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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-03-06 Daily Xml
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Correctional Services

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services questions regarding correctional services in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: I appreciate that the minister is quite new in her position with respect to the most recent Ombudsman's report, but in that report she would no doubt be aware that there were approximately 4,634 complaints received by her office in the last year—that is the 2023-24 financial year—and that of these some 609 pertained to correctional services specifically.

Prisoner complaints comprised the vast majority of concerns raised, with one of the reports alleging that a correctional services officer used a prison intercom to attempt to counsel an inmate to commit suicide. This was later substantiated, and I understand this matter has been taken seriously. My questions to the minister are:

1. Does the minister consider the number of complaints made concerning South Australia's correctional services to be unacceptable, as outlined in the report?

2. Has the minister familiarised herself with the nature of the complaints against our state's correctional services, and what action is she taking to address the matter?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:06): As I have said previously in this chamber, any assaults are unacceptable in our prison system. We want to keep both our staff and our prisoners safe in our system. I am advised that 531 of the 609 complaints were made by prisoners, and I am further advised that overall complaints about the department have decreased by 12 per cent. I am also advised that regarding the Ombudsman's report, the vast majority of the cases received satisfactory responses, as I have highlighted in the chamber before, after the investigation.

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