A special task force led by a former top NSW police officer will investigate the "cultural issue" in prisons after allegations of guards sleeping with inmates became public.
NSW Corrections Minister David Elliott says he's become aware of "appalling revelations" in prisons across the state in the past 10 days, which reflect a "cultural issue" across the system.
The task force, to be led by former NSW Police assistant commissioner Mark Murdoch, will investigate allegations of inappropriate relationships between guards and inmates in the past decade.
"I have no doubt that this sort of behaviour has been going on since 1788 ... I thought in the 21st century it had been managed but that's clearly untrue," Mr Elliott told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
The minister said he was "furious" nobody had raised the issue with him until it was revealed in the media last week that a female guard was suspended over claims she had a sexual relationship with a convicted cop-killer at a mid-north coast jail.
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The guard was reportedly involved with Sione Penisini who is serving a 36-year sentence for the murder of Sydney police officer Glenn McEnallay in 2002.
Mr Murdoch described the allegations as "unconscionable".
Since then Mr Elliott became aware of several similar allegations across other prisons.
"There are a number of professions where you have to forfeit personal rights, you have to forfeit the niceties of relationships you might want to establish at any given time - I include corrections officers in that category," he said.
Mr Elliott warned he would be "coming down very hard" on any officers found to have put the order of running a prison at stake and will look at increasing penalties for officers found to be in inappropriate relationships.
Mr Murdoch said the recent allegations in the media would be the start of his investigation, which could unearth a much bigger problem.
He'll make recommendations to the government on how to strengthen the way such allegations are investigated and how they should be disciplined.
