Prison officers sacked over 'Sausagegate'
By Paul Heinrichs
March 19, 2006
FOUR prison officers have been sacked and two more counselled in the wake of the so-called "Sausagegate" scandal, which hurt and humiliated a vulnerable inmate of the privately owned and run Port Phillip Prison.
The Bracks Government has put GSL Australia, operator of the Laverton maximum-security complex, on notice over a spate of alarming incidents.
The prisoner was tricked into believing he was leaving the jail, coerced into inserting a sausage in his body, then strip-searched by officers "in" on the "joke".
The dismissed officers were corrections supervisor Trevor Spearman, who allegedly tried to cover up the incident, and corrections officer Steven Harmat, who allegedly played the leading role, and corrections officers Russell Davies and Appudurai Natkunarajah, who joined the prank.
Until last week, they had been suspended for six to nine months on full pay following the report of the investigation by GSL's security manager, Jim Keegan, revealed exclusively in The Sunday Age last week.
Anti-private prison activist Charandev Singh said the report shows that more needs to be done to address serious systemic problems in the prison.
www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/03/18/1142582577801.html