Prisoner Support and Treatment

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:52): A further supplementary, Mr President: which types of programs are more successful in terms of reducing reoffending? Will the minister look into getting an overall statistic? I appreciate that success will vary from program to program, but surely since we want an evidence-based approach, by the minister's own admission, it would be helpful to have an overarching figure as to an indication of the success of prerelease programs.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:53): I am happy to take a question on notice regarding the success rate of particular programs in terms of reducing reoffending. Of course, an overall figure is difficult because it is my hope and expectation that almost every prisoner gets access to some sort of service or another, and to be able to have a success rate, you need to be able to compare it to a cohort of prisoners who might not necessarily get access to any services at all in prison, which is hard to come by. Nevertheless, I am happy to ask the question, and if there is information available, I will bring it back to the Hon. Ms Vincent.