point. However, Yes, we're short staffed.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
We've got more correctional offices than ever before, but we're
also manning more posts than ever before. That's why we're
juggling these balls. I recruited, I think, I sorry, I
swore in fourteen new correction offices last Friday, KT after
we met last week. There's another fifteen in training. We're
still recruiting. I hear the unions concerned. What I'm saying
to the union, but more importantly, what I'm saying to
(12:03):
my correction officers on the ground is stick with me.
Judge me on my leadership, Judge me on the results.
We're going to deliver together, and we're going to get
this job done.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley, really appreciate your time. I know
that you are incredibly busy. I think that everybody can
hear that this morning. Appreciate you taking the time, though
to come in and speak with us. We'll talk to
you again, hopefully not too soon.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Great. Thanks Katie, thank you,
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