Page 5305 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 29 November 2017
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aggression or assaults within the AMC, including referrals to ACT Policing. There have been extensive upgrades to security, including additional cameras installed in some units of the AMC.
We have also had the Morison review, which looked at a range of security issues. The government and Corrective Services agreed to act on all recommendations. In fact, work on many of these is already underway or in the planning stage. This includes improved security management systems and improved management of detainee movements. ACT Corrective Services are accelerating progress on the review of policies and procedures that is underway to deliver improved oversight. We have better compliance monitoring of procedures to deliver oversight and continuous improvement. We are maintaining the JACS commitment to increase the diversity of those who take up leadership roles within the centre—and I will come back to that in a moment—and we are developing a stronger training and staff development focus for the centre.
Mrs Jones has expressed concern about violence in the centre. I am pleased to inform the Assembly that the report on government services data shows that the rate of detainee-on-detainee serious assaults in the ACT decreased from 3.21 per 100 detainees in 2014-15 to 0.75 per 100 detainees in 2015-16, which is lower than the national rate of 1.05.
When it comes to prison industries and a structured day, of course, the AMC was built without prison industries. That was a decision taken by those who designed the facility because they wanted to focus on programs. I think they were wrong. Maybe that is easy to say in hindsight, but I think building a jail without prison industries was an oversight. I think it does not take into account the nature of our cohort and the opportunities that prison industries provide. I have taken a deliberate and very explicit decision to build prison industries inside the AMC. We were able to progress that more quickly than hoped through the savings that were attained through the accommodation underspend and to rechannel that money into the construction of new facilities.
We have a new bakery at the AMC which is providing, frankly, excellent jobs for the detainees. We have an expanded laundry facility which has provided increased work opportunities. We have a recycling station which is both providing work opportunities and reducing the AMC’s waste to landfill. We have a multipurpose activity centre at the AMC which is providing more opportunities for detainees to be engaged in meaningful employment. So across the centre and across a range of activities we have already provided a range of new jobs. The next phase of the prison industries strategy is underway and includes market research and engagement with local community and businesses to assess opportunities for commercial expansion.
As I have commented in this place before, we need to be mindful of competitive neutrality issues, to use the jargon, to make sure that we are not unfairly competing with local businesses when it comes to having industries in the AMC. I think that, with some care and some good collaboration with our community partners, we can achieve that.
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