Page 2836 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
dollars later, we are still faced with the same fundamental mismanagement issues that plagued the prison a little over two years ago. The minister stated that planning and risk assessments for increased numbers of women are already “well underway”. On the same day, under questioning from the opposition, the minister advised the Assembly in question time that the accommodation of women in the management unit was “not for an indefinite period”. However, the Executive Director of ACT Corrective Services gave a very different impression during the estimates hearings. They are the same estimates hearings which the minister decided were not important enough to attend.
Mr Peach revealed on 23 June this year that by making use of the 29 dedicated female beds, the 14 beds in the management unit and the four beds in the health unit, the AMC had a total capacity for 47 women. Mr Peach stated: “We do have capacity to hold that for the moment.” Mr Peach went on to say that, if it goes beyond that, we have two options at the moment: finding an additional 10 beds within the AMC, which still would not be enough, given the growth rate; or the potential use of the Symonston facility. Mr Peach made it clear that these options will be considered again if the population goes beyond 47 women.
Clearly the management and health units will continue to be used for an indefinite period. There is no indication as to whether the accommodation crisis will be solved properly, if at all. The minister needs to look to provide clarity. If the use of the management and health units is not for an indefinite period of time, when will they stop being used? Why would the director of ACT Corrective Services state that they will only consider options again if, as Mr Peach said, more than 47 women are in custody? Given that there has been a steady growth of female detainees at the AMC since its opening, surely the trend will continue?
Yesterday the opposition received an answer to a question on notice about the maximum number of women who have been held in the AMC each year since 2009. It confirmed what we had already suspected and largely knew: that the number of women has been growing since 2009. It did also show that the strongest growth has been quite recent. If the minister relied solely on these figures then it makes some sense that he may have been caught by surprise by the growth in the number of women detainees. But he should have looked further. The average daily prisoner numbers have increased from 2009-10 to 2015-16 for sentenced non-Indigenous women by 40.4 per cent, sentenced Indigenous women by a staggering 295.6 per cent, unsentenced non-Indigenous women by 5.4 per cent and unsentenced Indigenous women by 201.8 per cent. Whilst these statistics are quite staggering, we do need to bear in mind that we are talking about a small population in the jail. Nonetheless, these increases are staggering.
The minister also admitted in his ministerial statement last sitting that the rise in the population of women in the AMC was a development for which he did not plan. On that point I ask the minister how it is that he did not foresee the rise in the number of women being incarcerated in the ACT, when the evidence shows that this is a trend not just in the ACT but also across Australia and in many parts of the world. There is a lot of compelling evidence. The government’s very own Justice and Community
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video