Page 1638 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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(a) as a result of ongoing mismanagement of Corrective Services by the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, a motion was tabled in the Assembly in February 2010 and noted:
(i) that, in late 2008 and early 2009, there were ongoing human rights breaches at the Belconnen Remand Centre (BRC) that were exacerbated by the late opening of the ACT’s new prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC);
(ii) there were numerous security incidents in late 2008 and early 2009 at the BRC, including violence that resulted in corrections officers being treated in hospital;
(iii) the prison was delivered over 12 months late;
(iv) that the prison was officially opened on the eve of the ACT election five months prior to receiving prisoners;
(iv) that the prison was delivered under scope and $3.5 million over budget;
(v) that the prison has defects remaining in the security system;
(vi) that drugs, needles and razor blades were found in the prison shortly after the first prisoners arrived;
(vii) that the RFID system is not yet operational and recently a number of ID bracelets were lost;
(ix) that there have been breaches of the Corrections Management (Email/Internet for Prisoners) Policy 2009; and
(x) that the prison is costing ACT taxpayers $504 per prisoner per day;
(b) the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, refused to accept the unanimous findings of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety’s Report No. 3, Inquiry into the delay in the commencement of operations at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, that were critical of his management of the AMC project;
(c) Simon Corbell made serious allegations in the Assembly against the three committee members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety by accusing them of having conducted a “sham inquiry to achieve a political end”;
(d) in the three months since the motion was debated in February 2010, further serious management, safety and security breaches have occurred at the AMC, including:
(i) wrongful release of a prisoner by ACT Corrective Services who stated that “anyone else could have, murderers, bad armed robbers, they all could have got out, it was that easy”;
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