A female prisoner is fighting for life and a corrections officer has been hospitalised after a brutal assault inside Adelaide Women’s Prison — an incident the Public Service Association (PSA) says was “inevitable” amid chronic understaffing and poor safety standards.

The incident unfolded about 10.40am on Friday, when a 21-year-old inmate allegedly bashed a fellow prisoner with a metal pole, inflicting life-threatening head and facial injuries and nearly severing one of her fingers, according to the Advertiser .

A corrections officer who stepped in to stop the assault was also struck with the weapon and rushed to hospital with a suspected broken hand.

The PSA has condemned the incident, warning that South Australia’s correctional system is “dangerously under-resourced” and putting liv

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