Chapter One
The ‘prison day’ began in much the same way as it always did. That much at least could be predicted with a ninety nine percent certainty. The muster from the night before, would be the same as that in the morning due to the excessive security features of Corymbia Prison, Western Australia. It was as if the architect designing the prison had finished a long hard day at the office, and having put in every security feature they could think of, had said to the draftsman, “Now double it”.
The two lethal boarders round the prison comprised High razor sharp wire coils with an electrified fence and armed guards patrolling the elevated perimeter with a Remington 870 semi automatic shotguns and a Glock 22 sidearm, holstered on a leg rather than at waist level, to enable much easier access. With these two weapons alone each member of the the Tactical Response Group (TRG) could be confident that they would be able to do their job and live to patrol another day.
The Remington Arms company was founded in 1816, and is the oldest American gun manufacturer still in business. They are also the country’s largest producer of rifles and shotguns. Law enforcement officers all over the world go to Remington for their shotgun needs. Australia had been importing the weapons for many decades.
The most favoured shotgun for law enforcement use is the Remington 870; and the reason it is so heavily favoured is that Remington take the quality of their law enforcement firearms seriously. Law enforcement shotguns and rifles are assembled by the same group of employees in a separate section of the factory. Each gun then undergoes a 23 station check to ensure every component is up to standard. The sort of reliability and guarantee you would want on any equipment that your life might depend on.
The Glock 22 is the next firearm in line, and looks similar to the Glock 19. The only two aesthetic differences are the Glock 22 is a couple of inches longer and a few ounces heavier than the ’19. Launched in 1990, this hand gun became one of the top guns for military and police by 2006, and the reason this gun has become so favourable is it offers more power. The only advantage the Glock 19 offers is the fact that it’s easier to conceal. If concealment isn’t a concern, and in a prison perimeter scenario the look of threat is as much a deterrent as the fire-power on show. Also the Glock 22 has the capability to shoot both 9mm and .40 calibre ammunition; so this gun combines the power of a .40 calibre weapon with the size and flexibility of a 9mm weapon, making it very easy and very deadly to use.
Prison Officers arrived at 6.30am while the prisoners were waking up in their cells, which many of them called ‘home’ most of the time. This was partly due to the length of their sentence, and part due to the security that everyone desires, to have a safe place to rest.
Staff arriving passed through the double bulletproof doors and walked through the lobby past the ‘Cashier’s office’, to the scanners where they showed their photo identification and placed everything in their possession on the trays, in much the same way ‘airport security’ lines passengers up, and makes them pass through security checkpoints. The difference being that there were many more items that were not allowed into the prison, even for personal use by staff. No: mobile phones, laptops, USB thumb drives, alcohol, drugs, or spare clothing to name just a few of the items on the lists displayed at the gate, along with the notices about the penalties that disobedience to the rules carried.
The staff stepped through a metal detector which had a habit of ‘randomly’ lighting the blue light, and any person that happened to, had to submit to a full body rub down search.
This morning the alarm and blue light seemed to be ‘going off’ on every other person, and the gate house staff, whose job was to screen, search and interview those entering had tired of this and were waving staff through the gate, saying, “It’s broken”. The Gate staff employed ‘Sniffer dogs’ in an ‘airlock’ section between another bulletproof glass door - effectively trapping staff in an airlock. They knew this would expose any drugs being brought in, and so were not concerned too much this morning. Maintenance would fix the light soon enough, the metal detector was still working.
Many of the staff, when they had begun to work at Corymbia Prison thought that this process was too rigorous but after a short while it became normal. Visitors attending Corymbia were segregated and identified, then interviewed and given a Bio-Metric tests to prove their identity with an eye / iris scan and or finger printing. They passed through a separate metal detector, body scan and pat down search before entering another ‘airlock’ before finally being allowed into the prisoner visit area.
Finally the ‘day staff’, which included Vocational Skills Officers and Administration staff found themselves waiting in front of more bulletproof glass through which the West Sally Port was visible and the inspection pits and mirrors which were installed to fully view any vehicle that passed though. Another door opened automatically, operated by TRG officers and staff were able to access the personal alarms which are individual to each member of staff, and which correlated with the number of the keys which only they could draw. This morning Tim Shepard, a VSO in charge of the Concrete production shop was having great difficulty getting his keys. He entered the pass code for the the third time muttering to himself about the age of the security systems and how they were all breaking down. It made it worse somehow that no one else had any difficulty in getting their keys, and now he was holding up the line. He gave up, and called through the grill to the senior officer of the Gate House.
“Gary! Bloody thing won’t open”.
Gary Stoat rose from the chair he was sitting on and silently walked towards the airlock, glancing at the TRG officers in the control ‘bubble’ as he did so. The door to the keys area opened as the TRG timed his press of the button with Gary’s arrival. Gary Stoat, or ‘Weasel’ as he was sometimes called by his mates opened the door to the key cabinet manually and ‘sprung’ the keys that Tim always drew for the Concrete’s section of ‘industries’.
“Get Natalie in Security to have them reset your pass code” he said as he locked it again.
Tim nodded his thanks and signed in to the fire safety registers, and made his way with everyone else up to the prison that was slowly ‘coming to life’ after a quiet night. Constant surveillance of both prisoners and staff was observed by the TRG officers and occasionally they were known to make ID challenges even on staff they knew.
Once in the prison, officers attended the morning debrief and confirmed their daily duty schedule before going to relieve the night staff, who had unlocked and allowed the inmates to take breakfast in the ‘day rooms’ on each wing of the unit. The medical staff had been dispatched and were doing the rounds to each unit and dispensing ‘early meds.’ and issuing lists to attend the Infirmary later.
The muster count was phoned in from each unit and confirmed against central tallies and lists were drawn up from ‘Scheduled appointments’ to daily required workers. The lists were checked against alerts on each prisoner to ensure safe conduct during the movement, and the ‘protected prisoners’ in Unit 6 were lined up to be escorted to their work places and education at a time when there was no movement of any others taking place, such was the sensitivity of their status.
Matt Roberts had received a phone call from Snr. Gate Officer Stoat in regard to the key code issue that more than one officer had had this morning, and was busy looking at the software that governed the systems to release keys at the gate. He had discovered a corrupt file which was preventing anyone who had been inducted on the 16th June 2006 from logging into the key box. It took a few minutes to locate the back up file and he was copying it into the system when Tim walked in.
“Bloody box wouldn’t give me my keys this morning”
“Language Tim! and a Good morning to you too” said Matt.
Matt Roberts was the senior officer in security and known to be a stickler for politeness and professionalism. Some knew he was a Christian who was very serious about practising his faith, and that his integrity could be trusted. Matt was not ‘preachy’ about this, but neither did he avoid the fact. He was just in his own words, ‘normal’ about it. “God is God, I am me, it is what it is”.
“Sorry Matt, I’ve not slept well and have a headache this morning, and was tempted to give the day a miss, but I know how short staffed we are so here I am. Last thing I needed was an issue at the f’ f’ flipping gate”.
“Now” said Matt. “You started in June 2006 didn’t you? 16th to be exact!”
“How the h’ heck did you remember that?” said Tim.
Matt was tempted as many would have been to say something about ‘security knowing everything’, and putting the VSO off balance, but although he occasionally joked he never wanted to disadvantage anyone.
“No worries Tim, It wasn’t your fault, the system crashed for the folk in your induction class. You are set now.”
Tim thanked Matt and continued to Industries to open up his workshop for the morning workers. Other areas of Industries was starting up, lights going on and even some of the workers brought breakfast in with them had started cooking bacon and eggs. This wasn’t really standard practice, but control officer Wally Pritchard turned a blind eye to it as the VSOs were a good bunch and kept the peace in Industries which made his job easier. ‘Live and let live’ he thought.
Assistant Superintendent of Security Natalie Baker, stuck her head around the office door to security where Matt was just finishing up installing the backup file.
“There’s a problem at the gate with officers drawing keys” she said, “Can you assign someone to go down there and check it out please?”
Matt looked up and replied, “All sorted, it was a software problem, Weasel called me and I’ve sorted it!”
“Well done, not a lot gets past you does it?” she said with a smile on her face.
Matt grinned back and carried on with the reports he was reading. It had not escaped him that Natalie seemed to have feelings for him, but he wasn’t sure how he felt, and he didn’t want to confuse matters by chasing her just for fun. Maybe she was just being friendly.
The prison regimen got under way with movement to the Infirmary, Industries for work, to Education for classes, Recreation and Library. Prisoners would be lined up and marched under escort to another area. The routine was good, as it provided stability for the prisoners and well practised exercises for the staff. When things ran like clockwork things ran well. No one wanted an interruption, well... no one who didn’t want trouble that is.
There were some prisoners who felt that interrupting the smooth running of the prison was a challenge and if they were able to do it in such a way as to get one up on the guards, then it was a good thing. This might be an opportunity to get some drugs or alcohol smuggled into the prison, or plan retribution upon someone. Most of the time though there was sufficient surveillance in place to make this very difficult.
Prisoners had arrived at Education and were being identified at the gate, their ID’s being filed and they were searched as per procedure at each and every area of the prison. Certainly on first arrival and last thing when leaving, this was followed with meticulous and practised thoroughness. Nothing should be brought with them into Education, and certainly nothing leaving with them. There were exceptions to this of course and there was a process in place to be followed for every exception. Blue slips identifying any item to be carried in or out of the area, needed to be signed by both the Campus Manager and the Control Security Officer. The slip would detail what the reason was for the item to be moved in or out of the area, and if there was a time constraint upon the return of an item. Sometimes a maths student would borrow a calculator over a weekend to help with homework, or a music student might borrow a guitar for the duration of the course. Often times the procedure and process by which it was enforced broke down, especially during the working day when a prisoner might return to the unit to collect something, and also bring a ‘Walk man’ or music CD with them to listen to music whilst working in a computer room. This was not allowed, but it often happened, and as a security check had already taken place it was somehow felt that it didn’t need to happen again. This created an odd situation, where stringent security procedures could be easily circumvented if you looked for and found vulnerabilities.
There had been a late unlock in Unit 4 this morning as officers had decided to run a ‘drugs drill’ and do an impromptu search of cells before breakfast. Drugs had been found in a packet of cigarettes, and so the occupants of that cell, both of whom claimed not to be the owners were cuffed and taken to the Multi Purpose Unit (MPU) to await the visit of a Justice of the Peace and the prison court for judgement.
In Education, David James was acting Campus Manager. David had ‘stepped up’ when the previous Campus Manager Chris Meade had been removed from office by security, after it had been discovered that he had allowed prisoners to use the Department’s computer system to order materials that were not allowed to prisoners. A strict code of practice was in place as to what prisoners could buy, and where they could purchase things from. In every case it was clear, that a prisoner did not have personal access to the department’s computers or the Internet.
Education had been observed in an audit over several months and when the Campus Manager had been seen to routinely allow certain prisoners to use the computer in his office he was interviewed and asked what the purpose for this was. None of the staff in Education had been told, but nearly all of them saw Chris Meade arrested and taken out of the prison. Senior Security Officer Matt Roberts had called the Education Staff together and asked them to cover for the absence of the manager in the short term, and had then interviewed the three most senior Education Officers with a view to making a recommendation to the prison board of Governors, who should be given a the position of Acting Campus Manager until the slow process of advertising and interviewing for the position could be arranged.
David James had been the clear choice as someone who at 29, had experience, valued honesty and integrity, and had shown loyalty to the standards and procedures of the prison by sharing his concerns about prisoners accessing computers with Chris Meade. The old Campus Manager had waived off the concerns, as if he’d ‘known better’ and was too busy to care, “What harm can be done, if I’m there to see what is going on?” he’d asked. The problem was: as had later been explained to David, by Matt Roberts; he hadn’t seen everything that was going on. Items had been ordered and intercepted by security which could have seriously compromised the safety of staff and prisoners.
David was a little out of his depth experience-wise, but being well liked and a humble man, he was able to ask for the help of his staff and share his needs with those in authority in the Prison management. He was also liked by the Security Dept. of the prison for his ‘straight shooting’ principled approach, and fair mindedness. Natalie Baker, who was Assistant Superintendent of Security had know David for some years and liked him and the way he approached people and his work. She had not gone out of her way to spend time with him socially but on several ‘work social occasions’ she had been glad to get to know him a bit better.
Education offered a staple diet of literacy and numeracy courses to support learning, and some vocational skills courses, some of which were linked to industry workshops and allowed inmates to gain apprenticeships. The thought behind this, was research based study which showed that in settings where rehabilitation was taking place, the most effective tools were treatment programmes and education which both addressed the behaviour and lack of skills an inmate had, to make good life choices and be equipped to work, as opposed to engage criminal behaviour.
The prison managed the budget for the Education Dept and David put forward his plans for the delivery of courses which would both allow the inmates to gain qualifications in some areas, and the prison to manage their inmates with therapeutic programmes such as Art and Music. The Education music group had even sold tapes of the music created and performed, and had been able to use the funds raised to update music instruments in the centre.
Things were working well in the prison today and both staff and inmates seemed to be getting on well. In much the same way as schools have difficult students, there had been in the past some problematic students who had caused trouble in class, some out of spite and bullying, others out of mischief. The selection process for education had sorted a lot of this out though; it was driven by both interviewing new inmates arriving at the prison as well as receiving requests for specific courses from those in the units. These were looked at very carefully and ‘prisoner alerts’ were noted prior to anyone being timetabled to attend. The ‘rules of the centre’ were read and signed during such an interview. Occasionally there were conflicts of opinion in class and someone’s work would end up on the floor, and on the rare occasion someone would end up on the floor! In these events, the prisoners concerned had suffered a ‘zero tolerance’ response and been cuffed and taken out of the centre. The offence was documented and a decision as to how long to allow the prisoner to be excluded from Education was made. Most Tutors didn’t want to lose students from a class and did their best to manage their classes to avoid incidents. All tutors kept notes on the behaviour of their students though, as it was useful to be able to point to a history of certain behaviour if a decision to ban a student altogether was to be made.
Staff in all areas of the prison were inducted and warned about being groomed by prisoners, who had been known from time to time to get some personal information about a staff person, and then use it against them in order to gain their cooperation in bringing contraband into the prison. This meant there was a certain amount of cool professionalism, as opposed to warm rapport that marked education in prison apart from the norm.
The Chaplaincy was another part of the prison where it was difficult for staff to balance their professionalism and compassion as they dealt with prisoners who were both hurting and highly manipulative. Rev Robert Wright was currently on his way to see David in Education, to discuss how they might facilitate something for an inmate without upsetting security. He walked across the grass, nodding to those he knew on the way. He caught sight of a lone prisoner he’d spoken to the day before, and called over, “Graham”.
Graham looked up and half raised an arm to acknowledge he had heard the call.
“Praying for you, and going to see Education now!” he called.
“Thanks” mouthed Graham silently.
He was being watched by four or five others from a distance, and he looked like he didn’t wish to attract any attention from them or anyone. Robert continued to Education, past the counselling and Psych behaviour programmes area and up to the control booth of Education. The officer nodded to him, recognising him casually, whilst noting his staff ID carefully as well. “Put your name up Rob” he called out.
Robert entered the locked control area and wrote his name on the board next to the Campus Manager’s office No.5.
“Going to see David” he remarked to the officer.
He walked through the gardens past classes and found room 5, with David sat at the computer answering the endless number of emails he seemed to be sent on a daily basis.
Robert knocked on the door, then used his keys to open it as all the doors were locked. A strange ritual, only the inmates waited for the doors to be opened.
“Hi David, how are you today?” asked Rob.
“Pastor Rob!” answered David, “Good and you?”
“Oh...I try to be good, I do really” said the minister.
The two sat for a while making small talk while David put the kettle on and offered Robert a drink. The two settled back into their seats with a cup of tea each and David wondered what the real reason was for the visit.
“Enjoying your church David?” asked Robert, knowing the David had started going to church again after a period of absence after the death of his mother from cancer. He had spent several sessions recently with David reaffirming ‘God’s goodness in an evil world’, and discussing why bad things sometimes happen to good people. David had taken comfort from these conversations and started getting involved in his church again.
“Yes thanks; what you said about bad being the absence of good, and evil being the absence of God, made me think I probably need more of God than less”
The older minister nodded and said, “We all do David, we all do...”
David looked squarely at the minister in his collar and colours and asked what brought him to see him today.
Rob smiled and explained that he’d been approached by a prisoner called Graham, who asked if he could arrange for him to be able to do some study of theology. They had discussed the matter for a while, and Rob had had told him that although he could arrange Bible and devotional materials for the prisoner, it was Education’s job to liaise with a college regarding a qualification.
Security would also need to see clearly that materials entering the prison were not subject to compromise and there was an established process in Education. Robert was aware that Education was Securities’ favourite at present and wanted to talk through how the process of assuring security, enrolling Graham and keeping everything ‘above board’ could be affected.
David picked up the phone and made an appointment to see the Assistant Superintendent of Security Natalie Baker.
“Leave it with me Rob” said David. I will check security and call Graham down for interview. I will let you know the outcome. Meanwhile do what you can for Graham and flick me an email with the contact details of the college you were talking about. I will contact them officially and we’ll get the whole picture as to fees and materials.”
Robert rose from the chair, and with a slight creak in his bones, but with a smile on his face he thanked David and left for his next ‘errand of mercy.’
David continued with admin for the next thirty minutes, until the time arranged to see Natalie.
He walked through the prison past several units, on his way to the Prison Admin building and Security, where the Assistant Superintendents of various areas of prison responsibility had their offices.
Some prisoners pressed themselves up against the chain linked fences around the units, whilst others exercised or kicked a football around.
“Hey dog!′ someone shouted.
David made a conscious decision not to turn in the direction of the shout. It was fairly common practice for some to shout out rudely, and then to laugh at anyone who looked their way; as if they had known they were the ‘dog’ that had been called.
He reached the Admin area and waited to be admitted through the gate; the gate opened and closed, then another and finally inside, through a corridor and then he found himself at the office of Assistant Superintendent Security, Natalie Baker.
Natalie Baker, had just celebrated her 31st birthday, she was fit and healthy, and ‘sported’ a strong feminine figure. He long hair was often plaited and then tried up. She had a reputation for being firm but fair and ‘perhaps,’ she thought, ‘that was what she liked most about David’.
“Please come in and sit down” Natalie said as David appeared at the door.
“Thanks” David replied and he casually took a seat in front of her desk.
Natalie’s eyes met his in a steady clear calm stare, “What can I do for you” she said.
David drew in a breath, and caught the faint scent of her aromatic perfume. ‘Cinnabar’ he guessed. He muttered a quick prayer regarding his request and began to explain and outline what he wanted. He wanted to reassure her that although this was a matter of ‘education’ as well as ‘religious freedom’, it was important to him to include ‘Security’ in the decision.
He was keenly aware of the compromise that ‘Education’ had made in the past, which led to him being appointed as Acting Campus Manager.
Natalie listened carefully, and made a few notes.
“I hear what you are saying David,” she said “but you know Graham is a maximum security risk, he could just be ‘trying this on’ as a means to getting information into the prison.”
‘That would apply to pretty much anyone in Education’ thought David. It had even crossed his mind, because Graham had approached the chaplaincy rather than Education first.
’Had Graham thought that a chaplain would be a ‘softer touch’ than Education?′ He wondered.
“Well we have to help in whatever way we can. What can we put in place so that security is happy that the process is being carefully monitored?” asked David.
“What do you suggest?” Natalie responded.
David thought for a moment and said, “How about all materials are co-ordinated through Education. We receive them, then bring them to security to be checked, and then you issue them through Chaplaincy. Work to be marked can come to the chaplain for support or tutorial, and then via security to us in Education. We then send it direct to the College. Would that work?”
Natalie smiled and confirmed that would work nicely. She said she would confirm the arrangement in writing, both to Education and the Chaplaincy later that day.
As David left, Natalie had grinned and David wondered if she had fluttered her eyelashes at him purposely when she said, “In security, we know we’re paranoid, but often wonder if we’re paranoid enough!” She had then laughed, and the sound seemed to draw something in David.
David popped into the chapel on his way back and then the Chaplain would be able to give the ‘good news’ to Graham in the afternoon.
Pastor Rob sent the information that David needed to him, to begin the process of arranging Graham’s enrolment in the ‘external study.’
It was well past lunch time the next time David looked up at the clock from the work he was doing, and he wandered off to the staff room where many of the prison staff staggered their lunch-break to allow work to continue and a meal to take place.
He walked in to a fairly empty staff room as most folk had already come and gone. There was now no choice for lunch and so he put a measured amount of what was left on a plate and made himself a cup of tea.
As he sat down Michelle Janes, the Superintendent’s PA walked in and said, “Hi”.
She came and sat beside David and started chatting animatedly about her day. David smiled listened attentively without interrupting and nodding occasionally, hoping that at some point she might say something that she probably shouldn’t and he’d have some insight into something that he wouldn’t otherwise have had. Listening more often than not provided greater wisdom that speaking. It was all friendly banter today, and she even asked him to take a look at her new car on the way out of the prison at 3pm. Which he said he’d be pleased to do.
The afternoon wore on slowly, without incident and with just a few staff dropping in to ask for help or access to a resource, which he was able to provide. He had even managed to send an email to the college for Graham, and planned to call him down to show him the information he’d discovered about the choice of study the college could provide.
Finally 3pm came and David packed up and with other Education staff, made his way out of the prison. Leaving at the same time as the Vocational Skills Officers in the Industry area, meant joining a long line to return his ‘systems radio’ that he was issued when he arrived for work. As Acting Campus Manager, he had to carry it all day. Then another wait to return keys, but no matter how you thought about it; exiting the prison was less intense than getting in, which he always thought quite funny, it being a prison and all!
Michelle’s car, was parked in her usual reserved spot. A light blue Mercedes saloon, which was a few years old, but in excellent condition. ‘Rather appropriate,’ he thought, the car was just like Michelle!
