Not all prisoners in our prison system are equal - and that poses a problem for the prison authorities. Ray Williams was once the chairman of HIH Insurance which crashed spectacularly leaving debts of hundreds of millions of dollars. Williams and some other executives were put before a court and convicted of various irregularities and are now serving the latter part of their sentences.
At the trial it became obvious that Williams was a canny executive who had guarded against just such a calamity by making sure his family assets were not in his name. As a result, the palatial family home and it's surrounding acres and many other investments were beyond the reach of the court - and Williams could look forward to resuming a comfortable lifestyle when his sentence was served.
Now it has been revealed that Williams is the victim of an extortion plot by three other prisoners. He has been threatened with personal harm of a severe nature unless he arranges for half a million dollars to be transferred to his attackers.
Williams wisely took the matter to prison authorities and he has been moved from Cessnock gaol to an undisclosed location.
This new situation poses a major problem for the people running the prison system. Now the idea of shaking Williams down for protection has surfaced he will be a marked man wherever he is housed, and that will mean special protection and all the extra man hours that will impose on prison staff.
The most likely outcome is that his case will get precedence with the parole board and - because he has been a model prisoner - the system will get rid of him by way of an early release.
Unfortunately there will be a precedent. The prison population will obviously speculate on who else has the capacity to pay for protection within the system - and the vicious cycle of greed will take one more turn !
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