PRISON officers at Cessnock Correctional Centre have walked off the job after a man who assaulted four guards was sentenced to what the union claimed was a "slap on the wrist".

Cameron Reginald Welsh, 26, was on Wednesday sentenced to a three-year good behaviour order, a community-based sentence, in Cessnock Local Court.

The sentence was handed down for four counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and inflicting actual bodily harm.

The Public Service Association of NSW issued a media release on Thursday saying prison officers from Cessnock Correctional Centre walked off the job on Thursday in response.

The statement said prison officers at Bathurst Correctional Centre also walked off the job, with prison officers at all of the state's 36 jails expected to follow this afternoon.

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