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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-05-25 Daily Xml
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Prisoner Support and Treatment

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Minister for Correctional Services regarding prison services and support for and treatment of offenders.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: As members would be aware, yesterday the Ombudsman released a report about the shackling of a prisoner experiencing mental illness, known as Prisoner A, taking the total to three shackling incidents that have now been investigated in the minister's department.

Last Thursday, I also asked the minister questions surrounding prison and correctional services programs and characteristics of prisoners. While the minister provided a range of general information, he undertook to come back to me with some specific answers. I also asked a range of questions of the minister regarding prisoners with mental illness and cognitive disabilities, specifically on 13 April, and I am awaiting a response.

Given that it has come to light since that there are more than 200 people in prison who are scheduled for release but cannot be released due to a lack of suitable housing, I remain concerned and anxious to receive a response to know that the government is working urgently to rectify this. I also have some other questions arising from the minister's comments in Hansard last week, where he admitted that 48 per cent of people exiting the system in South Australia reoffend.

He said, 'Our prisons are becoming increasingly full,' and he makes no apologies for that. I recall that he referred to a reduction in crime in the state. He also expressed a desire to rehabilitate our prisoners and expressed support for programs on prisoner release. So, my questions are:

1. Does the minister concede that it is not appropriate to shackle a prisoner with mental illness to an emergency department hospital bed, particularly to the extent that they sustain significant injuries from that restraint?

2. Is there any truth in the claim that softer restraints were offered but not used?

3. What action is the minister taking to prevent the further shackling of prisoners with mental illness to beds in emergency departments across our hospitals?

4. Given the high rate of mental illness among our prison population, why does South Australia not have a specialised mental health service within the corrections department?

5. Could the minister please outline what programs for prisoners Corrections does provide in relation to education, vocational training, life skills, rehabilitation, mental health and other supports?

6. What programs does Corrections fund for non-government providers to deliver services to prisoners, former prisoners and their families?

7. What percentage of the prison population in South Australia is known to have a disability?

8. What percentage of the prison population in South Australia has a known mental illness?

9. What categories of crime have reduced in South Australia in the past decade, as outlined by the minister last week and by what percentage? And does the minister have any answers to the questions I asked on previous sitting days?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:49): I thank the honourable member for all 36 of her questions!

The Hon. K.L. Vincent: Nine.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Nine, okay. But I will do my best to answer those questions, some more specifically and some in sentiments generally. Regarding the honourable member's request regarding previous questions that she has asked that I have taken on notice, I am very keen to ensure that, as a minister, I bring back questions on notice as quickly as I possibly can, and I will endeavour to make sure that that objective is honoured in respect to the questions that I have taken on notice, and regarding the ones you refer to last week.

Of course, accuracy remains absolutely paramount when it comes to doing that and, of course, I would rather prioritise accuracy over speed. Regarding a few specific parts of the question to which the honourable member refers, I think the most hot button issue goes to the Ombudsman's report regarding the way we deal with people who enter our hospital system whilst in custody that received attention last night on the ABC news.

First and foremost, I can inform the honourable member in the chamber that I have instructed the department to come back to me as soon as possible, not with a response regarding what recommendations are being taken on board and being acted upon, but which ones are not and why not. I want to make sure that our predisposition is to take on board the Ombudsman's recommendations, and action them as soon as possible. That process is in train, they are instructions that I issued to the department a while ago; they are currently undertaking that piece of work, and are coming back to me.

I do want to make clear, though, what the government's view is, and my view is, regarding the restraint of people coming into prisons, who are people in custody. The number one priority for Corrections has to be safety. It is, of course, an unfortunate fact of life that people who are apprehended and who are in custody are there for a reason. We have a very substantial and detailed process that someone has to go through before they find themselves incarcerated, and if they are incarcerated they are at risk, and the last thing that would be in the interests of that prisoner would be for the state to relax standards regarding community safety, and security, which would then put at risk an incident occurring, an incident to take place, and then there to be a community outcry as to why we are even providing these people with quality health services in the first place.

The number one priority for the government, and for me, is to ensure that when people come out of a secure environment in a prison and come into a hospital, that they are secure and that every other person who is working in that hospital, or is an ordinary member of the public in that hospital, that their safety is in no way jeopardised. That is a priority that we will not be departing from. I do not make any apologies for that whatsoever.

That has to be the first order principle. Of course, though, in the context of the Ombudsman's report, and of course with a view to the humane treatment of prisoners whilst they are receiving medical care, we constantly have to be looking at ways we can improve restraints, and on that basis I can inform the honourable member that the department is working closely with New South Wales Corrections, as we speak, in the development of a soft form of restraint that is suitable for use in non-secure locations, such as hospitals.

Now, if these technologies become available, that are appropriate and that are affordable and do meet all the necessary security criteria, then of course it will be something that we actively look at. The department of corrections in South Australia is working closely with the New South Wales department to be able to come up with appropriate restraints that might not result, necessarily, in injuries taking place to those people who are restrained.

I certainly will not be supportive of such an introduction of new technologies unless safety absolutely remains at the top of the priority list regarding the procedures that take place when a person leaves a hospital. Regarding rehabilitation more generally, which was another component of the honourable member's question, of course the department already does a lot of work when it comes to rehabilitative services and programs when people are in our custody. For instance, I am advised, 4,874 hours of offence-focused programs have already been delivered. This was 4,425 hours above the prescribed target and that is in addition to another 90 program commencements, which is above the target of 65.

In terms of the breakdown for the year 2014-15, 2,148 program hours were delivered in making changes programs with 48 program commencements; 142 program hours delivered to the domestic violence treatment program with eight program commencements; and over 2,500 program hours of other criminogenic programs. So already the department undertakes a lot of work when it comes to rehabilitation. The point of the remarks which I have made previously and to which the honourable member referred earlier is that we cannot accept the status quo as being good enough. We have to be a government that constantly strives for continuous improvement. I have been quite candid about the challenges that we face in Corrections. I have been quite candid about the fact that it is incredibly expensive to incarcerate someone full stop. This is not a problem that is exclusive to South Australia.

We do have prisons that are increasingly becoming full, we've got a growing prison population that was in the order of 9 per cent last year, and it does put enormous strain on the system. There is no point in hiding away from the problem. I have been incredibly up-front and transparent about the challenge that the government faces in this respect, which is why we have to place a greater emphasis on what we do with prisoners while they are in our custody. We have to take upon ourselves the responsibility to try to invest in rehabilitative programs, not just during people's incarceration but we should be contemplating about what we do post people's incarceration.

We will be a government that continues to focus on this. I want to try to make sure that we are providing as much effort and policy ingenuity that we can in addressing this approach, because hopefully it will ultimately result in a safer community and also a saving to the South Australian taxpayer. Regarding some of the other more specific tenets of the honourable member's question, I am more happy to take them on notice and respond accordingly.

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