Authorities at the territory's jail have moved to tighten up prisoners' access to the internet in the wake of security scares in recent weeks.
Version 2.0 of the Alexander Maconochie Centre's policy on computer use by inmates, giving prison management wider powers to ban a prisoner from using the internet, email and other resources, was posted on the ACT Government's website yesterday.
The move comes after a prisoner used internet access to send a garbled message to The Canberra Times and the newspaper uncovered the hole in the Alexander Maconochie Centre's computer network which had been used to send the expletive-laden message.
A week later, it emerged that a man police describe as a ''computer expert'' on remand at the jail accused of a range of child-sex offences, including using children to produce pornography, was among two inmates who had been given unfettered access to the web through their official work detail.
Accused paedophile Aaron James Holliday was employed along with a sentenced prisoner to work as administrative assistants with the prison's education program. The men were each paid more than $60 a week for performing their duties.
The second inmate, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is serving a nine-year sentence for raping his wife's 10-year-old brother.
The discovery that the pair had managed to secure unsupervised internet access sparked a police investigation into their online activities while behind bars.
Under the new policy, which takes effect immediately, access to internet, email and to the LEARN online resource remains a ''privilege'' for prisoners but can be withdrawn for any reason at the superintendent's discretion.
A prisoner from the territory's jail is in Canberra Hospital being treated for brain damage after a near-fatal overdose of black market drugs at the prison last month.
Matthew John Millard spent the past three weeks handcuffed to a hospital bed and under constant guard after taking the pills and falling unconscious.
He was revived after another detainee sounded the alarm but the 29-year-old suffered serious brain damage after his oxygen supply was cut for several minutes.
The injured man, who had a history of overdosing on drugs, was not expected to fully recover from the brain damage.
The news came after revelations paedophiles at the jail had allegedly formed a pornography ring, obtaining and distributing electronic images of child abuse.
The ACT opposition and a former commander of the jail said on Friday there were serious question marks over the supervision regime and the political oversight of the jail
But Corrections Minister Shane Rattenbury said he had been kept briefed on Millard's overdose.
"There's a range of things that happen in the prison and I'm generally kept up to speed with them," Mr Rattenbury said. "Due to privacy issues I'm not in a position to talk about why he [Millard] is in hospital or to comment on his condition.
"Prisons are difficult environments as we've discussed in the past 24 hours and it's a constant process of vigilance and monitoring to ensure we're providing as secure an environment as we can."
There had been at least 13 overdoses of the heroin replacement drug, methadone, at the jail since it began taking prisoners in early 2009 and Mr Rattenbury said authorities were trying to improve ways of governing the medication of detainees.
"I am aware there have been some incidents in the past and these things are a constant process to make improvements to ensure these things are not repeated," he said.
Millard had a long and troubled history of drugs and run-ins with the law. He was jailed in March for a four-hour crime spree in which he stole a car, broke into a home and led police on a daylight pursuit.
He was already paralysed in the left arm, a legacy of a drug overdose last year that left him in intensive care.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
With the way some get sentenced here it could be as little as 5 years out in 3 to 4.
Or to put that in perspective if you kill someone and put up a good defence case Eg; "I only hit him 18 times with the iron bar because I was scared and he might get up and run away"
This might see you for 4 years and on parrole in 2 and a half.
Have a friend doing 9 years for assult and GBH. the bloke he got into a fight with servived figure that out
Roo wrote:
Have a friend doing 9 years for assult and GBH. the bloke he got into a fight with servived figure that out
Why didn’t he just walk away, of course unless he was at home?
I expected to be placed in an air force combat position such as security police, forward air control, pararescue or E.O.D. I would have liked dog handler. I had heard about the dog Nemo and was highly impressed. “SFB” is sad I didn’t end up in E.O.D.
Have a friend doing 9 years for assult and GBH. the bloke he got into a fight with servived figure that out
Baffles me. Fancy the bastard surviving when he obviously should have fallen down and died.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
