Public Works Committee: Yatala Labour Prison Redevelopment

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:57): By leave, on behalf of the member for Florey, I move:

That the 111^th report of the committee, entitled Yatala Labour Prison New 312 Bed Redevelopment and Supporting Infrastructure, be noted.

The Department for Correctional Services (DCS) is committed to reducing the number of reoffending prisoners, with the mission to manage offenders in a safe, secure, and humane environment as well as provide opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration. While DCS has had success in reducing recidivism, the department is experiencing a persistent trend of increasing prisoner numbers. This has resulted in a new prisoner peak of 3,390 statewide as of July last year.

The additional beds proposed in this project will assist the department in meeting these demands, and the associated infrastructure upgrades will support rehabilitative services that reduce the likelihood of prisoners reoffending by investing in strategic initiatives that ensure fewer people return to custody.

Yatala Labour Prison is South Australia's high-security metropolitan prison and is responsible for managing complex, high-risk prisoners from across the state. This includes remand, sentenced, high and medium security, protected and high-notoriety prisoners and includes managing prisoners for short periods of time, often at the most volatile point in their journey through the correctional services system.

DCS offender development staff deliver a range of critical multidisciplinary services, including the assessment and treatment of prisoners at risk of mental health crisis, including suicide and self-harm, disability assessment, Aboriginal cultural support, case management, literacy and numeracy education, substance abuse counselling, and intensive behaviour-change programs.

Beyond the pressure applied by the statewide increase in prisoner numbers, the prison is also in need of infrastructure upgrades. This is evident in the decommissioning of the education centre after it was deemed unfit due to several health, safety and security risks, including prisoners having direct access to staff due to a lack of security barriers, the absence of CCTV cameras, prisoners having access to critical movement control points and officers' stations, the general state of the building allowing for the potential concealment of contraband, substandard air conditioning and fire hazards due to prisoner access to the gas furnace.

Debate adjourned.