HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-05-15 Daily Xml
Contents
Xml

Public Works Committee: Yatala Labour Prison Redevelopment

Adjourned debate on motion of Ms Hood:

That the 111th report of the committee, entitled Yatala Labour Prison New 312 Bed Redevelopment and Supporting Infrastructure, be noted.

(Continued from 6 February 2025.)

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:43): I continue my remarks in regard to the Yatala Labour Prison new 312-bed redevelopment and supporting infrastructure. As I was explaining in my previous remarks, the project will include addressing fire hazards due to prisoner access to the gas furnace.

The old education centre provided classrooms and a prisoner library, and the facility's decommissioning has led to the site's reliance on satellite programs and the repurposing of other spaces. This has resulted in restricted access for prisoners to rehabilitation programs, with the current access limited to 75 prisoners per day. Given the prison has a potential capacity of 847, not including the proposed 312-bed expansion, the redevelopment will provide an enhanced service delivery to prisoners.

The refurbishment will deliver a new rehabilitation, education and training centre that will support ongoing opportunities to reduce recidivism as well as enhance Closing the Gap initiatives. It will enhance the correctional environment and its capabilities to deliver dedicated infrastructure, aiding the application of contemporary practices and rehabilitation opportunities for occupants.

The department examined several options to deliver the project in an efficient and cost-effective approach that is supported by the major capital works committee. The selected option will meet project requirements, while benefiting from department experience building similar accommodation and infrastructure in previous projects.

The proposed works will build three new 104-bed high-security accommodation units with a mixture indoor and outdoor communal spaces, providing a level of independence while increasing the model of supervision through clear lines of sight and open plan communal spaces. Cells are designed to meet DCS safe call policy that supports a positive focus on rehabilitation and wellbeing for both prisoners and staff, encouraging positive engagement.

The project is expected to cost $200 million, with annual operating expenses of $5.6 million. The works will occur in two separate stages, with stage 1 construction anticipated to begin in June this year, aiming for completion in April 2027 for occupation that June. The second stage will aim for construction to begin in October this year, with a completion goal of June 2028 for occupation that July.

The Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is responsible for project procurement. DIT will appoint the lead design consultant under a lead professional services contract and a cost consultant under a cost management services contract. Contract tenders for the various categories of building works will be offered by invitation, seeking responses with demonstrated prisoner project experience. Capital works activities will be overseen by DCS's major capital works steering committee, chaired by an executive director. The project will be delivered in collaboration with DIT, following best practice principles for project management.

DCS has considered a holistic life cycle approach to planning, design, costing, construction and maintenance of the works. This includes considerations regarding the conservation of resources, water efficiency, material selection, waste disposal, equipment and furniture, user amenity and the natural environment. Geotechnical surveys have identified ground contamination and appropriate mitigation measures are in place.

The project design has been prepared in accordance with the SA government energy efficiency action plan and has provided a detailed sustainability report. Initiatives include use of photovoltaic energy systems; installation of efficient water services, rainwater harvesting and storage, and dual reticulation for non-potable uses; selection of high-efficiency lighting, including control systems; maximisation of natural ventilation and lighting; and a water management system.

The site and construction works will be managed under a site-specific site management plan to be prepared by the head contractor prior to commencement of the works. The department states that dust control, stormwater quality and control of stormwater run-off are standard inclusions of this site management plan.

The Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation division has confirmed no record of Aboriginal heritage sites or items in the proposed development locations. Similarly, DCS states there are no state or local heritage sites or items identified at this location. The prison is located in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, and the department is in ongoing consultation regarding any impact of the works, as well as in promoting opportunities for the engagement of local contractors. DCS has briefed relevant government departments and agencies to ensure the project is designed and delivered in accordance with the legal requirements and accepted procedures and guidelines, with no outstanding issues identified.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to the Yatala Labour Prison new 312-bed redevelopment and supporting infrastructure project. Witnesses who appeared before the committee were David Brown, Chief Executive, Department for Correctional Services, and Sarah Taylor, Executive Director, People and Business Services, Department for Correctional Services. I thank the witnesses for their time.

Based upon the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (11:49): I rise to make a brief contribution to the Public Works Committee's 111th report into the Yatala Labour Prison's new facilities. Of course, we welcome the 312 new beds that will be coming to that particular prison, but we query what the plan is going forward, particularly in light of new data that emerged earlier this year that shows that our prisons are moments away from reaching maximum capacity.

Indeed, in response to questions put by the opposition, I think in a Budget and Finance Committee, the Department for Correctional Services revealed earlier this year that South Australia's prison population peaked on 18 March at 3,464. That number, that peak number, in March of this year is just 113 short of the department's current approved capacity of 3,577. That is a concerning proposition right now, that we are only moments away, potentially, from our prisons being at maximum capacity, and we have not heard from the government what their plans are when we reach that inevitable point quite soon.

If we project out in the short to medium term, it is even more concerning, because in five years, by 2030-31, the department has confirmed that they are projecting a peak of 4,384 prisoners. Based on current capacity, in five years' time we will be more than 800 prisoners over our current approved capacity. So while we welcome 300 new beds coming online at Yatala, in five years' time we are going to be 800 prison beds short, based on current projections by the Department for Correctional Services and based on current capacity.

We really think the government needs to be upfront with the public about its plans for prison capacity, particularly in light of this data which shows we are just moments away from our jails all being totally full. We need to be upfront and we need to know what the plan is for prison capacity, because the fact that we now have the highest prisoner numbers ever in South Australia is troubling. If this continues to rise, our prisons could be at maximum capacity by this time next year.

I am concerned at what will happen at that point, because what we certainly do not want to see are dangerous criminals being released on bail, or being let out on parole, or being given suspended sentences simply because our prisons are all full. I think, frankly, the public is sick and tired at the moment of dangerous criminals being handed bail or being given suspended sentences, and I am worried that that is going to continue to rise because they will simply have nowhere else to go.

This is a government that has its head in the sand on this issue, when we are potentially just months away from all of our prisons being at absolute capacity. It also feeds into a wider problem, I think, in the court systems. We have some of the biggest backlogs in our court systems in the entire country. This, of course, leads to a very high prison population on remand. We know that while prisoners are on remand they are not getting access to important rehabilitation programs, and of course they are also taking up a really valuable prison bed in a system that we know is already overstretched.

This is a government that has failed on law and order, and our prisons are filling up rapidly as a result of it. What we actually need to do, of course, is have proper rehabilitation and put an end to this constant cycle of violence and offending that is not only clogging up our prisons but making our community less safe.

It was, of course, the former Liberal government that funded a business case into a new rehabilitation prison, because we did not have our head in the sand on this issue. We recognised a serious problem with prison capacity and we recognised that we should not be letting dangerous criminals out on the street simply because our prisons are full. I have never seen that business case into a new rehabilitation prison. I think the public deserve to see it, and I would call on the government to release that business case so we can have an educated, informed and sensible discussion about what our plan for prison capacity is going forward. We need to have a serious effort to break the cycle so we are not just clogging up our prisons and then, when we reach that inevitable point, we are not just releasing hardened criminals out onto our streets.

We know when our prisons are crowded and overflowing it has a serious effect on the people inside those prisons as well. We have seen some really concerning reports in only the last few weeks about the amount of contraband being found in our prisons. Indeed, it is up 66 per cent in just the last year alone. There were 957 instances in 2022-23, and then by 2023-24 there were 1,590 instances of contraband, whether it is weapons or drug paraphernalia or other items that we do not want in our prisons being found in our prisons.

The number one prison they were found in, of course, was Yatala, the subject of this report. At prisons right across the state, whether it be the Women's Prison, Cadell, Mobilong or Port Augusta, we are seeing a really disturbing increase in contraband getting into our prisons. That is bound to happen when we have a system operating at absolute capacity. What will be the first thing that suffers? Well, perhaps regular searches of prisoners, of visitors. When you are operating in a really high-pressure, stretched environment, it is little surprise that we are seeing more contraband find its way into our prisons.

We are also seeing a whole lot more violent incidents in our prisons—assaults, prisoner on prisoner, but also really concerningly assaults by prisoners against corrections officers. In fact, we have seen data this year that shows that violent incidents in our prisons have nearly doubled over the course of a year, reaching an all-time high.

Seemingly not content with losing control of law and order in our streets and suburbs, we now have the Malinauskas Labor government losing control of law and order inside our prisons and corrections facilities. In my view, and I am sure in everyone's view in this place, any assault against a corrections officer is absolutely unacceptable and should not be tolerated by any of us standing here. Again, we are going to see these sorts of incidents happen more, I think, if we have a prison system that is operating at absolute capacity, because it is a pressure cooker when we have our prisons overflowing. We know from data released this year that that is exactly the situation our prisoners and prison officers find themselves in.

Of course, we welcome the subject of this report and a few hundred new beds at Yatala, but in five years we are going to be about 800 beds short across the board, based on current projections and current capacity. We cannot keep our head-in-the-sand attitude to this. We need the government to come clean and be up-front with what their plan is for prison capacity before it is too late, because I do fear what will happen when we arrive at the inevitable position of our prisons being full: we will have nowhere for dangerous criminals to go. We know, because this government is weak on law and order, there are a lot more dangerous criminals. So it is an ever-present problem that we need to do something about, and I look forward to hearing from those opposite and the new minister for corrections on her plan for prison capacity in the short to medium term and to do something about this before it is too late.

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (11:59): I thank members for their comments.

Motion carried.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT