Cameron Welsh, 26, was given a three-year community corrections order (CCO) for assaulting the guards.<\/p>\n
The Public Service Association (PSA) says two of the victims will never work as prison officers again.<\/p>\n
Prison officers were injured at Cessnock Correctional Complex earlier this year. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Today, the NSW Minister for Corrective Services, Anoulack Chanthivong, announced a review into the way inmates were classified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our prison officers work in some of the toughest environments across the state \u2026 they are not punching bags for criminals and inmates,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
he said.<\/p>\n
“They’re there to support and keep our community safe, and we need to ensure that our procedures and our legislation continue to support and create a safe environment for all involved.”<\/p>\n
Classification is the process whereby inmates are given a security rating \u2014 maximum, medium or minimum \u2014 that then determines where they are to be held during their sentence and the conditions under which they are managed.<\/p>\n
Factors include the seriousness of the offence, length of sentence, and any previous criminal or custodial history.<\/p>\n
Classifications are then reviewed by the Commissioner of Corrective Services at least every 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4ae17fc51ab67ab0aae06cc89caa9e96\")
<\/p>\n
Anoulack Chanthivong says the review aims to keep both officers and inmates safe. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
A statement released by the NSW government said the review would investigate the systems and processes that contribute to classification, and ensure an inmate’s record of behaviour while in custody played a role in their annual reclassification.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Union responds<\/p>\n
The union representing NSW prison guards has welcomed the review, but said officers needed more say in the classification process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“At the moment, the classification system is done as a desktop exercise,” PSA senior industrial officer David Bartle said.<\/p>\n
“There needs to be an officer on the ground that is involved in that classification system because that officer is most aware of what that inmate is like on a day-to-day basis.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The state government said the Commissioner would conduct the review in consultation with staff, the union and other stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sentence to be appealed<\/p>\n
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is appealing the non-custodial sentence handed to Welsh, with the matter listed in the District Court on November 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once handed the CCO, Walsh was eligible for release on parole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Parole Authority has since said it would review that situation, with a hearing set for December 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services will review inmate classifications following the assault of four prison guards earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":368428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10762,4740,177864,177863,177866,49136,5333,50,43416,5332,177865,2290],"class_list":{"0":"post-368427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-assault","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bashing","11":"tag-classification","12":"tag-corrective-services","13":"tag-inmate","14":"tag-jail","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-officers","17":"tag-prison","18":"tag-public-service-association","19":"tag-review"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115523558917711599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}