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NSW Prison Officers Stage 48-Hour Walk-Off Over Sentence in Guard Bashings

Officers acted after a magistrate imposed a three-year community corrections order on an inmate who injured four guards.

Overview

  • Industrial action began at Cessnock and Bathurst on Thursday, with staff at other public prisons expected to join, prompting statewide prisoner lockdowns.
  • Court operations were disrupted, with some matters unable to proceed and jurors in a Sydney trial told to return on Monday.
  • An urgent Industrial Relations Commission hearing was convened as authorities said centres remain secure under reduced staffing.
  • Police prosecutors are considering an appeal of the sentence, and Corrective Services will seek to oppose the inmate’s release before the parole authority.
  • Cameron Welsh, 26, was convicted of four assaults causing actual bodily harm; the union says all four officers were hospitalised and two are unlikely to return to work.