A Victorian opposition plan to equip corrections officers with drones to monitor contraband could be rolled out to prisons including central Victoria’s Loddon and Tarrengower facilities.
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While the initial trial would not include either prison, Shadow Minister for Corrections Edward O’Donohue said the goal would be to expand any program across the entire correctional system.
Mr O’Donohue said contraband was regularly thrown, hit or dropped over prison walls and fences, fueling a black market.
The plan would see drones introduced to bolster intelligence gathering inside and outside prison walls, with birds eye views improving real time responses.
The drones could also be deployed to monitor a prison perimeter and watch for drops of drugs and contraband when tip-offs were received.
A government spokesperson did not directly answer a question about whether prisons like Loddon or Tarrengower should be equipped with drones, but said that since taking office the government had opened nearly 2000 new beds — with more than 1200 more beds to come — and added more than 520 prison staff.
The spokesperson said the government took its advice from Correction Victoria and Victoria Police when it came to the safety of the community and the prison system.
Drones would enable prison management to continue to monitor and gather intelligence where CCTV cameras were destroyed during riots, O’Donohue said.
He said correctional officers including those involved in the 2017 Metropolitan Remand Centre riot, had told him they wished they’d had drones to help gather evidence or deal with riots.
While prisons have CCTV systems to capture prisoner movements and disturbances, their location is usually fixed, with limitations in reach.
Officers already use a range of detection measures to minimise the introduction of contraband in prisons, including drug detection dogs, extensive searching, random and targeted drug testing of prisoners and intelligence operations.
Prisoners caught with contraband face a range of management measures, including bans on receiving visitors, or being transferred to more secure units. Matters may also be referred to Victoria Police for criminal investigation.