Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now. Earlier in the week, we were contacted by a
couple of concerned listeners who had told us that a
corrections officer had been assaulted on his way home from work.
Now we were also, of course, a couple of weeks ago,
and another message coming through this morning from a corrections
officer contacting us saying that they're also worried about some
(00:22):
prisoners who commit offenses against corrections officers. Behind the wire
receiving concurrent sentences. Now joining me on the line is
Erina Early, who is indeed the head of the United
Workers Union. Good morning to you, Erina.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Good to have you on the show. Now, Erina, we
had been contacted by a few people this week saying
that there was an assault on a corrections officer walking home.
Do you know what the situation is here?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, sure, Katie. So I'm on the thirty for June.
We had a correctional officer who was actually off duty,
was walking his dog at lunchtime, so he wasn't in
uniform or anything, was attacked with a knife.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my goodness, is he okay?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
First off, not really, Katie, He's pretty broken. The person
who attacked him identified that he knew that the officer
was a correctional officer, so he was aware that the
person he was attacking was a correctional officer, which has
(01:36):
actually scared this person themselves and all other anti correctional
officers here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, it is bloody scary because then you think to yourself,
all right, well, when you're off, Judy, if you've got
somebody who's been behind the bars before, who's then you know,
released because they've served their sentence or whatever, you know,
you can't be sure that they're not going to do
something to you when you're out living your everyday life.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Absolutely, I'm Katie, and this officer, you know, was a
big bloke and for someone to come up to him
stab him, have eighteen stitches in his arm, He's now
got some damage to his eyes, he got a black eye,
he's got marks on his face, some cut wounds there.
(02:24):
So the physical wounds were healed, but the psychological injuries
and the scar that he's got are never going to heal.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Erina, do you know if somebody has been charged following
this assault.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I'm not aware, Katie, because I do know that I
think you mentioned it earlier. There was another officer a
couple of weeks ago who was attacked as well, and
he was off duty and they identified him as the
correctional officer and yeah, he's not back at work either.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Erina, was that the fellow and Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yes, that's correct, Katie Ye look.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Has I mean, I don't want to say just too,
but are we just talking to assaults here on correctional
officers outside of work hours or are you concerned that
this is a bit of a rising trend.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, the last couple of weeks we've had these two
identified attacks. Our officers now are concerned this is going
to be a trend. It's not something that they experience often. Yes,
they get the verbal assaults, etc. But someone to physically
attack them and identify them as officers that they know
(03:34):
them from the prison has rarely hit home to the
officers because, as you know, I've been on your show
quite a few times talking about officers don't feel safe
at work. They now don't feel safe in their own
personal space.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Which is a real worry for them because we need
good people doing these jobs, good hard working territories, and
we've got to be able to keep them safe to
be able to do the jobs. In terms of, you know,
the sentencing that then if they are court, if they
are charged. I mean, even this morning, we had somebody
(04:10):
get in contact with us and they another corrections officer
have been in contact with us a couple of weeks
ago saying, you know, Katie, there'd been a prison officer
who was knocked unconscious. The person who did that was
given a ten month sentence to be served concurrently with
his current sentence. Now, obviously those that are in contact
(04:31):
with us are concerned that this is not adequate. I
know that we're talking about a judgment that has obviously
gone through the courts, so we may I don't know
whether you're limited in what you can or cannot say
to any degree, but it just like it feels like
those corrections officers are pretty concerned that they can be
(04:51):
assaulted and you know, and really the perpetrator not receive
any further time on their sentence.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh absolutely, Katy, and I think you've hit the nail
on their head. There is so what happens. And I'm
not a lawyer or anything there, but from my understanding
is that when they look at the sentencing here, they
look at how long they're already in the prison for
and that sentence also too, they look at their background
(05:24):
or any other external factors and that's how they make
the decision on their the sentencing eron like.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
How are our correctional officers feeling at the moment, I mean,
when you look at these these two assaults that have
happened on correctional officers outside of the workplace, when you
look at the issues that they're still dealing with inside
as well. You and I have spoken on numerous occasions
about those.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
They're they're pretty worried, Katie, because these two attacks recently
from the two officers, even though they're outside of their
workplace if door connection to their workplace. So they are
concerned that the increased prisoner's numbers are actually paying important
role in this because they've got so many prisoners now
(06:14):
in there that basically they're sitting targets.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So what do you think needs to happen here? Because
I mean, obviously Territorians victims of crime, want violent offenders
off the street. But you know, we know that the
prisons are very very full.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Look, it's a very difficult discussion I think to have, Katie,
because it's like the chicken or the egg isn't it
with this one. So we know that we have to
ensure always have to ensure work is safety. We know
that there is a crime issue here. Locking everyone up
is that the best option? I don't know. But we
(06:55):
need to ensure that our officers are always safe in
the prison the priority.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah. Absolutely, they need to be safe. They need to
be safe to be able to do their jobs. Erina early,
we're gonna have to leave it there. Thank you as
always for your time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
No thanks, Katie, but nice.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We thank you you too.
Now. Earlier in the week, we were contacted by a
couple of concerned listeners who had told us that a
corrections officer had been assaulted on his way home from work.
Now we were also, of course, a couple of weeks ago,
and another message coming through this morning from a corrections
officer contacting us saying that they're also worried about some
(00:22):
prisoners who commit offenses against corrections officers. Behind the wire
receiving concurrent sentences. Now joining me on the line is
Erina Early, who is indeed the head of the United
Workers Union. Good morning to you, Erina.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Good morning, Katie.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Good to have you on the show. Now, Erina, we
had been contacted by a few people this week saying
that there was an assault on a corrections officer walking home.
Do you know what the situation is here?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, sure, Katie. So I'm on the thirty for June.
We had a correctional officer who was actually off duty,
was walking his dog at lunchtime, so he wasn't in
uniform or anything, was attacked with a knife.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my goodness, is he okay?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
First off, not really, Katie, He's pretty broken. The person
who attacked him identified that he knew that the officer
was a correctional officer, so he was aware that the
person he was attacking was a correctional officer, which has
(01:36):
actually scared this person themselves and all other anti correctional
officers here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Well, it is bloody scary because then you think to yourself,
all right, well, when you're off, Judy, if you've got
somebody who's been behind the bars before, who's then you know,
released because they've served their sentence or whatever, you know,
you can't be sure that they're not going to do
something to you when you're out living your everyday life.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Absolutely, I'm Katie, and this officer, you know, was a
big bloke and for someone to come up to him
stab him, have eighteen stitches in his arm, He's now
got some damage to his eyes, he got a black eye,
he's got marks on his face, some cut wounds there.
(02:24):
So the physical wounds were healed, but the psychological injuries
and the scar that he's got are never going to heal.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Erina, do you know if somebody has been charged following
this assault.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I'm not aware, Katie, because I do know that I
think you mentioned it earlier. There was another officer a
couple of weeks ago who was attacked as well, and
he was off duty and they identified him as the
correctional officer and yeah, he's not back at work either.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Erina, was that the fellow and Alice Springs.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yes, that's correct, Katie Ye look.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Has I mean, I don't want to say just too,
but are we just talking to assaults here on correctional
officers outside of work hours or are you concerned that
this is a bit of a rising trend.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well, the last couple of weeks we've had these two
identified attacks. Our officers now are concerned this is going
to be a trend. It's not something that they experience often. Yes,
they get the verbal assaults, etc. But someone to physically
attack them and identify them as officers that they know
(03:34):
them from the prison has rarely hit home to the
officers because, as you know, I've been on your show
quite a few times talking about officers don't feel safe
at work. They now don't feel safe in their own
personal space.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Which is a real worry for them because we need
good people doing these jobs, good hard working territories, and
we've got to be able to keep them safe to
be able to do the jobs. In terms of, you know,
the sentencing that then if they are court, if they
are charged. I mean, even this morning, we had somebody
(04:10):
get in contact with us and they another corrections officer
have been in contact with us a couple of weeks
ago saying, you know, Katie, there'd been a prison officer
who was knocked unconscious. The person who did that was
given a ten month sentence to be served concurrently with
his current sentence. Now, obviously those that are in contact
(04:31):
with us are concerned that this is not adequate. I
know that we're talking about a judgment that has obviously
gone through the courts, so we may I don't know
whether you're limited in what you can or cannot say
to any degree, but it just like it feels like
those corrections officers are pretty concerned that they can be
(04:51):
assaulted and you know, and really the perpetrator not receive
any further time on their sentence.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh absolutely, Katy, and I think you've hit the nail
on their head. There is so what happens. And I'm
not a lawyer or anything there, but from my understanding
is that when they look at the sentencing here, they
look at how long they're already in the prison for
and that sentence also too, they look at their background
(05:24):
or any other external factors and that's how they make
the decision on their the sentencing eron like.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
How are our correctional officers feeling at the moment, I mean,
when you look at these these two assaults that have
happened on correctional officers outside of the workplace, when you
look at the issues that they're still dealing with inside
as well. You and I have spoken on numerous occasions
about those.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
They're they're pretty worried, Katie, because these two attacks recently
from the two officers, even though they're outside of their
workplace if door connection to their workplace. So they are
concerned that the increased prisoner's numbers are actually paying important
role in this because they've got so many prisoners now
(06:14):
in there that basically they're sitting targets.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So what do you think needs to happen here? Because
I mean, obviously Territorians victims of crime, want violent offenders
off the street. But you know, we know that the
prisons are very very full.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Look, it's a very difficult discussion I think to have, Katie,
because it's like the chicken or the egg isn't it
with this one. So we know that we have to
ensure always have to ensure work is safety. We know
that there is a crime issue here. Locking everyone up
is that the best option? I don't know. But we
(06:55):
need to ensure that our officers are always safe in
the prison the priority.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah. Absolutely, they need to be safe. They need to
be safe to be able to do their jobs. Erina early,
we're gonna have to leave it there. Thank you as
always for your time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
No thanks, Katie, but nice.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
We thank you you too.
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