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Prisons in New South Wales and across Australia are rife with COVID-19, according to Brett Collins, a spokesperson for Justice Action. At the end of January, “half of detainees in had COVID-19 — some 400 people,” he told �鶹��ý. “Northern Territory prisons are awash with the deadly disease.”

Collins told a protest, called by  outside the NSW Correctional Services Office on February 10, that a man and a woman died from COVID-19 in Junee Correctional Centre, a public prison run by the private company GEO. The 48-year-old woman died on January 29, but her death was only made public by GEO on February 5. Two days before, on January 26, a 47-year-old man died in his cell after testing positive to COVID-19.

The mother of a person in Junee prison who witnessed the man's death told Jailing Truths Exposed (JTE) that the man had been diagnosed with the virus just days before. “Why wasn’t he sent to the medical unit or to hospital?" she asked. "He died in front of the other guys. The officers did a vague attempt to resuscitate him but sadly he died. He was left lying around for the doctor to sign off that he was dead. Horrendous to leave him there for some hours in front of the men. My son was devastated.”

Joanna Scriven from JTE, who has a relative in prison, told the protest that people in prisons must be “safely released”. She said feedback from JTE indicates it is “the worst they’ve seen in prison”. “Someone tried to kill themselves and the guards didn’t care. Racist guards wouldn’t give a First Nations man a blanket to sleep with. I’ve seen a male inmate with brain cancer they wouldn’t feed.

“I was handcuffed to a rail then had the fire hose put on me in the middle of winter. At Long Bay and Cessnock [prisons] they tried to strip-search my wife, pat her down and feel her up. Brutal rapings. Screws threaten a young Koori lad, throw him a piece of rope and tell him, do what you need to do.”

“These are just some of the responses,” Scriven said. “Can Correctives be any more inhumane? The answer is ‘Yes’ and the situation right now with COVID-19 spreading through the jails like wildfire proves it.”

Terrie-Givens from JTE spoke for Adele Graham, a family member of a person in prison. “We’ve had at least three riots in the last two months as people in prison are driven to the edge," she said. "We know people in prison who have COVID-19 are getting inadequate health treatment in contravention of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights [which does not exempt prisoners]. People are suffering horribly. They are our loved ones. We aren’t given adequate time to talk to them. We aren’t given access to truthful information regarding their welfare. We need them safely released.”

Collins told the protest that about 13,000 people are incarcerated in NSW prisons at any given time and 26,000 people go through the system each year. “Three of the state’s 36 correctional centres are privately operated, including Parklea Prison — the site of the largest COVID-19 outbreak in a prison," Collins said.

“People who have COVID-19 in prisons need acute care. Families have reported that their loved ones weren’t tested until days after developing symptoms. People who tested positive for COVID-19 have been locked in their cells 24 hours a day and only offered showers once every three days. Some don’t see sunlight for two to three weeks. People in prisons fear for their lives. Prison should not be a death sentence. The state government needs to make prisons safe and release prisoners."

Greens MLC David Shoebridge said the government has the power to release prisoners under its own COVID-19 Legislation Amendment (Emergency Measures) Act 2020, but that it has not acted on it.

Lindy Nolan from  also spoke.

Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Rachel Evans, who chaired the action, said the “only way to ensure people are safe from COVID-19 in prisons is to release them”.

“Worldwide, at the start of the pandemic, more than were released: Jordan released 30% of its prison population; France and Norway released more than . Victoria released people from prison when the Delta variant hit. NSW should be doing the same.”

University of New South Wales Professor of Criminology Eileen Baldry that a reasonable number of NSW prisoners may be eligible for conditional release, “which means that they are not under sentence, they are awaiting trial”. She said releasing prisoners will protect the community. She said about 30% of people in prison in NSW are on remand.