Laurie John Junior Dodd.
Camera IconLaurie John Junior Dodd. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Contractor fined for prisoner escape

Staff writerEastern Reporter

CONTRACTOR Broadspectrum will receive a $103,840 fine after remand prisoner Laurie John Junior Dodd escaped Royal Perth Hospital last week.

Mr Dodd (44) was not properly secured or managed according to existing policies and was able to escape from the hospital.

He was captured by police in Morley on Wednesday morning and was charged with multiple offences.

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He is currently in Hakea prison.

Minister Fran Logan.
Camera IconMinister Fran Logan. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Corrective Services Minister Francis Logan said there were significant failures by the contractor in handling of the remand prisoner who managed to escape from hospital while under the guard of its officers.

“The Broadspectrum officers were advised by the department of the prisoner’s previous escape history and that he should be wearing handcuffs,” he said.

“Further to this, the contractor has not met its own policies when it came to the management of the prisoner, which should have included applying further restraints when an officer is alone with a prisoner.

“However, the Department of Justice should have taken into account the nature of the remand prisoner’s arrest and violent behaviour when determining his level of risk.

“The Department has now introduced an improved oversight regime for hospital visits, which include compliance checks at regular and random intervals by various levels of senior staff.

“I would like to thank WA Police Force for all their hard work during the search for this escaped prisoner and for returning him to custody to face the courts for his alleged actions.”

The Department of Justice has also introduced a compliance program for hospital visits to ensure contract staff or corrections officers are following policies for the management of prisoners.

The program will include compliance checks by prison superintendents within certain timeframes and operational oversight including random compliance checks.

Staff of the operations centre and key prison staff have also been advised that they must consider all presenting matters, behaviour, recent charges and historical information.

An improved process is also being developed to ensure the decisions made regarding a prisoner’s risk level includes information from internal and external stakeholders including intelligence.

Outlaw Motorcycle Group members are now considered to be high security escorts.

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