YATALA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

243 The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (25 March 2009). Can the Minister for Correctional Services advise—

1. What was the average cost to keep one prisoner at the Yatala Correctional Facility for the year 2008?

2. What was the average cost to keep one prisoner within G Division for one year?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy): The Minister for Correctional Services has advised:

The Department for Correctional Services does not record the average cost per prisoner by institution or average cost per prisoner by unit at an institution.

The Yatala correctional facility is categorised as one of the high security prisons in the State of South Australia. The average cost per prisoner in a secure prison in 2007-08, as reported in the Report on Government Services was $179.86 per day. This measure is calculated using methodology and standards applied across all jurisdictions. There is no equivalent measure, or agreed methodology, for calculating the daily prisoner cost by an individual institution or in a unit within an institution.

However, as the staffing to prisoner ratio for G division is higher than in other units of Yatala, the cost of a prisoner in this unit would exceed the secure facility average.”