PRISON officers are “sitting ducks” in the Toyota Camrys that are being used to transport prisoners despite being deemed “unsuitable” in a report seven months ago, according to the Canberra Liberals. 

The claim comes after a white Jeep 4WD rammed into a Corrective Services transport vehicle — a Toyota Camry — in Griffith on Friday (July 9) afternoon, which led to the escape of a prisoner.

The prisoner, who was handcuffed at the time, left the scene with a female driver in the Jeep.

Following calls from shadow corrections minister Elizabeth Kikkert to replace the Camry transport vehicles, the ACT government told “CityNews” this afternoon (July 15) that other transport will be used “where possible” and the Camry fleet will be replaced soon.

However, it’s been more than seven months since the “ACT Inspector of Corrections Report”, which looked into Toyota Camrys that were used to transport prisoners to court, revealed the unsuitability of the Toyota Camry, with the report’s findings questioning if the cars were ever “fit-for-purpose”.

The report also stated that Court Transport Unit (CTU) officers believed the Toyota Camry was “too small in situations where staff need to wear bulky personal protection equipment (PPE), such as body pads, on escorts of potentially violent detainees”.

Ms Kikkert believes prison officer safety is being “neglected”, saying: “The Inspector of Correctional Services told the ACT government seven months ago that Camrys are not suitable for prison transport.

“Anyone who has seen the dashcam footage of last week’s escape can see why. The minister is putting our corrections officers (COs) at further risk in what is already a dangerous job.”

A spokesperson for the ACT government said ACT Corrective Services is working with the Community and Public Sector Union to ensure safety and wellbeing of staff.

“This includes reviewing transport arrangements and the type of vehicles used,” the spokesperson said.

However, Ms Kikkert says if the Corrections Minister, Mick Gentleman, really cared about the COs, he would have rectified this situation when he received the inspector’s report in 2020.

“The minister has had numerous opportunities since then to fix this,” she says.