Correctional Services and Sentencing in Tasmania

- 1 - 1999 ______________________ Parliament of Tasmania ______________________ LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE CORRECTIONAL SERVICES AND SENTENCING IN TASMANIA MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE Mr Wing (Chair) Mr Parkinson Mr Squibb Secretary : Ms Inta Mezgailis Mrs Sue McLeod (from 9 June 1998) - 2 - TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER 1 – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................5 CHAPTER 2 – SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS............................. 10 CHAPTER 3 – APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE ..................................... 14 CHAPTER 4 – ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................. 16 CHAPTER 5 – PURPOSE OF PRISONS ................................................... 17 CHAPTER 6 – PRESENT FACILITIES ...................................................... 22 Risdon Maximum Security Prison........................................ 22 Ron Barwick Medium Security Prison ................................. 26 Risdon Prison Hospital ........................................................ 26 Women’s Prison .................................................................. 27 Hobart Remand Centre ....................................................... 27 Hayes Prison Farm.............................................................. 27 Launceston Remand Centre ............................................... 28 Burnie Police Cells ............................................................. 28 CHAPTER 7 – SUITABILITY AND ADEQUACY OF PRESENT FACILITIES ...................................................... 32 CHAPTER 8 – INTERSTATE AND OVERSEAS INSPECTIONS .............. 38 CHAPTER 9 – FACILITIES RECOMMENDED FOR TASMANIA.............. 65 CHAPTER 10 – PUBLIC, PRIVATE OR CONTRACTING OUT? .............. 74 Terminology ...................................................................... 74 Historical Development of Private Prisons ........................ 76 Rationale for Private Prisons............................................. 78 Arguments Against Private Prisons................................... 79 Evaluation of Arguments For and Against......................... 80 The Extent of Cost Savings............................................... 88 Procedure for Contracting out in Other States .................. 93 Transparency and Openness............................................ 96 Monitoring ......................................................................... 97 - 3 - PAGE Capture ............................................................................. 99 Organisational Structure and Prison Tendering Procedures..................................................................... 99 Accountability.................................................................. 102 Financing......................................................................... 104 The Victorian Approach................................................... 105 CHAPTER 11 – PRISON INDUSTRIES AND PROGRAMMES ............... 108 CHAPTER 12 – SENTENCING OPTIONS ............................................... 112 Introduction .....................................................................112 Custodial Sentencing of Fine Defaulters ......................... 117 The option to impose a fine without conviction ................ 119 Probation......................................................................... 119 Parole.............................................................................. 121 Victim-Offender Mediation............................................... 123 Periodic Detention........................................................... 124 Leave of Absence Programme........................................ 131 Deferment of Commencement of Sentence .................... 134 Serving Sentences During Annual Leave and ................ 136 Other Specified Times Home Detention .............................................................. 138 Community Service Options............................................ 140 APPENDIX ‘A’ – INTERSTATE MEETINGS............................................ 149 APPENDIX ‘B’ – OBJECTIVES OF THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT’S NEW PRISON PROJECT (NPP) .... 152 APPENDIX ‘C’ – ACHIEVEMENTS AND STRUCTURE OF VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT’S NEW PRISON PROJECT (NPP) .................................. 154 APPENDIX ‘D’ – COMMERCIAL ARRANGEMENTS WITH CONTRACTORS VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT’S NEW PRISON PROJECT (NPP) ................................. 157 APPENDIX ‘E’ – PROBATION AND PAROLE - TASMANIAN LEGISLATION ....................................... 163 APPENDIX ‘F’ – INTENSIVE CORRECTION ORDERS .......................... 167 - 4 - APPENDIX ‘G’ – OTHER JURISDICTIONS NOT VISITED ..................... 169 LIST OF REFERENCES........................................................................... 171 ATTACHMENT 1 – LIST OF WITNESSES .............................................. 173 ATTACHMENT 2 – WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TAKEN INTO EVIDENCE...................................................... 175 ATTACHMENT 3 – DOCUMENTS TAKEN INTO EVIDENCE................. 177 ATTACHMENT 4 – MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS................................. 185 - 5 - Chapter 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In his epic autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom”, former President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela wrote: “It is said that no-one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its gaols. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones – and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals”.21 Applying this test to our State, Tasmania would not be judged well. The overall conditions at the Maximum Security Prison at Risdon are worse than in any other prison visited by members of the Select Committee in Victoria, the A.C.T., New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. This unfavourable comparison applies also to the prisons visited by one member of the Committee in England, New Zealand and Swaziland. A former General Manager of Corrective Services in Tasmania has concluded that “the only institution in our society with which this facility could be closely compared is a zoo”.22 By contrast, the new Hobart Remand Centre, first occupied in January 1999, compares favourably with any of the prisons visited. It is not elaborate, but basic and secure. It provides acceptable working conditions for staff and an environment in which inmates may retain a reasonable degree of self-esteem. Similar conditions should be replicated in all sections of the Tasmanian prison system. This would bring them into line with modern prisons in other jurisdictions and increase the chances of successful rehabilitation of prisoners. Conditions in other sections of the Tasmanian prison system are generally below reasonable standards. This Report deals with each separately. The majority of prisoners are kept at the Risdon Maximum Security Prison. As conditions in most parts of the prison range from inferior to appalling, there is a compelling need either to upgrade or replace them. The grossly inadequate facilities impose unnecessary strains on staff and prisoners alike. Unless replaced it is likely that tensions will erupt into a continuation of the damaging incidents at the Prison which have recurred with troubling regularity in recent months. 21 Mandela, Nelson, Long Walk to Freedom, 1995 Edition, p. 233. 22 Marris, Ben, The Future of Prisons in Tasmania, December 1995, p. 46. - 6 - Tasmania has a higher number of staff per prisoner than most other Australian jurisdictions due to the small size of Tasmania’s prisons and their design. The design of this prison was considered to be several decades out of date when it opened in 1960 and it is inappropriate for the Tasmanian climate. Any attempt to upgrade it to appropriate and acceptable standards and design would be unsuccessful and prohibitively expensive. The Committee has concluded that Risdon Prison should be replaced and that this should be done with a degree of urgency. Further, a full-scale review of all Corrective Services’ facilities should be made with a view to developing a total prison structure in which the design and location of all facilities are appropriate to the needs and conditions in our State. There is no doubt that successive governments have baulked at taking this action because of the high costs involved. Inaction has been aided by the lack of public awareness of the extent of inferior conditions at Risdon and the fact that there are no votes in prisons. In the light of these circumstances the action of the previous Government in building the impressive new Hobart Remand Centre was both appropriate and commendable. The goal should now be to provide equivalent standard facilities throughout the prison system in Tasmania. It is recommended that use of the Ron Barwick Medium Security Prison and the Risdon Maximum Security Prison should be discontinued as soon as possible – unless further refurbishment of the Ron Barwick Medium Security Prison makes it suitable, if considered necessary, for use as a periodic detention centre. The Committee further recommends that the Hayes Prison Farm be closed and disposed of. After careful consideration of all factors detailed in the body of this Report, the Committee has concluded that two new prisons should be constructed. One should be in Southern Tasmania and the other in the north at a location which makes it reasonably accessible to relatives of prisoners from the North and North West Coast centres. Both should contain maximum, medium and minimum security sections together with

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