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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-21 Daily Xml
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CITY WATCHHOUSE

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question about the City Watchhouse.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Department for Correctional Services' annual report 2006-07 states that, since February 2007, the department has utilised cells in the Adelaide City Watchhouse temporarily to accommodate prisoners who have been remanded in custody or sentenced to no more than 15 days. In July, in a letter to the Chief Justice, Judge Marie Shaw raised her concerns about the conditions in the watchhouse, after she conducted a personal inspection. Dr Craig Raeside, a senior forensic psychologist, has said that keeping remand prisoners in the watchhouse, including those with mental illness, was a disgrace and nothing short of atrocious. A report by the Law Society states:

The conditions in the Adelaide City Watchhouse now used to house prisoners remanded in custody fail to comply in many more respects with all standards and guidelines. The CSD [Department for Correctional Services] has utilised these facilities because it has had no option but the fact remains that the conditions are inadequate, unsafe, probably would fail any fire risk assessment, do not provide entirely separate accommodation for women...offer no real privacy of any kind and no open air or outdoor exercise facility.

My questions are:

1. On what grounds are prisoners not permitted to be kept in the City Watchhouse for more than 15 days? Is it because the conditions are outrageous?

2. Does the policy apply equally to sentenced and remand prisoners?

3. Given that the government's mismanagement of the correctional system is clearly influencing judicial decisions, what immediate steps will the government take to address prison overcrowding or are we condemned to at least four more years of judges being forced to let people back into the community, even though they would prefer to put them in prison?

The PRESIDENT: The minister should disregard the opinion in the question when responding.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:46): I thank you for your guidance, Mr President, and I thank the honourable member for his questions. South Australia is experiencing unprecedented growth in our prisoner numbers, and I have put that on the record on a number of occasions. There are a range of reasons, not the least of which is the government's tough stance on law and order. I think I have also placed on record on a number of occasions that the government is reacting to the growth quickly and decisively.

Obviously, the new prisons at Mobilong are the long-term strategy. The government has already approved and the Department for Correctional Services either has installed or is in the process of installing another 135 beds and, as well, at the time the PPP project was announced, extra beds for the women's prison were also announced and they are now fully operational. The extra beds are at the Adelaide Women's Prison, the Adelaide Remand Centre, the Mount Gambier prison, Port Augusta prison and Yatala.

To say that this government is not acting fast is flying in the face of the facts. We have acted and continue to act as fast as we can, and we are providing the required resources and, of course, it is our responsibility to do so. The department implements the measures, and it has done that very well. The honourable member is correct—and certainly we put it out there before he did today—in saying that the City Watchhouse has been used since early this year to deal with short-term pressures. We have never said that it is ideal, but it is adequate and it is humane.

We have put checks and balances in place to monitor the conditions in the City Watchhouse. The Ombudsman's staff visit the watchhouse and a visiting inspector is there every week to address any prisoner complaint. I place on record that correctional services staff are doing a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances, and I do commend them for that. I am advised that generally prisoners stay up to a week, but some do stay longer.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Yes, they do—in some cases they do stay longer. With the new accommodation at the women's prison (which I mentioned previously), no women are held at the City Watchhouse. Women have not been held at the City Watchhouse, if my memory serves me correctly, for at least a month. I also indicate that prisoners are receiving medical services and, if a prisoner has special needs, they are transferred to a prison straightaway. As I said, the care is adequate and delivered by professional staff.

Prisoners do have exercise periods everyday—I understand up to about 40 minutes. We provide nicotine patches. They can make daily phone calls, in addition to which, as I have mentioned, they receive professional visits. I understand that nursing staff are present at the watchhouse, from memory, for at least 16 hours but maybe 24 hours a day. I think a comment was made that someone had not showered, but I point out that prisoners shower every day whether or not they want to. Some of the information put out there is incorrect. As I have said, in the interim we are working on a contingency plan until the new prisons come on line in 2011.

With all due respect, I think that when it comes to overhauling the criminal justice system the opposition does have a sorry record. In particular, in my area of correctional services, I remind the honourable member that the previous Liberal government did have eight years to do something long term about the state's prison system, but it did nothing. My staff had a look at some comments made by the previous opposition spokesman for correctional services, the then Hon. Angus Redford, who issued a press—

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Is he still 'honourable'?

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: Of course he is.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: He is. He issued a press release attacking the Rann Labor government because South Australia's prison population had risen by only half the national average in 2005-06. The increased number of prisoners in our gaols must make at least the opposition's former correctional services spokesman happy in terms of the concerns he expressed about criminals not being caught because of a severe funding and resource shortage.

Far from attacking the Rann Labor government for not sending enough people to gaol, we are more likely to find today's opposition beating a path to my door advocating for the welfare of individual prisoners.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: I am confident that the department is properly managing our prison beds. Also, of course, as I have just mentioned, it is planning to deal with the fluctuation in prisoner numbers. Again, I place on record how committed we are to the largest prison project in South Australia's history. In the last budget we again made funding available for extra beds. I must also correct the record in relation to the statements made by Judge Shaw. I understand that the prisoner in question, a convicted sex offender, is awaiting sentencing.

This means that he is a protectee prisoner. He was in the City Watchhouse for only 2½ weeks and not 3½ weeks as stated by Judge Shaw. The prisoner was moved to the Adelaide Remand Centre yesterday as there was a vacancy for him there. When housed in the City Watchhouse, as in any of our prisons or remand centres, prisoners are treated humanely. As I said, they also have access to nicotine patches—and I understand that the prisoner in question was a smoker. They can also make daily phone calls, and they have access to medical professionals.

I caught some of what Dr Raeside said this morning. Clearly this prisoner was visited by a medical professional in the City Watchhouse. I reiterate, because there is some misinformation on this matter, that they must shower every day. They also get exercise. I understand that Judge Shaw also said that the court of appeal in England has made a ruling that prisoners will receive shorter sentences owing to prisoner overcrowding. I understand that Judge Shaw suggested that we might be heading towards a similar system. This is simply not true, because it would be unlawful in South Australia.

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