Correctional Services

In reply to the Hon. C. BONAROS ().18 June 2024).

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector):

The Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services has advised:

Rehabilitation programs are central to the Department for Correctional Services (DCS) Reducing Reoffending by 20% by 2026 Strategy, and their commitment to Closing the Gap.

In line with the Agency Statements, the DCS budget is allocated across three key programs. Program one is Rehabilitation and Repatriation which provides for a range of offender and offence related programs including education, vocational training and prison industries. In the 2024-25 budget, the government committed $47,219,000 to program one.

The Agency Statements also confirm that DCS met the 2023-24 target set for the delivery of behaviour changing rehabilitative programs designed to reducing reoffending.

In response to the statistics raised by the member in relation to family and domestic violence reoffending, while the recidivism measures used nationally through the Report on Government Services (RoGS) do not measure offence specific results, in the most recent RoGS report, South Australia's overall rate of 'return to corrective services with a new correctional sanction within 2 years' of release' continued its overall downward progression to 36.9 per cent. This further re-established DCS as the lead jurisdiction, again below the national average of 51.7 per cent. In addition, DCS is again leading the way with the current 20by2026 target.

Further to this, DCS recognises the devastating impact of family and domestic violence, and accordingly have several dedicated DCS programs and approaches, across all stages of response.

Key to the criminogenic response is the department's delivery of the Domestic and Family Violence Intervention Program and the Aboriginal Men's Family Violence Program. These programs are targeted interventions to address behaviour, and safety planning. Key topics include Responsibility, Values, Gender and Power, Dangerous Thinking, Sexual Respect, and Cycles of Violence.

DCS also has several important partnerships with external providers, including OARS Community Transitions who deliver the nationally recognised program 'Don't be that Man', which is funded by the Office for Women.