In Rudd's Australia ANYTHING Goes

Screws helped smuggle gangster sperm

By Linda Silmalis
July 12, 2009 12:00am

THREE of the State's highest-ranking prison officials helped a notorious gangland criminal smuggle his sperm out of jail so he could father a child with his girlfriend.

It is understood officials used a medical courier, believed to be the taxpayer-funded Justice Health, to speed specimens to the woman and that it took two attempts for her to conceive.

Their involvement has made a joke of security in NSW prisons and embarrassed the man who appointed them, Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham.

The Sunday Telegraph learned of the serious breach of security on Thursday as staff were being put on notice that they would be called in for interviews by Mr Woodham, who was alerted to the breach by another agency.

For legal reasons, we cannot identify the inmate - a major underworld figure - or his connections, the suspended staff or the prison, making it difficult to portray the seriousness of the breach.

But it is without doubt the Corrective Services Department's biggest embarrassment since Lucy Dudko used a hijacked helicopter to free armed robber John Killick from Silverwater jail in 1999.

The legal restrictions allow Mr Woodham to avoid public scrutiny and the State Government to shut down reporting of the incident.

Corrective Services Minister John Robertson announced an in-house investigation would be conducted by former police chief superintendent Rod Harvey.

"The minister is deeply concerned by this serious breach of protocol, but we're unable to comment further at the moment for legal reasons," Mr Robertson's spokeswoman said.

A doctor and a nurse from Justice Health have been interviewed over their role in the plot and are understood to have also been stood down pending further inquiries.

Prison sources claim three prison officials under investigation are regarded as some of Mr Woodham's closest allies. It is understood the trio were suspended on June 25 on full pay.

Senior prison sources said one of them carried the sample to a medical courier waiting at the prison gates. The prisoner's partner eventually gave birth to a boy about 10 months ago.

"Ron went off his head when he found out about it last week," a senior prison source said. "All the officers of the jail have been sworn to secrecy, but bits and pieces have come out."

Last week Assistant Commissioner Don Rodgers told staff security of the prison system had been "seriously compromised".

Serious questions about the management of the prison system remain. Last month, gang-rapist brothers Bilal and Mohammed Skaf were found with two hidden mobile phones in a maximum-security jail cell.

This month, the department was again embarrassed after the escape of Robert John Everingham, 41, from a hospital.

Everingham was being treated at the Waverley War Memorial Hospital in Sydney when he escaped, causing a security alert at a nearby girls' school.

This is nothing more than a conspiracy committed by people, paid to protect the people of New South Wales from criminals,willing to do what they did in exchange for WHAT ? and from who ?
Ron Woodham is, from all reports a good bloke, straight up and down, so how did this happen ? just what is it that this criminal had over his co conspirators ?

BTW Guess what ethnic Multicultural group controls the NSW Jails ?..........yes you got it "those of who we do not speak".... PIOUS MUSLIMS.

To be fair to those who have been stood down no one knows what possible pressures were brought to bear upon them or their families,it may not be a case of cash for sperm trafficking, it could be a case of do this or kiss you own family good bye, who knows.

Islams finest,Bilal and Mohammed Skaf,gang rapists found with phones on cells

Phones found in cells of gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf

LiveNews | Richard Maxton

Mobile phones have been found in the prison cells of notorious gang rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, raising questions about security at Goulburn jail.

Muslim Gang Rapists, Bilal & Mohammed Skaf.

Acting on intelligence, guards at Goulburn Correctional Facility's maximum security division searched the pair's cell on Tuesday.

"During the search they found hidden in the bottom of a cabinet, underneath a steel plate which was riveted to the cabinet frame, two mobile phones," a Department of Corrective Services spokesman said.

The brothers were strip-searched then split up after the breach was discovered, with Bilal, 26, placed in isolation at Goulburn while Mohammed, 25, was tranferred to Lithgow jail.

Bilal Skaf was found guilty of leading multiple pack rapes in Sydney in the leadup to the 2000 Olympics, summoning his friends by mobile phone for the attacks.

His brother Mohammed was found guilty for his part in four rapes, luring young women into the attacks, one of which lasted over six hours.

A major investigation is reportedly underway into how the two phones found their way into the Skafs' cell, with video footage set to be scrutinized.

Officers rostered in the brothers' wing will also be interviewed, a senior officer at Goulburn said.

While the Skaf brothers have had recent visitors, the prisoners were searched before and after the visits.

It is not the first security infraction involving the brothers. In 2002 the Skaf's mother, Baria, was banned from visiting all NSW jails after being caught on video trying to smuggle letters from Bilal to his fiance containing sketches of his cell and exercise yard.

In September of the same year the Skaf's father, Mustapha, was accused of trying to bribe security guards to let him talk to his son on the phone.

In August 2002 Bilal was sentenced to 55 years in jail, with Crown Prosecutor, Margaret Cunneen, said Skaf's actions, described as ethnically motivate hate crimes, had left a stain on the psyche of the citizens of NSW.

Then Premier Bob Carr said he was happy to see the "sort of sentence the community expects."

In October of the same year Judge Michael Finane described Mohammed as "a vicious, cowardly bully" before sentencing him to 32 years.

Bilal is now due to be released in 2031, while Mohammed can't apply for parole until 2018 after the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal allowed minor reductions in their sentences.

• 'Out of touch': Outrage over Skaf brothers' sentence cuts
• Where to now for the brothers Skaf?
• New pack-rape claims emerge against Skaf brothers
• Serial rapist questioned over child sex

Update:

How the evil Skaf brothers obtained mobile phones

By Rhett Watson and Kara Lawrence
The Daily Telegraph
May 29, 2009 12:00am

THE gang rapist Skaf brothers prised apart a steel cabinet to hide two mobile phones in their maximum security jail cell.

The details of the pair's underhanded concealment methods emerged last night as prison authorities remained baffled as to how two of the country's most notorious criminals smuggled phones into Goulburn prison.

One option being considered is that the phones were thrown over the prison walls, which Corrective Services senior officer Don Rodgers admitted could occur.

The phones' discovery last night led Commissioner Ron Woodham to vow that Bilal, 27, and Mohammed, 26, will never see each other again while they are behind bars.

Gallery and video: Come inside Goulburn's Supermax prison

"No. Never. They'll be in different jails and they'll never be together again," he said.

Both were strip-searched after the phones were found and moved into segregation where they will stay for two to three months until the investigation is complete.

Mohammed was moved to Lithgow jail and Bilal will remain in Goulburn jail's segregation section. One of the phones had a SIM card, making it live. There was no reason to believe it had not been used.

Prison investigators will use the SIM card from the Skafs' phone to work out how many calls were made, to whom and, possible, how long it has been in the jail.

There was speculation in Corrective Services that the calls would be more of a personal nature than criminal.

Prison officers only became aware of the smuggled contraband after a tip-off led to a raid on several cells on Tuesday morning.

Inside Goulburn Supermax

The brothers, who shared a cell, had managed to drill out the rivets on a cabinet which has a tubular steel frame and sheet metal covering it.

They had popped one of the sheets off the bottom of the cabinet, hidden the phones on the frame and then placed the sheet metal skin back over it.

"After that we've ramped up the searches in the jail and pulled apart every piece of furniture in all the cells," Mr Woodham said.

"We had a special team brought down from Sydney to get involved and we had about 80 to 90 officers from different areas sent in to do the search."

While Prisons Minister John Robertson yesterday said the discovery of the phones showed the "system actually works", the State Government was criticised that two notorious criminals, guilty of the worst pack rapes in NSW, were able to get phones in jail.

Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said that the Government had a lot of explaining to do.

"What we know is they've been found in one of the most secure prisons in this state and they are owned, apparently, by two of the state's most notorious rapists," he said.

"When courts send serial rapists like the Skaf brothers to jail . . . there is meant to be punishment. The public does not expect them to have access to mobile phones."

The Government hopes to reduce the problems with mobile phone smuggling by creating jamming systems at its jails.

Mr Robertson said he hoped to receive approval from the Federal Government to trial a system at Lithgow jail. He also said the system that allows siblings to stay in the same cells was also being reviewed.

Southwest region corrective services assistant commissioner John Dunthorne said the Skafs were together because: "It's very hard to place any Skaf in any jail and certainly not with any other inmate. Nobody wants a bar of them."