Peter Malinauskas' decision late Friday to privatise the Adelaide Remand Centre (ARC) is a betrayal of hard-working corrections officers across the country, says the Community and Public Sector Union.
While Labor Governments around the country have been busily bringing prisons back into the public sector, most recently the Minns Government with Junee and Parklea prisons last year, Malinauskas has decided to continue Liberal Government policy.
The ARC was privatised by the Marshall Liberal Government in 2019.
The contract for the ARC expires in August and the Malinauskas Government was expected to return the prison to the public sector.
The ARC has well reported problems with drugs, violence and chronic understaffing.
Only last week the McKell Institute delivered a scathing assessment of the privatisation of the ARC, concluding the experiment has failed on cost, safety, staffing, and accountability grounds.
Federal Secretary of the CPSU, Stewart Little, says Malinauskas' move is a betrayal of correctional officers around the country.
"Staff at the Adelaide Remand Centre play a pivotal role in the South Australian criminal justice system," said Mr Little.
"This decision will ultimately lead to more assaults and a continued upswing in violence in the South Australian prison system.
"Corrections staff are an integral part of the criminal justice system.
"They are no different to the police or the courts, they do a difficult and dangerous job protecting the community.
"Clearly South Australian Labor are in bed with big business and Serco.
"The same company is trying to bring in foreign 457 Visa workers to work in centres elsewhere across the country including Clarence Correctional Centre in Grafton, the biggest private prison in Australia, because Aussies don't want to work there because the pay and conditions are so poor.
"They have a track record of failure and of reducing pay and conditions for working people, today's decision is an absolute disgrace.
"Peter Malinauskis should hang his head in shame.
"He will have blood on his hands for this decision."
