Page 1402 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011

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(c) the “ACT Corrective Services does not have quality recording and reporting systems in place for key performance data”;

(4) notes that the damning Burnet Institute, Hamburger and Knowledge Consulting reports follow on from a long litany of failures and mismanagement in corrections, including:

(a) in late 2008 and early 2009 there were ongoing human rights breaches at the Belconnen Remand Centre (BRC) that were found by the Human Rights Commissioner to have been exacerbated by the late opening of the AMC;

(b) 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;

(d) the AMC was officially opened on the eve of the ACT Election, five months prior to receiving prisoners;

(e) that the AMC had defects remaining in the security system when opened and was not ready to receive prisoners;

(f) the AMC was delivered under scope, 75 beds less than originally promised, and lacking a gym, outer perimeter fence and a chapel;

(g) the AMC was delivered approximately $20 million over its original budget at a cost of $130 million;

(h) that drugs, needles and razor blades were found in the AMC shortly after the first prisoners arrived;

(i) that the radio frequency identification system is not yet operational and a number of identification bracelets were lost;

(j) that there have been breaches of the Corrections Management (Email / Internet for Prisoners) Policy 2009;

(k) that the AMC is costing ACT taxpayers over $400 per prisoner per day;

(l) that the Attorney-General, Simon Corbell MLA, refused to accept the unanimous and damning 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 and made serious allegations in the Assembly against the three committee members accusing them of having conducted a “sham inquiry to achieve a political end”;

(m) the wrongful release of a prisoner by ACT Corrective Services who stated that in relation to his release, “anyone else could have, murderers, bad armed robbers, they all could have got out, it was that easy”;

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