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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (21 June) . . Page.. 2394 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I write on behalf of the Women's Alcohol and Other Drug/Women and Prison Working Group to inform you of a number of issue we have had with the lack of consultation regarding the proposed ACT Prison.

The Department of Corrections has failed to adequately consult with the ACT community on the proposal to build a prison in the ACT and further it has completely ignored expert advice from those of us who work with those people who are at risk of being incarcerated or are incarcerated, and the consumer representatives themselves.

We have attempted to participate in this debate in a number of ways:

The group developed a discussion paper alerting the community and the department to the needs of female prisoners and a number of innovative approaches being implemented in other State jurisdictions.

We have met with Michael Moore on a number of occasions as well as other MLAs.

Some members of our group were also members of the Community Panel. We presented the findings of our discussion paper to this panel however there was little interest shown. Our group believes that the Community Panel was no substitute for adequate community consultation and the report is a testament to this.

Members of our group also sat on the Intersectoral Reference Group on Women's Correctional Issues. All non-Government and consumer representatives have recently withdrawn due to the appalling process of this reference group ... At no time was our expertise sought by the Rengain consultants, nor the department on the particular issues for women.

The WAOD/Women and Prison Working Group is deeply concerned about a number of issues:

(a) That the prison is going ahead and that decisions are being taken hastily without due consideration and consultation.

(b) The Rengain report draws some disturbing conclusions and as a result has put forward recommendations which need to be tested in the community for their validity and application.

(c) The needs of women will not be met in any positive way in the proposed model which has failed to draw on best practice from other jurisdictions. There is no reflection of current NSW policy on the classification of women prisoners and the housing of women prisoners.

(d) The design of the prison must meet the needs of women. The current proposal completely ignores innovative and best practice prison design for women which acknowledges the difference in the numbers, security classifications and how women behave when incarcerated.

(e) There is no evidence that the needs of women will be met with the provision of separate facilities, separate management, distinct programs and separate staff.

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