Gary Hamblin was awarded the Australian Corrections Medal (ACM) in January this year. Photo: James Coleman.
If you’re a prison guard, there’s nothing like putting your weapon away – or locking it in a cabinet in a separate room – to give the alleged criminal standing next to you ideas.
Convicted burglar Nec Gorman, for instance, took the opportunity to flee through the court room’s side doors and out into the streets of Civic – losing a pair of prison-issued sandals in the process – after receiving his sentence from the ACT Supreme Court in June 2023.
Gorman made it all the way to Braidwood before he was caught and arrested by NSW Police, and eventually extradited back to the ACT.
Chances are this wouldn’t happen now thanks to 10 months of advocacy work by Gary Hamblin, head of the Court Transport Unit at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC).
He’s the reason officers are now allowed to bring cans of capsicum spray into court with them.
“So, you’re handcuffed and in a room about to enter the court door,” he paints the picture.
“We take the handcuffs off you, we open a sort of mailbox in the wall, take our capsicum spray, put it in there and lock it.
“You’ve just witnessed us put 80 per cent of our deterrents away, so if you had any thoughts of escape or assault or non-compliance, you’re going to do it. Or when you’re actually in the court, and perhaps don’t manage your disappointment so well … It happens in the court too.”
The first cell AMC detainees are often placed in after arriving from court. Photo: James Coleman.
While there might only be one case of a criminal taking this opportunity by the horns, Gary could “see the effect it had in the confidence our officers had”.
Partly due to this work, Gary was awarded the Australian Corrections Medal (ACM) by the Governor General in January for “distinguished service as a member of an Australian correctional service” (following the ACT Public Service Medal he won last year).
Several landmarks of Canberra – including the National Carillon, Treasury, and Old Parliament House – lit up in blue on Friday, 16 May, to celebrate the impact of service people such as Gary for National Corrections Day.
Inside Cell 1. Photo: James Coleman.
Wagga-born and with various IT jobs under his belt in London, Edinburgh and New York, Gary says his career in corrections really started in Japan in 2003.
His wife at the time was working a demanding IT contract with a bank in Tokyo, while Gary assumed the role of stay-at-home dad with their two children, aged two and four.
Shortly after volunteering for a local school council, Gary was asked by a member of the city’s disaster recovery board if he’d be willing to join and contribute from a foreigner’s perspective.
“What I would say is if you’re going to be in a disaster, Japan’s not a bad place to be. You feel earthquakes often there, but they’re so well prepared.”
He says this was his introduction to “understanding first-responder responsibilities” – and he really enjoyed it.
So when the global financial crisis arrived and his family had to return to Australia, Gary leapt at a friend’s suggestion to apply for a job with ACT Corrections.
“He said, ‘I reckon I’ve got the perfect job for you, but you’ll have to apply now.’ I applied … and here we are, 15 years later.”
AMC had only opened a year earlier in 2009. Gary was assigned a place in the Court Transport Unit, responsible for escorting prisoners to and from court.
“The name ‘Court Transport Unit’ sort of undersells it because you’ll go to the watchhouse, pick up those fresh into custody, take them to the jail, transport detainees to the hospital for mental health assessments, on top of court appearances.
“When I started, it was a one-officer escort so you would take a person to court on your own, and as a new officer, that was pretty scary.
“You’re certainly drained at the end of the day because you’re constantly on alert. Whether you are on a platform and a train comes and you see one carriage and you go, ‘Let’s go down to this carriage instead’ and you’re not really sure why, but you just learn to trust your gut.”
Another crucial step in the admissions process is the mug shot. Photo: James Coleman.
There was initially fear of the word “spray” when Gary first suggested officers be allowed to carry capsicum spray into the court room.
“But it’s not like a can of Mortein where there’s spray going everywhere – it’s more of a direct gel,” he says.
“So I gave a demonstration in the chambers and I think that was pretty powerful.”
Court security and the chief magistrates were eventually won over. And while a can of capsicum spray is yet to go off in an ACT court room since the change in late 2023, Gary says his colleagues all feel a lot more comfortable.
“Eighty per cent of why you have deterrents is because people know you have deterrents … so very much so [my colleagues] feel as though they’re on par with supports available to AMC staff too.”
As for the next 15 years, Gary says he has “no consideration of retirement”.
“This job causes me to regret my age, because I love it … There’s no need to judge, all that’s been done. Your job is to keep the person safe and secure.”
Original Article published by James Coleman on Region Canberra.
