Labor Premier Chris Minns moves to absolve 20 years of law-breaking within Corrective Services NSW in defiance of NSW Ombudsman
The Minns Labor Government has been met with alarm and outrage as it makes the extraordinary move to defy recommendations of the NSW Ombudsman to enable Corrective Services NSW to find inmates guilty of crimes without enough evidence to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
A NSW Ombudsman Report released last year found that Corrective Services NSW had repeatedly broken the law by applying the incorrect standard of proof when penalising inmate behaviour. The Ombudsman also found that Corrective Services NSW had forced inmates to sign forms indicating they were guilty of offences when they had evidence to prove their innocence, had defied international law by locking up young Aboriginal men, and had breached their legal requirements to allow inmates to call witnesses to inmate discipline hearings.
- 1 in 3 charges laid against inmates during discipline proceedings were incorrect,
- 80% of the cases where the inmate pleaded not guilty contained no record of reasons for the subsequent guilty finding,
- Corrections Officers broke the law by failing to notify governors, nurses and security officers in 48% of cases,
- 70% of charges were not finalised until after a guilty verdict had already been determined,
- 74% of inmates penalised for correctional centre offences had vulnerability indicators that should have factored into their penalty, but did not, and
- 43% of inmates penalised were Aboriginal
Labor Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong has announced changes to the standard of proof to enable inmates to be convicted and given criminal penalties on the civil standard of proof. This will mean inmates can be found guilty on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt.
Greens MP, spokesperson for justice and Solicitor Sue Higginson said:
“The Ombudsman report that revealed that Corrective Services have been breaking the law for 20 years, through applying the wrong and lesser standard of proof, perpetuating such gross and systemic injustice against inmates, was shocking,”
“It’s utterly astounding that rather than fix the defiance and injustice, the Minns Labor Government is defying the Ombudsman to absolve the decades of lawbreaking and injustice, by stripping inmates of the most foundational human right and democratic principle, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The Minns Labor Government has signalled that it will change the law to change the standard of proof,”
“The NSW Ombudsman found that in the dark underbelly of NSW prisons, a nasty kangaroo court system is being used to impose punishment on inmates where Corrective Services does not have enough evidence to prove their guilt, by using the “balance of probabilities” as the lesser standard of proof, rather than the proper criminal standard. We are talking about decades of deliberate and harmful law breaking by a public agency,”
“Corrective Services has been running an illegal kangaroo court, unfairly dishing out harmful punishments on powerless inmates. It’s incomprehensible that now the Minns Labor Government wants to enshrine this unfair, arbitrary, oppressive and currently illegal approach in law,”
“The Ombudsman exposed that 1 in 3 charges laid by Corrections against inmates under this racket are completely incorrect. In 80% of cases where an inmate pleaded not guilty, there were no recorded reasons to prove their guilt. In 70% of cases charges were not even laid until after a guilty verdict had already been found, and an inmate had been punished,”
“The Ombudsman’s investigation found that inmates have been denied their legally enshrined right to plead ‘not guilty’ to correctional centre offences and denied the right to call witnesses. It’s precisely Corrective Services’ illegal use of the “balance of probabilities” standard of proof that allows this grave injustice and lawlessness to thrive,”
“This culture of deliberate law-breaking is dangerous and harms the community, workers, and inmates. Labor plans to lock in a culture of lawlessness and injustice and worsen outcomes for inmates,”
“The punishments imposed by these kangaroo courts will increase the likelihood of inmates reoffending by traumatising them, depriving them of contact with loved ones, and by limiting their avenues for rehabilitation. Prisons are already catastrophically failing to rehabilitate offenders,”
“Labor Premier Chris Minns is defying the Ombudsman, defying the presumption of innocence that underpins our justice system, and defying his obligation to uphold the law in New South Wales by changing this standard of proof and by letting Corrections off the hook after 20 years of lawlessness and harm.”