Taxis used to take prisoners to court

Prisoners are being collected from a city court complex by unarmed guards in taxis.

The Advertiser has learnt that, on at least two occasions in the past month, unarmed court sheriff's officers have been ordered to hire a taxi to transport prisoners from the Sturt St complex to the District Court, in Victoria Square.

However, in a statement issued today, Department of Correctional Services chief executive Peter Severin said this was "false and misleading".

"The Department for Correctional Services does not transfer prisoners in taxis," he said.

"G4S, the company contracted to undertake most prisoner transfers in South Australia, does not transfer prisoners in taxis and they were directed as recently as March last year that they are not to use taxis in the transfer of prisoners.

"Correctional Services officers on escort are not armed.

"The story is false in that premise and a phone call to either my office or the Minister’s office would have verified this.

"The Correctional Services Department has a tough job to do and reporting wrong facts such as these make it even tougher."

Yesterday, the Taxi Council SA said its members regularly undertook "prison runs" - but usually with armed Correctional Services Department officers.

This month, the prisoners took their 1km, $10 to $15 trip - through residential and shopping precincts - handcuffed and sitting between two unarmed sheriffs.

While their identities are unknown, the Sturt St courts generally deal with rape, assault and drug offenders.

Yesterday, a sheriff's officer said court staff, taxi drivers and members of the public had been placed in danger.

"You can't just shove a prisoner in a taxi and move them around," he said. "It's not a controlled environment, and it places us and the drivers in a position that none of us really want to be in.

"This is bad practice, it's not good enough and it's just ridiculous."

Public Service Association general secretary Jan McMahon said it was another symptom of the courts being crippled by government "cost-cutting".

"A taxi is not a secure environment for prisoner transport," she said.

"Public safety is being put at risk through cost-cutting measures ... this sort of prisoner transport is not appropriate."

However, a Courts Administration Authority spokesman yesterday insisted it was "not a budget issue".

He said a taxi was used only because none of the Authority's pool cars was available at the time.

"This is a very rare occurrence, there was a full security assessment carried out and there was no risk," he said. "It wasn't related to any budget issues, there just didn't happen to be a pool car available that day."

The $3.2m Sturt St courts opened in September 2009 amid controversy.

The Advertiser revealed it had no security X-ray, insecure jury and witness rooms and no showers for staff spat or bled on by defendants.

Then attorney-general Michael Atkinson approved an 11th-hour refit after insisting the building was up to standard.

In January 2010, the building's air-conditioning caused repeated blackouts during the Carly Ryan murder trial, interrupting key evidence.

The Victoria Square courts, meanwhile, continue to struggle with inadequate facilities.

Prisoner elevators have broken down 11 times in six months, trapping sheriffs with prisoners for hours at a time.

Last week's State Budget included funds for upgraded security and elevators in all court houses.

Yesterday, the sheriff's officer said using taxis to transport prisoners made "no sense".

"We've got our own cars for prisoner transport and, if they're not available, we can use pool cars," he said. He said the use of taxis was not sanctioned in operations manuals "and just should not be happening".

"If cars weren't available on these occasions, using taxis is just plain laziness on the part of management," he said.

"We want to know who actually ordered these trips, and why we're being asked to do this."

Shadow attorney-general Stephen Wade said he "wouldn't be surprised" if a lack of government funding was to blame.

"The Rann Government still hasn't received the message that the court's infrastructure is dysfunctional," he said. "It baffles me as to why court staff, taxi drivers and the public should be exposed to such risk."

Taxi Council SA executive director Wally Sievers said drivers were under no obligation to take prisoner transport jobs.

"It is something drivers have done in the past, although with (armed) Correctional Services Officers," he said.

"It's the driver's choice to take the fare, and we trust the guards have the situation under control.

"Drivers that have taken those fares haven't reported anything back to us."

(Published by Adelaide Now - June 14, 2011)