Page 186 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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would include the use of the management unit, beds in the health unit, and double or even triple bunking in some cells, perhaps, for ongoing purposes. I am sure the minister will enlighten us. This would completely limit the functions of the AMC, cause havoc for detainees and staff, impact the ability of staff to separate certain inmates or certain cohorts of inmates and make health supervision more difficult. Moving inmates through the facility would take longer and be more dangerous.
Tabled documents from yesterday show that official visitor complaints about the prison have reached a four-year high, with a significant proportion of them being centred on the excessive lock-ins and lack of access to time outside the cell. These matters are exacerbated by an overpopulated prison. The ACT lags far behind other prisons in terms of the amount of time inmates spend outside their cells, which is a key goal for both rehabilitation and for meeting the human rights obligations that the minister set out just last week in a document that he released.
Clearly, the increasing population has made managing the facility more and more difficult. That is why it is so important that we have a plan. What is the plan? What will we do when there are 510 detainees? What about 520 or perhaps 550? What is the plan? Will there be some forward thinking or will we wait until there is a crisis before addressing the issue?
There are cells through which new inmates enter. They are holding cells, essentially. They are not designed for inmates to stay in for more than a few hours. As such, the design of these rooms is also different from the rest of the cells and accommodation. There may be beds available in other areas of the prison, as well, not designed for housing inmates for more than a few hours. I ask the question: is this what we will have to resort to under the minister’s plan—or lack of plan? I realise that the minister looks at the ever-increasing number of detainees and thinks perhaps it is okay because we could go a few over 511 and still have beds to use. However, in my view, it is no way to run the facility, and I would be quite concerned if that were the thinking.
Given that we have seen a steady increase in the numbers of inmates or detainees in the system over a number of years, as my table shows, where is the plan for future expansions? What would the expansions cost, or is there a plan for a new facility? These may have been considered as part of the feasibility study, given that it was completed a year ago. It is about time that the people of Canberra knew some more about it.
Justice investment is good. Justice reinvestment is good. It is worth doing. But it is not a plan for the present management of the prison population. Clearly, any attempt to divert people is something that we would support. However, it does not fix, in the meantime, the overpopulation issues that we are facing.
One would think there should be a long-term plan if the consistent trend in the facility continues, and I assume that it will. But it seems there is not. According to the minister, in annual reports hearings last year and in more recent statements, he does not want to continue building a bigger and bigger prison, saying that “if you build it, they will come”. Certainly, it seems that even if we do not build it they will come anyway. They are coming nonetheless.
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