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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-02-15 Daily Xml
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Public Works Committee: Adelaide Women's Prison Redevelopment of Women's Centre

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (11:39): I move:

That the 560th report of the committee, entitled Adelaide Women's Prison Redevelopment of Women's Centre, be noted.

The aim of this project is to update the current out-of-date, dormitory-style accommodation at the Adelaide Women's Prison that is in urgent need of an upgrade. This correctional facility is the principal female prison in South Australia, with a capacity of 176 female prisoners of all security ratings. Ninety-two prisoners can be located in the secure zone and 84 prisoners in the Living Skills Units. This project affects 64 prison beds. This is a unique project, whereby female prisoners are partaking in the construction project as unskilled labour.

The state government is partnering with the private sector—namely, Totalspace Design, Mossop Construction and Interiors, Meinhardt, and BuildSurv—to upgrade the Women's Centre. This approach will reduce costs but, much more importantly will provide the female prisoners who choose to participate in this project with new skills. They will undergo recognised training, with packages that will allow them to achieve units of competency that can lead to a TAFE SA certificate. When the committee heard evidence last December, 14 prisoners had already commenced training (including their White Card training to allow them to work on site), delivered by Master Builders Australia.

The scope of the project will see the four out-of-date, dormitory-style accommodation units transformed into two distinct contemporary accommodation units containing mainly two beds per dorm, with their own toilet and shower. The 64-bed capacity of the current four units will be maintained. By using this unique approach, the Department for Correctional Services estimates it will achieve a financial saving of 20 per cent. The cost of delivering this project is around $5 million (GST exclusive) and is to be funded from the department's recurrent operating budget.

Preliminary preparations for the project have already commenced, with some training already underway. The construction works are due to commence early this year, with completion in late 2018. The project will be staged in order to manage the relocation of prisoners during the construction phase. The committee was informed that the prisoners are supportive of the project, with a prototype of the accommodation having been constructed on site, allowing prisoners to have input to the process.

The committee will be visiting the site in the upcoming weeks to view the prototype and inspect the site. Although in South Australia prison labour has been used previously for some prison construction projects, this has not been done to this level of coordinated approach and collaboration to this extent. This is a very exciting and innovative project, offering opportunity to a number of prisoners I know and I have spoken to, who are really engaged in this whole process.

I commend the Department for Correctional Services for its efforts in undertaking a different approach to this project, and I also commend those private enterprises—Totalspace, Mossop, Meinhardt and BuildSurv—for their commitment to this project and their support for the female prisoners. It was really heartening to hear from them how they are really engaged in this project, and I wish them—as I know every committee member wishes them—every success in this project, and we will watch this innovation with absolute interest.

Given this, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the public works.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:43): This additional accommodation through the prison system in South Australia is all getting rather ho-hum for the house. It is turning into something of a nightmare. I am not sure how many members have been watching Ice Wars on the ABC, but that is just horrific and gives an indication of what is happening in New South Wales on a larger scale. Equally, it is happening here, particularly with the number of young men and women who are ending up in custodial sentences over drug-related crimes.

It is not going to go away, and we have to deal with it. It is a disaster for Australia and for the world, more to the point. It is also a disaster for us in South Australia; however, we have to deal with it, and the Women's Prison is part and parcel of that. I have been there a couple of times, and it is not the nicest place in the world, to say the least, but it is functional.

I am pleased that some prisoners will be able to work on this project. I suspect they will be fairly limited in what they can do because of the things that are used, the safety aspects and whatnot, but it is good for them to have something to do. I am a firm believer in getting prisoners doing something, rather than sitting around or lounging around doing nothing all day. For their own wellbeing, they need to be doing something, whether they want to or not. It is going to be okay, so I support the project.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (11:45): I rise to speak on the Adelaide Women's Prison redevelopment of the women's centre. I thank the committee for their consideration of this project. Whilst I have no objection to the women's centre being upgraded—and obviously they have put a persuasive case for that to occur—I would like to place on the record my concern about two aspects of the Women's Prison that need remedying; one is the need to have extra high-security prison accommodation at the premises now.

Obviously, upgrading the women's centre effectively precludes it financially from in any way utilising that service for accommodation, but we have an overcrowding issue in the prisons and it seems to me that needs to be addressed. There is clearly a lack of prison beds, and one of the reasons has been repeatedly outlined by the Office of the Public Advocate in its 2016 annual report tabled on 1 November 2016. There was found to be a critical shortage of forensic mental health facilities and that the number of women in prison had increased rapidly, with a 79.3 per cent increase over the past decade.

The alarm bells should be ringing for the government that an extra 20-bed facility for the Women's Prison, announced by the Minister for Correctional Services in December last year, will not even address what is clearly a critical shortage. Whilst I accept that upgrading a facility for the women's centre within the prison is an important initiative, frankly, the priority for this prison is that it needs more space and it needs more room for the prisoners.

The second aspect of the increase in number of prisoners is that there is also the problem of the forensic mental health facilities and the critical shortage outlined by the Public Advocate. The findings of the Public Advocate followed the 2015 annual report, which also found that there were not enough forensic mental health beds for the mental health patients in South Australia. The only dedicated facility for women in the state simply does not have enough beds to match the growing increase in the prisoner population.

The third aspect I wish to briefly refer to is that the government has known for some time, and at this stage not addressed, that we are one of the few remaining places in Australia that does not provide any in-prison facilities for pregnant women who enter the prison and then have their babies. In most other facilities in Australia where women are incarcerated, if they enter pregnant and their child is born, they have the capacity to keep the baby for up to two years.

We all remember the shocking scenes around the Azaria Chamberlain story and her mother being incarcerated at Berrimah gaol in Darwin. Following the course of coronial inquiries and trials, ultimately she was imprisoned before being released after the pardon that was recorded. She had a baby and that baby was able to be held with her for a period of time, even in Darwin. This is not a situation that has always been the case in South Australia. It has been in effect, though, in the last few years in this state, and it is a shameful situation.

I understand the two units at the prison that used to be the facility for mothers and babies in the prison—and I visited them when they were operating—are now being used for another purpose, such as prerelease programs or something like that. It is not unimportant, of course, but it should be understood by the government that, whilst you can upgrade and redecorate, there is a critical need for bed numbers in the secure facility and an urgent need for mental health forensic facility beds so that they are not crowding and using areas in any of our prisons but, in particular, the Women's Prison.

Thirdly, as a matter of basic human right, when these women enter a prison pregnant and if they are going to have that baby whilst incarcerated, they need to have a facility where they can have the child with them, bond with them and have time to make sufficient alternative arrangements for the care of that child pending their release, if indeed they are not released prior to that.

It should be remembered that, of the women who enter prison who are pregnant, quite often they are actually released prior to the birth of the child. So, we have a number of people who enter pregnant and their term, before they are eligible for parole, expires before the birth of their child—fine. However, we are talking about the number of babies who are taken away at the hospital, who are not able to have a chance to live with their mother during that early period. I do not think I need to remind members of the significance and importance of that bonding opportunity of those babies. I ask the government to take note.

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (11:50): I thank the member for Chaffey and the member for Bragg for their comments on this particular project. I do take note particularly of what the member for Bragg has said because mother and baby bonding is a very important time. I appreciate what the member has said, so thank you for that, and I will certainly take that further. With that, I recommend the report be noted.

Motion carried.

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