Prison staff confronted with ‘very difficult situation’ over alleged murder

Paramedics, police officers, forensic investigators and major crime detectives were called to the scene of a man’s suspicious death at Yatala Labour Prison, Northfield, just after 5.35pm on Saturday.

They tried to revive a man, 52, but were unsuccessful.

His cellmate, 33, has been arrested and charged with murder. He will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.

Correctional Services Depart­ment chief executive David Brown said the two men were on remand and were classified as “medium security” inmates.

“At the time of the medical emergency, the cells were locked for the night,” Mr Brown said.

“When the incident ­occurred correctional staff and prison health staff provided immediate first aid.”

He said police and an ambulance were called immediately and the cell mate accused of the murder was “immediately secured in another area by Correctional staff”.

Mr Brown said he had been advised that police had notified the victim’s next of kin.

“It is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the victim’s family,” he said.

He said support was also being offered to Correctional and nursing staff who “were confronted with a very difficult situation”.

“The prison has been unlocked and will be operating as usual (on Sunday),” he said.

“Senior management are on site to support staff and prison operations.”

He said the department would conduct its own investigation into the incident and would help SA Police with their investigation.

Loading embed…

Neither police nor corrections could reveal in which cell block the incident occurred.

“The circumstances of the death is being treated as a homicide and will proceed through the criminal courts,” police said in a statement.

A mandatory inquest will be held into the prisoner’s death, as is required for all deaths in custody.

This latest incident comes after all South Australian prisons were placed in lockdown as part of an ongoing industrial campaign by the prison officers union in April.

The lockdown, which lasted most of a day, was in response to a perceived lack of action over staffing shortages after cutbacks made under the former Liberal government.

At the time, PSA general secretary Natasha Brown said the union had been calling on the Labor government to take action over staffing levels since the election, but there had been no response.

Last month, Port Augusta Prison went into lockdown after safety concerns raised by officers at the facility were not adequately addressed, the corrections union said.

Officers at the prison placed the facility into lockdown in May in response to the Correctional Services Department’s handling of recent incidents involving inmates removing windows from a high-security accommodation block to retrieve contraband from the prison grounds at night.

The security breach reportedly occurred in the 128-bed Saltbush Unit, which was opened in 2017.

In June, The Advertiser took a look inside the new $180m Yatala Labour Prison redevelopment.

Prisoners will move into new facilities in July, including two communal units, which will house 208 prisoners, across two buildings and four different wings.

Each of the wings, which houses 52 prisoners are near mirror images of each other.

Two man cells line the walls on two levels.

A third building – Mirnu – will house 66 prisoners in therapeutic and rehabilitative accommodation and will provide services designed to break cycles of incarceration.

A new operations building will bring much of the daily life of the prison out of the older areas and closer to the front entrance of the facility.

A new commercial kitchen will eventually provide all the prisons food needs, a video conferencing facility will more than triple the number of suites and visitor rooms will be open seven days a week, rather than two.

Loading embed…