An alleged attack by an Islamic State sympathiser inside a NSW prison is a sign the system is in crisis, Labor claims.
An 18-year-old has been charged over the attack on Thursday when he allegedly carved "e4e" into the head of a man who claimed to be a former Australian soldier, with whom he was sharing a cell.
The lettering is an apparent reference to the terror group's "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" mantra.
The radicalised teen is also accused of pouring boiling water over his 40-year-old cellmate's face, choking him and breaking his sternum.
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley said the attack was the latest saga in an "ever-lengthening story" of prison mismanagement.
He blamed a critical shortage of prison beds for pushing the system to crisis point.
Meanwhile, Corrections Minister David Elliott says it's unlikely the victim served in the military, despite claims he served in East Timor, but that didn't change the seriousness of the incident.
He told ABC the victim, who had been admitted to hospital, had claimed in a Corrective Services interview on Monday that he had served in the Army Reserve but not the Australian Regular Army or overseas military operations in East Timor.
The 18-year-old has been relocated and is expected to face Kempsey Local Court on May 23.
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