Fallen Officers Honoured

Correctional officers killed on duty or who have died after being assaulted on duty were remembered at a special ceremony at the New South Wales Corrective Services Academy.

In a moving service to honour the Department’s fallen officers, Minister for Justice John Hatzistergos, and Commissioner Ron Woodham, attended the ceremony and laid a wreath at the Academy’s Cenotaph.

The service also honoured the memory of Corrective Services employees who have died while still working for the Department of Corrective Services, and others who have died in retirement.

In the past 95 years in NSW prisons, a total of seven correctional officers have died as a result of injuries sustained after being assaulted by inmates. The last of these was Geoffrey Pearce who died in 1997.

Mr Hatzistergos said it was particularly important to remember those who had died in the course of protecting the people of NSW.

“Although only seven officers out of the thousands who have worked in NSW prisons have been murdered while on duty over the last 95 years, their deaths nevertheless demonstrate that the work of correctional officers has its extremely dangerous moments,” the Minister said.  

“New South Wales is indebted to these officers and their families, and indeed all officers and their families, past and present.

The Department continues to advance the safety of correctional officers, and in recent years, has introduced initiatives including:

• Officer training at the Corrective Services Academy (Eastwood);
• The carrying of duress alarms by all officers working within maximum, medium and some minimum security correctional centres;
• The installation of security cameras in maximum and medium correctional centres monitored by officers in a central control room;
• Establishment of the High Risk Management Unit at Goulburn to accommodate up to 75 high-risk inmates;
• Programs for violent offenders;
• Improved searching techniques resulting in the confiscation of contraband that could be used against an officer;
• Sight or sound practice in maximum security correctional centres where officers must be within sight of another officer or within a distance where verbal contract can be made;
• Case management of inmates in order to target offenders with poor impulse control and those who use violence;
• Placement of Security Emergency Response Teams (SERT) in maximum security correctional centres to respond immediately to emergencies; and
• Video-taping of critical incidents which in some cases prevents the escalation of violence.

“It is also important to note that the custodial officer to inmate ratio in NSW correctional centres is among the highest in the country at an average of 1.9 inmates to every officer,” Mr Hatzistergos said.

“Their vital work is performed mostly out of public view. As a result, it is often misunderstood and not sufficiently appreciated.

The Minister said the remembrance ceremony for fallen officers was an opportunity to honour those who had given their lives.

“It is also an opportunity to express thanks to their families for the terrible sacrifice they have made and to let today’s officers know they and their essential work are appreciated.”

1908 - John Sutherland Brown (Cootamundra Gaol) - attacked across the head with an axe by two prisoners. The officer did not regain consciousness and died a short time later.

1958 - Alan Cooper (Bathurst Gaol) - attacked and bashed to death by two prisoners at the front gate of the gaol during a failed escape attempt. Passed away.

1959 - Albert Hedges (Berrima Gaol)  - attacked, bashed and locked in a shed during an escape attempt in 1959. Officer Hedges survived and after a long rehabilitation, returned to work. However, his injuries were severe and he was medically retired, passing away several years later.

1959 - Cecil Mills (Emu Plains Training Centre) - attacked and bashed to death by prisoners during an attempted escape.

1978 - Carl Faber (Parramatta Gaol) - attacked and bashed with a hammer by prisoners during an attempted escape.

1979 - John Mewburn (Long Bay) - attacked and bashed to death with a hammer by a prisoner at Long Bay.

1997 - Geoffrey Pearce (Metropolitan Reception Prison, Long Bay) - attacked by a prisoner with an AIDS infected needle that infected the officer with the virus. Officer Pearce was posthumously awarded an OAM.