Sex, drugs allegations rock women`s jail

Victorian Premier John Brumby has admitted to drug detection failures at a women's
prison, more than a year after the state ombudsman exposed major contraband
breaches.
Police and Corrections Minister Bob Cameron has called for an investigation after
claims were aired of mounting drug overdoses at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and
on-the-job sex between prison officers.
The Age newspaper said there had been at least seven overdoses - and perhaps as many
as 11 - at the centre in Melbourne's west in the past six months.
Heroin and methamphetamine are readily available in the jail, an unnamed Office of
Corrections source told the newspaper.
The jail's acting operations manager has been accused of changing rosters so he
could have sex with a prison officer, the newspaper said.
Two prison officers have been investigated for misconduct over those allegations, it
said.
Details of the sexual encounters, including one on prison grounds, were allegedly
revealed in emails.
A department source aware of the incident said: "Who was supervising the prison
while this was going on?"
There has also been a spate of suicide attempts at the jail, and a 25 per cent
increase in the number of women sentenced to jail has caused overcrowding, the
newspaper said.
The allegations come after an ombudsman's report in June last year identified major
problems with search and seizure policies that allowed drugs and other contraband to
enter the grounds.
Victorian Premier John Brumby denied that nothing had been done to address the
issues since the report but said it was clear the problems were ongoing.
"Those matters were brought to the attention of prison authorities and they put
steps in place to prevent drug use and drugs being smuggled into prisons, but it
would appear that despite those measures there may still be some drugs that are
getting into the prison," he told reporters.
"That's a matter of major concern to the corrections commissioner. It's a matter of
major concern to the minister and he's asked for a full and detailed report.
"Our record by and large in this area has always been pretty good but these are very
serious claims that have been made and they'll be fully investigated and I can
assure you that if any further steps are necessary to prevent drugs getting into
prisons we'll take those steps."