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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-18 Daily Xml
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PORT AUGUSTA PRISON

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:37): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Wade can continue when the Leader of the Opposition ceases to interject.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —a question about the Port Augusta Prison riot.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In her ministerial statement to the council yesterday regarding the riot at Port Augusta Prison, the minister studiously avoided addressing the causes of the riot. The opposition has been advised that immediately prior to the riot the minister raised with her department the concerns of community groups that the regime at Port Augusta Prison was too restrictive. As a result of the minister's intervention, a modified, less secure regime was introduced at the prison in the two weeks leading up to the riot.

Under the original regime when staff shortages occurred the whole prison would operate with more limited and more controlled prisoner movements. However, under the modified regime which resulted from the minister's intervention, only some sections of the prison would operate under a more restricted regime. Other sections would operate with less restricted movements. The opposition has been advised that the riot was possible only because of the introduction of the modified regime. Under the original regime, prisoners would not have had the opportunity to congregate and riot as they did. My questions to the minister are:

1. Was the change in regimes identified as a factor contributing to the riot in either the internal departmental review or the SAPOL investigation into the Port Augusta Prison riot?

2. Why in her statement yesterday did the minister not mention the modifications to the prison's operating regime prior to the riot?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:39): Yesterday I made a ministerial statement in which it was very obvious that I said what exactly occurred on the day. I am very happy to re-read it into Hansard, as follows:

In the lead-up to the incident, Port Augusta Prison experienced a great deal of infrastructure upgrades that made daily routines more restrictive for prisoners. Until about August 2008, regular lockdowns occurred in the prison.

The general manager was successful in negotiating and implementing changes to those restrictions, but the changes still resulted in restricted regimes for high-security prisoners in cases where staff had to be reassigned for operational reasons during a shift.

I do not dictate operational procedures in our prisons in South Australia, and nor should I.

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