House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-11-01 Daily Xml

Contents

Prisoner Numbers

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (14:55): My question is again to the Minister for Correctional Services. What is the current average daily prisoner population?

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Police.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health, Minister Assisting the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:55): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned. He is also warned for giving me an answer yesterday I could not find in the Urban Dictionary.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: He is nothing if not creative, the member for Chaffey. I am happy to advise the member that, in regard to the current daily population in terms of our corrections system, there are 3,080 prisoners. This is obviously less than the maximum population in terms of the number of beds that we have available, including surge beds. Of course, soon we have additional beds opening at the Port Augusta Prison, which I believe the shadow minister has been invited to, as well as the member for Stuart, in a couple of weeks' time. That will increase the total number of beds we have available in the system quite significantly.