LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Portfolio Committee No. 4 - Legal Affairs Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues Ordered to be printed 21 December 2018 according to Standing Order 231 Report 38 - December 2018 i LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues New South Wales Parliamentary Library cataloguing-in-publication data: New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Council. Portfolio Committee No. 4 – Legal Affairs. Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues / Portfolio Committee No. 4 – Legal Affairs [Sydney, N.S.W.] : the Committee, 2018. [ ] pages ; 30 cm. (Report no. 38 / Portfolio Committee No. 4 – Legal Affairs ) “December 2018” Chair: Hon. Robert Borsak, MLC. ISBN 9781922258908 1. Parklea Correctional Centre—Officials and employees 2. Prison contraband—New South Wales. 3. Correctional personnel—New South Wales. 4. Corrections—New South Wales 5. Prison administration—New South Wales 6. Prison industries—New South Wales I. Borsak, Robert. II. Title. III. Series: New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Council. Portfolio Committee No. 4 – Legal Affairs. Report ; no. 38 365.068 (DDC22) ii Report 38 - December 2018 PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 4 - LEGAL AFFAIRS Table of contents Terms of reference vii Committee details viii Chair’s foreword ix Findings x Recommendations xi Conduct of the inquiry xiii Chapter 1 Background 1 The inquiry 1 Parklea Correctional Centre 1 The current operator, The GEO Group Australia 2 The new operator, MTC/Broadspectrum 2 Features 2 Context 4 The increased prison population 4 2016 funding injection for prison infrastructure, including the rapid build dormitory prisons 5 Private prisons in New South Wales 5 Role of Corrective Services NSW 5 Payment and penalties under the contract 6 Onsite monitors 7 Independent oversight via the Inspector of Custodial Services 8 Functions 8 Official visitors 9 Powers 9 Joint Committee on the Ombudsman, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and the Crime Commission 9 NSW Ombudsman 10 Human rights standards and prisoners 10 2009 Legislative Council inquiry into the privatisation of prisons 11 Chapter 2 Past problems at Parklea Correctional Centre 13 Recent troubling events 13 Report 38 - December 2018 iii LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues Other evidence of significant problems 15 Reportable incidents and investigations 15 Deaths in custody and incidents of harm 18 Management, staffing and culture 19 Inadequate health care 19 Impediments to inmates' legal communications 20 Corrective Services NSW actions 21 Prior to 2017 21 The wellbeing review – February to April 2017 22 The intervention – July and August 2017 23 Contributing factors 26 Staffing and culture 26 Parklea's status as a private prison 27 Contract arrangements 28 Physical layout 29 More complex inmates 29 The GEO Group Australia perspective 30 Parklea's performance 30 Contraband and security 30 Actions since 2017 31 Private prisons 31 Junee Correctional Centre 32 Corrective Services NSW perspective 32 Accountability 32 Operational challenges 33 Other contributing factors 34 Committee comment 35 Chapter 3 The future of Parklea Correctional Centre 41 The new tender process 41 Improving the contract for Parklea Correctional Centre 43 The new contract 43 Calls for greater transparency 45 Transition to the new operator 48 Other issues 49 Parklea's physical layout 50 Junee Correctional Centre 50 Committee comment 50 iv Report 38 - December 2018 PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 4 - LEGAL AFFAIRS Chapter 4 Performance measurement via benchmarking 55 Calls for greater accountability 55 Corrective Services NSW performance framework 58 Benchmarking 60 Genesis 60 Aims and elements 60 Other stakeholder perspectives 63 Corrective Services NSW perspective 67 Committee comment 71 Chapter 5 Rapid build dormitory prisons 75 Establishment 75 Features 76 Accommodation 76 Security 76 Structured day 77 Inmate selection 77 Noise reduction 77 Expectations 78 Longevity 78 Performance to date 78 Future plans for evaluation 79 Accounts of inmate perspectives 80 Corrective Services NSW responses to these accounts 81 Inspector of Custodial Services perspective 83 Other stakeholder perspectives 83 Privacy and proximity to others 84 Human rights 86 Surveillance 87 Structured day 87 Selection of inmates 88 Cost 89 Other positives 89 Monitoring and oversight 89 Evaluation and future decisions 90 Alternatives to additional prisons 91 Corrective Services NSW perspective 91 Specific issues 92 Report 38 - December 2018 v LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues Committee comment 93 Chapter 6 Onsite monitors and independent oversight 97 2009 Legislative Council inquiry 97 Onsite monitors 98 Stakeholder perspectives 98 Corrective Services NSW perspective 99 Inspector of Custodial Services 101 Committee comment 104 Chapter 7 Other issues 109 Under resourcing of Justice Health 109 Poor resourcing for mental health 115 The need for more forensic and mental health beds 116 Committee comment 119 Appendix 1 Submissions 123 Appendix 2 Witnesses at hearings 125 Appendix 3 Minutes 128 Appendix 4 Dissenting statements 152 vi Report 38 - December 2018 PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 4 - LEGAL AFFAIRS Terms of reference That Portfolio Committee No. 4 - Legal Affairs inquire into and report on the current operations of Parklea Correctional Centre, and in particular: (a) the adequacy of staffing levels and staff safety, (b) the inflow of contraband, (c) the security at the facility, including access to gaol keys, (d) corporate governance of the GEO Group and the facility, (e) any possible contraventions of the contract between the NSW Government and the GEO Group, (f) the appropriateness and operation of private prisons in New South Wales, (g) Rapid-Build dormitory prisons,1 (h) the benchmarking of prisons in New South Wales,1 and (i) any other related matter. _____________________________________ 1 Minutes, NSW Legislative Council, no 138, 13 February 2018, pp 2273-74. Report 38 - December 2018 vii LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Parklea Correctional Centre and other operational issues Committee details Committee members The Hon Robert Borsak MLC Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Chair Mr David Shoebridge MLC The Greens Deputy Chair The Hon David Clarke MLC Liberal Party The Hon Scott Farlow MLC* Liberal Party The Hon Trevor Khan MLC The Nationals The Hon Shaoquett Moselmane MLC Australian Labor Party The Hon Lynda Voltz MLC Australian Labor Party Contact details Website www.parliament.nsw.gov.au Email [email protected] Telephone (02) 9230 3081 * The Hon Scott Farlow substituted for the Hon Catherine Cusack MLC from 28 November 2018 for the duration of the inquiry viii Report 38 - December 2018 PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 4 - LEGAL AFFAIRS Chair’s foreword This inquiry commenced in the wake of a media crisis that erupted in mid 2017 highlighting serious lapses in security and major problems with contraband at Parklea Correctional Centre, which at the time was the second largest prison in the state and one of two private prisons in New South Wales. The uploading of a video filmed on a contraband mobile phone to YouTube – in which an inmate flaunted homemade weapons and drugs and claimed mobile phones were brought into the prison by guards for money – immediately prompted the Minister for Corrections to call for an investigation, and the Commissioner to order an unprecedented 'intervention' at the prison. Further evidence gathered during our inquiry, both public and confidential, made it very clear that these incidents were indicative of serious and systemic failings at Parklea, under the operation of the company contracted to run it, the GEO Group Australia. The fact that the problems at Parklea escalated to the point of crisis is extremely troubling to the committee. Parklea plays a critical role in the state's prison system, especially in Sydney, as one of two major reception and remand centres, close to the courts, with a large capacity for maximum security inmates. The committee cannot emphasise strongly enough how critical it is that this correctional centre operate effectively into the future. In our report the committee makes a number of findings: that the problems that erupted into crisis at Parklea were symptomatic of more fundamental failures of leadership and culture in the private prison; that the GEO Group failed to meet its obligations in respect of the prison, failed to manage it effectively, and failed to recognise and address the prison's problems in a timely and effective way. In respect of Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW), which has ultimate responsibility for the correctional centre, we found: first, that CSNSW did not exercise sufficient diligence in its governance over the prison and its operator, allowing the problems to escalate to the point of crisis before intervening with sufficient strength to address them; and second, that it had not taken sufficient responsibility for its part in the crisis. We also found that the current independent oversight mechanism for the state's correctional system was inadequate to identify the prison's problems of leadership and culture. A new company has now been contracted to operate the centre, but the committee has made a number of recommendations to address the transparency and accountability of private prisons, to prevent the crisis at Parklea from recurring, to manage the risks accompanying private prisons, and to ensure that erosion of quality and standards does not