INSTITUTIONAL child abuse survivors in Cessnock and Shortland correctional centres are being denied legal representation and access to justice, according to their civil litigation lawyers.
Slater and Gordon principal lawyer Ciara White said Corrective Services NSW had introduced changes in recent weeks and before the current COVID-19 lockdowns that had prevented lawyers from having face to face, video link or telephone meetings with their clients at Cessnock and Shortland about civil matters.
Ms White said colleagues representing clients in civil matters at other centres across the state, as well as criminal lawyers representing clients at Cessnock and Shortland, have been allowed to maintain access.
"I contacted the Ombudsman and they've been very proactive, they've been reaching out [to the prisons] with no response - and no policy as to why this is occurring has been forthcoming," Ms White said.
"They've just indiscriminately decided... there's no policy on it, no reasoning has been given, so I don't know how to facilitate my clients right now, which as a lawyer is incredibly alarming."
Ms White said often, lawyers were the only people the survivors spoke to about their experiences of sexual, physical or psychological abuse.
"They don't want family to know, friends, or anybody else they're incarcerated with to know, so by cutting off that contact it's nearly like [reinforcing] that trauma," she said.
"These people have waited for decades to come out with their stories in some cases, so it takes a lot to build one of these cases and run it.
"This is just going to slow them down again.
"We try and run these as efficiently as possible, because it is a harrowing experience for them all.
"I don't know what they're being told internally either for the lack of contact, so I imagine it's quite a distressing situation for them."
Ms White said as well as causing undue stress and uncertainty, the lack of contact would delay the already lengthy claims process and hinder matters progressing towards court.
Ms White said her appointments for video link and telephone meetings with inmates in Cessnock and Shortland had been cancelled.
"We were told face to face only, so we went and booked face to face conferences and they were all cancelled [too] - and to be clear, we booked face to face for a month from now, outside of the lockdown period."
A spokeswoman for Corrective Services NSW [CSNSW] said the agency recognised "the importance of inmate contact with legal representatives and aim to facilitate all legal requests".
"Due to COVID-19 restrictions to in-person visits there is an extremely high demand for video conferencing and scheduled telephone calls state-wide," the spokeswoman said.
"Corrective Services NSW is working to ensure legal representatives have equitable access to inmates, while prioritising criminal proceedings to meet the requirements of the courts.
"Inmates can continue to contact their civil litigation lawyers through the inmate telephone system.
"CSNSW has facilitated more than 120,000 legal visits via video conferencing and scheduled phone calls in the past year."
