Page 3891 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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(3) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) continue to work with community organisations to provide female detainees in the AMC access to activities to build confidence and support while incarcerated; and
(b) report back to the Assembly on all policies and procedures to support women in the AMC.”.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (4.51): I thank Mrs Jones for bringing this motion to the Assembly to give us a chance to talk about the issues that she has raised and the work that Minister Rattenbury has been doing as corrections minister to support women at the AMC. I support Mr Rattenbury’s amendment to this motion. He has already described clearly the number of women in prisons in Australia. That is growing faster than the rate of men. There has been a dramatic rise in those that are being held on remand—that is, those that have been charged and not granted bail while waiting for trial or sentencing.
Compared to men, women are more likely to spend shorter periods of time in prison. Within the AMC, women are a small minority of prisoners but are often a very high-needs group. The challenges that women face and the issues with which they present are often quite different from those of men. A healthy prison is one where everyone is, and feels, safe, is respected and encouraged to improve themselves, is given every opportunity to do so through the provision of purposeful activity, and is enabled to maintain contact with their families in preparing for release.
In 2017 the female detainees at the AMC were moved from the cottages to the special care centre because of their increasing numbers. The special care centre is not a long-term solution, but rehousing within the main prison was the best interim solution for female detainees at the AMC. The move to the special care centre improves on the previous arrangements, where female detainees resided in the management unit and health wards and were unable to access different services. This approach provides more appropriate and secure accommodation than previously considered alternatives.
Corrective Services advises that there has been an increase in purposeful activities for female detainees, such as employment in the bakery, since the move. Corrective Services has advised me that they have completed risk mitigation work after the decision to transfer the women in 2017. As a result of this work, Winnunga health and community services were engaged to support female detainees in the move by providing additional counselling sessions.
I am further advised that every opportunity is taken to limit the physical contact between male and female prisoners. The minister has described occasions when that might occur, the circumstances surrounding it and the work that the corrections officers do to ensure that that does not happen. A new internal fence has been constructed for the women’s compound, including further security upgrades in
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