Contractor Broadspectrum will receive a $103,840 financial penalty following the escape of a remand prisoner from the custody of two of its officers from Royal Perth Hospital on 21 September.
The remand prisoner was not properly secured or managed according to existing policies and was able to escape from the hospital. He was captured by police on 25 September.
The Department of Justice has also introduced an enhanced compliance program for hospital visits to ensure that contract staff or corrections officers are following policies for the management of prisoners.
The program will include compliance checks by prison superintendents within certain timeframes and operational oversight including random compliance checks.
Staff of the Operations Centre and key prison staff have also been advised that they must consider in detail all presenting matters, behaviour and recent charges as well as historical information to ensure prisoner movement risks are more adequately assessed.
An improved process is also being developed to ensure that operational oversight of the decisions made regarding a prisoner’s risk level includes all available information from internal and external stakeholders including intelligence.
The risk assessment process for all escorts will also now have the presumption that Outlaw Motorcycle Group members are considered to be High Security Escorts.
As stated by Corrective Services Minister Francis Logan:
“There were significant failures by the contractor Broadspectrum in the handling of the remand prisoner who managed to escape from hospital while under the guard of its officers.
“The Broadspectrum officers were advised by the department of the prisoner’s previous escape history and that he should be wearing handcuffs.
“Further to this, the contractor has not met its own policies when it came to the management of the prisoner, which should have included applying further restraints when an officer is alone with a prisoner.
“However, the Department of Justice should have taken into account the nature of the remand prisoner’s arrest and violent behaviour when determining his level of risk.
“The Department has now introduced an improved oversight regime for hospital visits, which include compliance checks at regular and random intervals by various levels of senior staff.
“The risk assessment for all escorts will now also have the presumption that Outlaw Motorcycle Group members are considered High Security Escorts.
“An improved assessment process for prisoner risk is also now being developed to ensure that directives for prisoner movements to court, hospitals or other areas will more fully consider information from internal and external parties including the nature of someone’s arrest and their current behaviour.
“I would like to thank WA Police Force for all their hard work during the search for this escaped prisoner and for returning him to custody to face the courts for his alleged actions.”
