Page 583 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011

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only 1 in 3 prisoners are going back inside within two years of their release because we are dealing with why they offend and removing those obstacles … The Productivity Commission reports that across the country 72 per cent of community corrections orders were completed by those who undertook them. Having seven out of 10 individuals, some of whom have had an extensive history of reoffending and jail time, successfully complete rigorous treatment and work programs over a 12 month to two-year period is impressive.

I note this article because it is important that we remember that corrections is not just about the prison system but about how a range of community programs interact with the system and provide options for people where a non-prison-based sentence will achieve far more. I move:

Omit all words after “notes”, substitute: “concerns about the capacity of the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), in terms of the configuration of prisoners and the number of remandees at any given time; and

(2) calls on the Attorney-General to report to the Assembly by the last sitting day in August 2011 on:

(a) the trend in prisoner population numbers since the AMC opened, and projections for the coming years;

(b) what are the best and worst case scenarios for AMC’s capacity for holding prisoners and remandees;

(d) matters concerning community corrections, including:

(i) whether there are sufficient sentencing options available under the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 for community corrections programs;

(ii) what is the full list of community-based correction programs that judges can sentence offenders to;

(iii) how many of the community corrections programs have been or are operating at near capacity;

(iv) if prisoners are ever sent to the AMC because community corrections programs are at capacity;

(v) the financial cost (including per prisoner) of each of the community corrections programs; and

(vi) any analysis or research that has been undertaken to assess the comparative rates of recidivism for offenders sentenced to community orders and those sentenced to imprisonment.”.

MR HANSON (Molonglo) (12.04): Surprise, surprise, I suppose, is the reaction I have to that. Rather than addressing the point about Simon Corbell’s prepared

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