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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-03 Daily Xml
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PRISONS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question about prison overcrowding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Productivity Commission report on government services released at the end of January shows that the South Australian prison system is the most overcrowded in the nation. On 4 March, on Radio FIVEaa, the Chief Executive Officer of the Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Service, Leigh Garrett, said:

With the overcrowding we have in our prisons at the minute a lot of the things which we might think are ordinary and easy and sensible are just overlooked because the stresses and pressures of running a prison that's operating at 50 per cent above its designed capacity. In other words it's got 600 prisoners in it rather than 400, stretches every molecule of the resources both physical and human and it sometimes just gets too hard.

My questions are:

1. What is the design capacity of our prison system?

2. What is the current population of our prison system?

3. What is the maximum number of prisoners who can be housed in the prison system before security and safety are compromised?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for his question in relation to comments essentially made by Mr Leigh Garrett, I understand, in relation to our prison system. Certainly, I try to keep abreast of whatever people do say in the media in relation to my responsibilities. I was absolutely astounded at the comments made by Mr Garrett in relation to correctional services and, indeed, so was the chief executive of the department. Basically, he was incorrect. Most of what he said was incorrect. I think they range from the fact that our prisons do not have air-conditioning to the fact that no educational opportunities or rehabilitation opportunities are available. As I said, the Chief Executive subsequently spoke to Mr Garrett, and, indeed, Mr Garrett did apologise in relation to his comments. He certainly said whatever he believed at the time, but subsequently he did apologise.

I have usually found the CE of OARS to be a very sensible and factual speaker in the past when representing OARS in the media, but after this interview he himself recognised that care with words is certainly very important. He apologised to the Chief Executive of Corrections for errors he made during that interview.

This government makes no apology for being tough on law and order. Obviously, we are very pleased that we announced several budgets ago that we would build a new prison complex at Mobilong near Murray Bridge. In the interim we have demonstrated that we can manage prison numbers. There has been an unprecedented rise in prison numbers, but we have demonstrated that we can actually manage those numbers.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: We have already demonstrated that we know how to manage prison numbers. We have put a significant number of extra beds in the system in order to cope until the new prisons become available, and we have a strategy to do that.

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