3 days ago
Wife of pilot Daniel Duggan criticises changes to visiting hours at NSW jail
Saffrine Duggan says her heart breaks every time she watches her children farewell their father, Daniel, at a jail in western New South Wales.
For months, she and her six kids have made a weekly four-hour round trip to visit him at the Macquarie Correctional Centre at Wellington.
He is awaiting extradition to the United States, accused of breaching arms trafficking laws.
Mr Duggan, an Australian citizen and a former US Marines pilot, is accused of training Chinese pilots at a South African flying school in 2012.
He denies the charges and his family is challenging the extradition order in the Federal Court.
"It's been horrendous," Ms Duggan said.
"Dan has been in prison for over 32 months and 19 of those months were in solitary confinement. It's been exhausting.
"I'm just hanging in there. So is my husband.
"They [our children] always do a heart with their fingers on their heart to their dad and that just breaks my heart every single week."
Ms Duggan has roused her children early on Sunday mornings to drive to the jail for a few hours together as a family.
She says that has become harder because face-to-face visits on Sundays are no longer permitted.
"We were not individually notified. I have to go on a government booking system that allows me to book the visit," Ms Duggan said.
"I set my alarm for 10 past 12 on Sunday night to wake up so I can make sure that I can [book] a visit with my husband with the kids.
"[While doing that] we noticed that you're not able to visit on a Sunday anymore."
Sunday visits have been replaced by meetings via audio-visual links (AVL) to allow more inmates to see family and friends.
"A three-month trial has commenced at the prison, whereby in-person visits on Sundays have been replaced with AVL visits from 7am to 5pm, allowing up to 90 inmates a visit," a Corrective Services NSW spokesperson said.
"The trial brings Macquarie Correctional Centre more in line with the rest of the state and will be reviewed with staff and inmates upon completion.
"The trial is being conducted at the request of inmates, who are hoping to lift the burden on families to travel long distances to the prison."
The spokesperson said in-person visits were still allowed at Macquarie Correctional Centre on Saturdays from 8am to 4pm.
"Corrective Services NSW understands the importance of ensuring inmates maintain a connection to their family and friends and facilitates both in-person and video visits at all NSW correctional centres," the spokesperson said.
Ms Duggan said she had been trying to limit the emotional toll of her husband's incarceration on their children by ensuring they did not miss out on extracurricular activities.
"I'm forced to make a decision on a Saturday whether my kids get to visit their dad or whether they get to do sport," Ms Duggan said.
"I just find it emotionally like another slap in the face.
"I'm a big believer that sport is helping with their courage to keep going, to help with their emotions, to regulate their emotions."
She said her family was only able to visit once every few weeks.
"Having a hug from your child lets all of your pain go away for just that moment. Having AVL is not the answer."
Ms Duggan said her husband had also been denied visits from friends and was only permitted to see immediate family or legal representatives.
"We do not understand why. He has been before [but] that has been overturned," she said.
She said they had written to the commissioner of Corrective Services NSW but had not received a response.
Corrective Services NSW declined to answer the ABC's questions about the change.
