Recommendation 182

This recommendation is assigned to CSNSW.

Recommendation

That instructions should require that, at all times, correctional officers should interact with prisoners in a manner which is both humane and courteous. Corrective Services authorities should regard it as a serious breach of discipline for an officer to speak to a prisoner in a deliberately hurtful or provocative manner.

Context

The Royal Commission considered that Correctional services should not tolerate and should not be seen to tolerate the misuse of prison disciplinary rules nor the powers vested in correctional officers under those rules and compared the legitimate use of withdrawal of privileges with petty and capricious use of withdrawable privileges by officers.  Recommendation 182 is directed at ensuring officers are responsible for their interactions with prisoners.

Detail of implementation

The DCJ Code of Ethical Conduct Subsection 7 ‘Treating people with dignity and respect states that employees are to treat colleagues, clients, their families and members of the public with equal respect and fairness. Discrimination, bullying or harassment and/or other inappropriate behaviour will not be tolerated by the department in any form, and may constitute misconduct. 

Inmates, offenders and detainees are clients of the Department. Employees must remain fair and impartial at all times and must demonstrate respect and courtesy towards inmates, offenders and detainees, even in difficult and challenging circumstances. Acts of intimidation, harassment, insults or abuse towards any Departmental client is a serious breach of this Code which may result in misconduct action. 

Misconduct process 

Stage 1

• All allegations or apparent incidents of misconduct must be treated seriously, and an initial assessment is conducted to identify and manage risks associated with the allegation.  
• All allegations are required to be reported to the CSNSW Human Resources Business Partner team and/or the Professional Standards Branch (PSB).
• Allegations of possible misconduct are then reviewed and assessed by the CSNSW Professional Standards Committee (PSC).  
• The PSC will determine whether to dismiss the matter, proceed with the misconduct as per the GSE or refer the matter to an external agency such as the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the police, the NSW Ombudsman etc.
• If the matter is proceeding, the staff member will be advised of the allegations and will have an opportunity to respond and the employer may conduct further enquires to determine if misconduct has occurred 

Stage 2

• A Decision Maker (who holds responsibility for dealing with misconduct) will be appointed and they will engage an investigator (e.g. the CSNSW Investigations Branch) to investigate and report on the allegations to PSB. 

Stage 3 

• The PSB will collate all relevant information and prepare a submission for the Decision Maker. A letter will also be sent to the staff member notifying them of the proposed action to be taken. The staff member then has the opportunity to make a submission or request an interview with the Decision Maker.  
• The full submission is then provided to the Decision Maker and a letter is given to the staff member with the findings. 
• A letter is also issued to the person who made the allegation. For privacy and confidentiality reasons, the type of action cannot be provided. 

Commissioner’s Instructions

Commissioner’s Instructions are issued in accordance with the provisions of section 235B of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999. In the case of persons employed at managed correctional centres, this Instruction constitutes a direction given under section 241(2) of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999. Commissioner’s Instructions amount to lawful orders and any staff member who intentionally disobeys or disregards this Instruction or is found to be negligent in the performance of their duties, may be liable to disciplinary action under the Government Sector Employment Act 2013. 

Employees must not use insulting, abusive, obscene or sexualised language to any colleague, offender or visitor to a CSNSW workplace. Employees who witness such language or behaviour should report it, as it may cause offence, undermine workplace morale, create conflict and mistrust, or constitute harassment. Offensive language toward offenders is equally unacceptable, as it sets a poor example, it normalises and reinforces such behaviour, and it could provoke conflict and retaliation.

When interacting with others, CSNSW staff must: 

• act with impartiality, courtesy, promptness and fairness  
• respect the rights and dignity of others 
• use courteous, respectful and appropriate language at all times  
• be responsive in dealing with all individuals 
• not discriminate against, bully or harass any person in their dealings with them  
• maintain confidentiality and privacy 
• manage work and personal relationships so that professional boundaries are maintained  
• declare to their manager, or another appropriate person, any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest between their professional and personal interests

As public servants, this recommendation is thoroughly covered in legislation and is a legal obligation under both the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999, and in the Government Sector Employment Act 2013. 

Training 

Primary Training modules - Custodial Corrections: 

Management of inmates at risk of self-harm or suicide 

Delivered in module 4 of the training program.  

Aboriginal cultural awareness

Delivered by Aboriginal programs unit. 

This training provides the learner with knowledge regarding the history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people while understanding the contemporary challenges they are facing today.  The training will enhance the learner’s communication skills in an Aboriginal context while improving their skills to identify and manage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders at risk.

This training course covers areas relating to: 

• Culture
• Historical and Contemporary Understanding 
• Communication in an Aboriginal Context
• Managing Aboriginal Offenders at Risk 
• Transgenerational Trauma

Working with culture and diversity

The Working with Culture and Diversity course is a blended learning program that aims to explore respectful strategies to work with and overcome barriers amongst offenders and colleagues from diverse backgrounds. 

There are two parts to this course:

Learners are required to complete the online learning component prior to attending the face-to-face training. 

The online component covers:

• key definitions, legislation, policies and procedures and justice values, 
• how to work with specific groups including Culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, LGBTQIA+, refugees/immigrants and various religious and spiritual beliefs. 

The face-to-face training has a strong operational focus with key speakers and a consolidation of the learning with practical scenarios and strategies to effectively work with diversity and culture in the custodial and community setting.  

Trauma informed practice

This course is specifically designed for people who work directly with those who have experienced (or are highly likely to have experienced) trauma. 

Trauma informed practices can assist in minimising the chances of an inmate/offender being re – traumatised whilst in the care of Corrective Services New South Wales (CSNSW), and by incorporating the trauma informed principles into daily interactions it can assist with the creation of a more rehabilitative environment.

This course is not designed to give people the skills and knowledge to treat trauma, however being trauma informed is about knowing how to identify trauma to better respond and refer appropriately. 

This workshop will cover the following;

• Introduction to Trauma Informed Practice 
• Understanding the nature and impact of trauma
• Recognition of safety 
• Healing and recovery
• Responding to disclosure 
• Vicarious trauma
• Emotional Survival 

Doing the right thing - workplace ethics

Welcome to Workplace Ethics - Doing the Right Thing. This course has been designed on and will take you through the different aspects of the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Code of Ethical Conduct and how it applies to CSNSW. 

At the end of this course, you will be competent in the knowledge and skill required to: 

• Identify the DCJ Code of Ethical Conduct 
• Understand what a conflict of interest is and how to avoid it
• Describe your responsibilities in relation to conduct and ethics 
• Explain how to identify the CSNSW guidelines to conduct and ethics
• Behave in a professional manner 
• Understand how to report conduct and ethical issues.

Bullying and Harassment

This course was designed to provide staff with an understanding of bullying and harassment, the types of behaviour that should be avoided and what staff can do if bullying or harassment is occurring in their workplace. It covers: 

•  types of bullying and harassment behaviours
• identifying bullying and harassment 
• the effects of bullying and harassment
• your responsibilities, and what actions can be taken 

Serious Incident assessments

• Conflict Management scenario-Aboriginal focused 
• Self-harm scenario-Aboriginal focused

The requirement for Correctional Officers to interact with inmates in a humane and courteous manner is embedded within the Primary Training through a number of topics (e.g. ‘duty of care’ session). 

Additionally, all CSNSW staff must complete the Workplace Ethics – Doing the Right Thing online short course every 2 years. This course includes (but is not limited to) the following topics:

• Mandatory conduct 
• DCJ culture and values
• DCJ Code of Ethical Conduct 
• What happens if you breach the code?
• Principles of professional behaviour, such as: 
  • respectful language in the workplace
  • discrimination and harassment 
  • bullying
  • professional conduct towards offenders 
• CSNSW policies and procedures
• Commissioner’s Memoranda 

Five Minute Interventions

Five minute interventions (FMI) is aimed at building a rehabilitative environment through turning everyday conversations between custodial staff and inmates into meaningful interactions that inspire hope and motivate change. FMI encourages staff to challenge a number of ‘targets’ that affect inmate behaviour and present barriers to effective rehabilitation, including criminal attitudes, impulsivity and ineffective problem solving. FMI is designed to train custodial staff in using a range of rehabilitative skills to help address these targets through building trust, confidence and rapport, giving hope, Socratic questioning, active listening and positive reinforcement. FMI equips staff with the tools to help improve staff-prisoner relationships, as well as encourage prisoners to make positive changes through providing them with the skills and hope to do so. It is expected that staff who are better able to make sense of the complex causes and functions of criminogenic behaviour are in turn able to better cope with the emotional and psychological impact of managing those engaged in such behaviour. FMI training in NSW correctional centres commenced in May 2020, with the initial roll-out including training of all staff at 13 of the state’s 34 adult correctional centres. The training is delivered by experienced NSW custodial staff who were trained to deliver FMI in collaboration with trainers from the U.K. Training materials (e.g., activities, scenarios, examples) were adapted to the NSW context by the NSW FMI trainers. The training takes place across two days with groups of approximately 15 staff from various roles across the centre, including custodial officers, services and programs officers, case managers and trade overseers. 

Body-worn Video

Body-worn video (BWV) is used to capture evidence or record certain incidents in centres. The main purpose of using BWV is to obtain impartial evidence for use in various types of legal and disciplinary proceedings or complaint resolution processes. 

BWV has a variety of benefits to correctional operations, including enhancing transparency and accountability and reassuring that officers are behaving ethically and performing their job professionally.

Evidence

• Section 235B of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999