Page 1639 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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(ii) allegations of a breach of procedures and falsification of documents relating to a death in custody;
(iii) the alleged rape and abuse of a detainee at the prison, leading an ACT Supreme Court Justice to warn the ACT Government that “if the community cannot protect someone who is detained then the community cannot expect to retain that detention”;
(iv) lockdowns of prisoners for 20 hours a day due to staff shortages;
(v) a lengthy protest by 13 prisoners on the roof of a prison building as a result of the lockdowns;
(vi) tacit approval and support by corrections officers for the illegal protest, a result of their own frustration with staffing shortages;
(vii) delay and disruption to rehabilitation programs due to staff shortages and lockdowns; and
(viii) community organisations contracted to run rehabilitation programs at the AMC being “turned away” from the AMC due to short staffing shortfalls;
(e) in providing details of the events surrounding the prisoners’ rooftop protest, Simon Corbell misled:
(i) the media and the public about the frequency of lockdowns at the jail and then made further mistakes in explaining the commencement date of the “twelve month review into prison operations”; and
(ii) the public when he denied that lockdowns were as a result of staffing shortfalls and characterised the protest as simply “an opportunity for prisoners to get a bit of drama and excitement in their lives”, although subsequently it become apparent that staff shortages were the cause of lockdowns;
(f) by giving tacit approval and support for the prisoners’ protest and by wilfully failing to prevent the prisoners from protesting on the roof of the jail, corrections officers have demonstrated a loss of confidence in the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell; and
(g) the Assembly previously expressed its “serious concern” with Simon Corbell’s conduct as a Minister on 10 February 2009 when, as acting Corrections Minister, he made potentially prejudicial comments to the media regarding two prisoners who conducted a rooftop protest on the BRC; and
(3) calls on the Chief Minister to remove all responsibility for ACT Corrective Services from Simon Corbell immediately.
Mr Speaker, I have introduced this motion this morning out of a sense of responsibility to ensure that the community’s confidence can be restored in corrections in the ACT—in particular, the AMC.
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