Page 1118 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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a statement regarding the Alexander Maconochie Centre, the AMC. As members are aware, on Tuesday last week I announced that the government would construct additional facilities for the AMC, in response to unprecedented detainee population increases. The issues facing ACT Corrective Services, in regard to both total detainee numbers and the separation of different categories of detainees, have been well publicised. In short, we have seen our average population increase from 266 in 2012-13 to 329 in the 2013-14 year to date, with our current daily muster often reaching 340.
In regard to separation, while it is standard prison practice to separate varying categories of detainees, the very high level of separation in the AMC is also driven by the “Canberra factor”; we are a relatively small city with detainees drawn from a small community. Our detainees frequently know each other outside prison and this increases the likelihood of association issues.
In its simplest terms, the $54 million construction will provide an additional 110 operational beds. It will also allow for additional surge capacity of 32 beds—in other words, increasing from 110 to add up to a total of 142 beds in times of need. This will see our total beds increased to 480, with surge capacity to 512. Members will note an increase in these numbers from my previous comments. This is in relation to the recent commissioning of a further four bunk beds in the women’s section, taking our current total bed number up to 370.
For those members interested in the explanations and definitions of operational beds, separation and design capacity and design contingency, I have directed that a summary of the different terminology be developed, and I will in future refer members to the ACT Corrective Services website. These terms can be confusing and hard to understand as they may be used differently or according to differing counting rules depending on the jurisdiction, the agency using them or the author. I do not intend to use Assembly time to argue the meaning of these various terms, but consider there is merit in having an accessible source where they are defined; hence my direction to ACT Corrective Services.
The additional facilities will be made up of two new cell blocks. The first to be delivered will be a 30-bed special care facility due for completion in mid-2015. The 30-bed special care facility will provide for improved delivery of services to vulnerable detainees with varying health, psychiatric, dependency or protection needs. It will allow for step-up, step-down capability for detainees who may be at risk of self-harm and an environment better suited to transitioning such detainees to general accommodation in time.
In the current plan, a second 56-cell, 80-bed flexible accommodation facility will come online in mid-2016. While the 30-bed special care facility provides greater functionality to provide for detainees with a higher level of need, the 56-cell accommodation will respond to both the significant separation issues in the ACT and our forecasted growth in detainee numbers. While some of the 56 cells will be double bunked as part of the construction, all cells in this cell block will be designed to allow for double bunking, thereby providing for an additional 32 beds as needed and when appropriate.
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