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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-07-04 Daily Xml
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Prison Administration

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:44): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question in relation to prisons.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: In the last few weeks a series of incidents have arisen in the state's prisons. In particular, I highlight to the council a security breach involving the delivery of shotguns to the Adelaide Women's Prison, a security breach at Mobilong Prison when a laptop was used by up to 10 inmates to access the internet without supervision, departmental admissions that police cells were being used beyond legal authority, the trebling of assaults against prison officers in the last three years, and the Adelaide Remand Centre being locked down after prison officers were attacked by a prisoner.

My question to the minister is: has he made a deliberate decision to take a hands-off approach to our prisons unless it involves a good news story, or is it just that this tired government has no idea on how to respond to the challenges of his portfolio?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for his important question. As has been repeatedly reported on in this place, this state government has a short-term and also a long-term strategy in place in order to be able to deal with an ever-rising prison population in this state. Frequently, the opposition seeks to characterise each and every incident that occurs within the prison system, which, within its own nature, is an incredibly complex and volatile area of government, and somehow tries to attribute the issue to one regarding overcrowding. It is simply not correct.

It strikes me as rather opportunistic that the opposition tries to characterise a delivery of important security-related materials into our prison system as somehow a failure on the department's behalf, when in many respects this incident has been attributed to the actions of a third party. Nevertheless, the Department for Correctional Services is in the process of conducting an internal investigation in terms of how the shotguns were delivered to the women's prison. They were destined for a different section of Corrections, being the Operational Security Unit, to ensure that all equipment is safe, given the reporting and location of the equipment and necessary availability to the emergency response group.

DCS has also conducted a stocktake of weapons that confirms that all arms are present and accounted for in the appropriate locations. The chief executive of the department has sent formal correspondence to the couriers involved in this particular delivery in respect of the incident, requesting that they make their employees available to the investigation. I understand also that one of the couriers has already commenced its own investigation into that matter. DCS has also instigated a statewide review of access control procedures in relation to all external deliveries to secure locations.

In regard to the laptop incident of 25 June, to which the honourable member refers, the PSA notified the Department for Correctional Services of a dispute in relation to the safety and security concerns in the offender development building at Mobilong. This dispute arose following a report that indicated that a laptop computer was left unsecured in the building. The laptop was immediately removed and an audit of the laptop was undertaken. There was no evidence to suggest that any prisoner had accessed the laptop.

It was discovered that access was not able to be made with the network, and instead only a laptop hard drive. The department's information and technology staff are undertaking a further review of the accessibility of the laptop, and the department has met with the PSA and worksite representatives to discuss the concerns.

The department did temporarily close the offender development building to prisoners as a precaution, and acted immediately to implement appropriate resolutions. I can advise that the offender development building reopened on 4 July (today) without issue, and services have been reinstated in the area. The department has agreed to the installation of two security cameras in the building and temporary staffing for four weeks during the transition and a reopening period, with those staff to be removed, on 31 July 2017.

The nature of Corrections, of course, is that its core business is securely housing approximately 3,000 criminals. It will not come as a surprise to those members present that the individuals who are being secured in our custodial facilities aren't necessarily people who have a predisposition to compliance with the law, or compliance generally. So, there is, naturally, a risky environment that our Correctional staff have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

I think, by and large, our Corrections staff and the department generally do a good job fulfilling their primary function, which is to maintain the security and good order of our Correctional Services system. I have stated repeatedly that they are doing this in a challenging environment. We have had a sustained period of prisoner growth in this state for some time. That is not something that this government is apologetic for. I think that much of the fact that we have had, all in all, almost a 30 per cent reduction in crime during this term of office of government, or during the life of this government, is very much attributable to the outstanding work of our men and women in uniform in police and that, in turn, has resulted in a rising prison population.

The great challenge for the state, though, is working out how better we can deal with those people in the state's custody while they are incarcerated. That speaks entirely to this government's long-term strategy to reduce the rate of reoffending. It is currently 46 per cent and we have put in place a target to reduce that by 10 per cent by the year 2020. If we are able to achieve that, we want to not only have less people coming back into the prison system, which makes greater availability of bed space, but we will also be creating a safer community. That is our government's long-term strategy, to be able to tackle the challenges before the Correctional Services system. We have a plan in place. It is something that I passionately believe in and I think it will serve the state very well for many years to come.

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