CORRECTIVE Services NSW says there was not a breakdown in the management plan for controlling an 'Outkast Gang' of inmates, who are alleged to have assaulted a fellow prisoner at the Wellington Correctional Centre on Thursday.
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The man is in a critical but stable condition in a Sydney hospital.
Police are investigating that incident and a fire that was lit in a jail cell on the same day.
The Outkast gang was formed in January.
Seven members were moved to Wellington Correctional Centre where it’s understood they expanded their membership.
The gang had 26 members across NSW and inmates have been spread around the state to stop their influence and placed on strict conditions.
NSW Corrective Services said the men were being managed and separated, held in their cells for 22 hours a day, at Wellington Correctional Centre in order to manage their unwillingness to be compliant with working orders and also follow the structure of the day.
But since the management plan began some of the alleged gang members have deregistered themselves from Outkast, which had resulted in them getting more time outside and returning to the correctional centre’s structure, according to a NSW Corrective Services spokesperson.
Low risk inmates worked on many projects at the correctional centre to help with their rehabilitation. Some were allowed outside to work on community projects in Wellington, the spokesperson said.
According to prison guard Troy Bryant the ‘Outkast Gang’ showed disrespect to the fellow inmates and correctional centre officers and they had been “segregated and some shipped away”.
“They are a new group willing to do whatever they have to do to make a name for themselves,” he said.
Mr Bryant said the Outkast Gang is in a wing for non-compliant prisoners.
The eight year long senior officer admitted the job of a correctional centre officer is far from easy.
''But it's a job we choose to do and we deal with what comes to us.'' He said.
