The O’Farrell government’s cuts to prison and parole officer numbers and vital programs such as Community Offender Services is a serious compromise of the safety of staff and the wider community, according to the Public Service Association of NSW.
“Accommodation services provided by the Community Offender Services Program are a safety net for a supervised re-entry of inmates on orders or parole back into the broader community,” Senior Industrial Officer Evan Cole said today.
“The community values the role of the program’s trained professionals in monitoring whether the rehabilitation of serious offenders has been successful or early intervention is needed.
“This is not a job we should be expecting inexperienced charities to pick up.
“The closure of these residence facilities will increase the pressure on NSW’s stressed prison system. At a time when inmate numbers are on the rise, the State Government has cut 350 jobs in jails across the state.
“Prison officers are telling us that many prisons are already crowded or running at high prisoner-to-staff ratios – placing officer safety at jeopardy.
“The government told the community its cuts to the public service wouldn’t include frontline jobs yet there are already 72 less people supervising dangerous offenders in the community.
“You can’t get any more frontline than the loss of more than 450 prison and parole officers,” Mr Cole said.