Killers lose right to sue prison

June 18, 2009 12:00am

CONVICTED killer Bassam Hamzy's quest to sue prisons boss Ron Woodham has come to an end with the State Government today announcing it will legislate to cruel his lawsuit.

He and fellow murderer Emad Sleiman have argued their segregation in jail was a deprivation of liberty.

The retrospective legislation is to be introduced next week and is aimed to shoring up Mr Woodham's right to manage prisoners in the way that he sees fit.

Hamzy and Sleiman won the right to sue Mr Woodham in April after the Supreme Court ruled they had a strong enough case for it to be heard.

Premier Nathan Rees criticised that decision in parliament today and acknowledged that "under the law they may succeed''.

"We will legislate to confirm the reasonable practises of the Department of Corrective Services and close the loophole,'' he said.

"We will legislate to uphold the right of Corrective Services to manage prisoners and keep absurd lawsuits like the Hamzy Sleiman case out of the courts.''

"We won't have legitimate prison management being second guessed by criminals in the Supreme Court.

"And we won't be handing out taxpayers' dollars in return for this sort of complaint.''

Hamzy has also been accused of trying to run a drug business from behind bars by using a smuggled phone.

He allegedly used dental floss to transfer a mobile phone between cells where he is accused of making more than 19,000 phone calls from to co-ordinate a $250,000-a-week drug operation.

"My reaction to their grab for cash is one of revulsion and utter disbelief,'' Mr Rees said.

"As far as I am concerned, not one cent of taxpayer money will wind up in the hands of these vicious disruptive thugs.

Taxpayers have already paid $2million to keep Hamzy and Sleiman in maximum security cells.

The pair claimed they were being held in a "prison within a prison'' at Lithgow jail after their plot to escape from Goulburn by converting other inmates to Islam was foiled last year.

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