Overcrowding and inadequate staff training at Melton’s two existing prisons in Ravenhall are among the problems revealed by a Victorian Ombudsman’s report into deaths and harm in custody.
Ombudsman George Brouwer said he was concerned with many elements of the prison system, including lack of funding for new and existing infrastructure, overcrowding, increased assaults of prisoners and staff members, and increased cases of self-harm leading to prisoner deaths.
A director of the Human Rights Law Centre told Mr Brouwer they had spoken to prisoners who had been locked in their cells for days on end.
‘‘It’s getting worse, particularly at the [Metropolitan] Remand Centre [in Ravenhall],’’ the director said.
Mr Brouwer said this could have serious consequences for the mental health of prisoners and lead to assaults and self-harm.
As reported by the Weekly, Melton police’s Acting Inspector Tim O’Connor has previously confirmed local prison assaults are on the rise.
Community and Public Sector Union industrial officer Andrew Capp said assaults were becoming commonplace at the remand centre, with overcrowding leading to prisoners lashing out. The union had concerns about lack of training for new officers, a fact also highlighted in last week’s Ombudsman’s report.
Mr Brouwer said an interview with a program manager at the Marrmak unit at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre revealed concerns about the adequacy of staff training, especially for those dealing with prisoners with mental illness.
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare) said plans for a 75-bed mental health unit for prisoners at a new men’s jail being built in Ravenhall were “woefully inadequate”.
The Ombudsman’s report recommended a specialist unit for prisoners with intellectual disabilities.
With the report finding the rate of mental health disorders among Victorian prisoners is three to five times greater than in the wider community, Forensicare chief executive Tom Dalton said the Ravenhall unit would buckle.
Corrections Minister Edward O’Donohue said the state government had expanded the number of beds in prisons and made “no apology’’ for its tough law and order policy.
