❓ Ms Walker questions the Attorney General about Acacia, Hakea, and Bandyup Prisons being placed on the Inspector of Custodial Services' alert list, inquiring about the implications and the government's plan to address the deterioration. The Attorney General's response focuses on the failings of the privatised Acacia Prison and the AIMS Corporation contract.
AnsweredQoN 604Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer the Attorney General to the Acacia Prison debrief of 21 March 2003 by the Inspector of Custodial Services, Professor Richard Harding, at which he said that the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Justice is at the statutory epicentre of authority and responsibility for the performance of Acacia Prison, and from his point of view Acacia must now join Hakea and Bandyup Prisons on his alert list. (1) What does placement of a prison on the alert list signify? (2) Under the Department of Justice’s statutory epicentre, how have these prisons been allowed to deteriorate to this extent? (3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(1) What does placement of a prison on the alert list signify? (2) Under the Department of Justice’s statutory epicentre, how have these prisons been allowed to deteriorate to this extent? (3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(2) Under the Department of Justice’s statutory epicentre, how have these prisons been allowed to deteriorate to this extent? (3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(1) What does placement of a prison on the alert list signify? (2) Under the Department of Justice’s statutory epicentre, how have these prisons been allowed to deteriorate to this extent? (3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(2) Under the Department of Justice’s statutory epicentre, how have these prisons been allowed to deteriorate to this extent? (3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(3) How will the Government ensure that these prisons are taken permanently off the inspector’s alert list? Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY replied: (1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
(1)-(3) One of the good things that was done under the previous Government was to establish the position of Inspector of Custodial Services and appoint Professor Richard Harding to that position. Something that I would not put in the category of one of the better decisions made by the previous Government was to privatise the prison system in Western Australia. When Acacia Prison was proposed, it was intended to be a model for the state prison system. It was to be a privately run prison that would become a benchmark by which improvements in the state prison system could be effected. That was the justification that was given publicly. Acacia has been up and running now for some 18 months - Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: His concern was not just about Acacia. Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: I know, and I will come to that. I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
I receive monthly reports on all of the indicators of how the prison is running. Initially, when a prison guard at the privately-run prison was arrested for smuggling drugs into the prison, that was of significant concern to me, to the extent that I raised with the Department of Justice the very high level of illicit drugs that were finding their way into the prison, and the number of prisoners who were then testing positive for those illicit drugs. There were also other indicators that Acacia Prison was not operating as well as we had expected. There was quite a lot of underemployment of people at the prison. They were not undertaking the programs that they should have been undertaking, quite apart from the drug-related issue. I think it is clear that at this stage Professor Harding is saying to us all that the original idea has not been met; that is, Acacia Prison is not a model or a device to be used to improve the standards in the state prison system. That is now profoundly true, looking at the debriefing notes that Professor Harding has provided; and I expect that his final report will be tabled in this House in a month or two. That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
That then poses a significant challenge for us, because the contracting company for that prison is AIMS Corporation. The other contract that AIMS Corporation has with the Government - that is, to provide court security and prisoner transport - has been an abject failure. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: No, it hasn’t. Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: It has been an abject failure. It put in a quote for $11 million. It then escalated that out to $18 million within a very short time. Whoever was responsible for drawing up that contract drew up a dud. The Attorney General of the day oversaw a dud contract. Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney interjected. The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Kalgoorlie to order for the second time. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: That contract is now costing the State enormously. AIMS Corporation will need to do an awful lot between now and when that contract expires in July 2005, when we will have to decide what we will do with that contract to justify even being considered for a renewal of that contract. The alarm bells are now ringing at its other contract, which is at the privatised prison. Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: In the first year, the AIMS contract cost $16.9 million, and in the second year it cost $16.6 million. It is on target this year for $16. 5 million, which indicates that the figures are coming down. Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: That is wrong. The contract figure for which it bid was $11 million. Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr M.J. Birney: No, it was not. The adjudicator found otherwise. It has met just about every performance indicator that you have set for it. Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: In answer to the question, like Professor Harding, I am very concerned that the AIMS contract at Acacia Prison is not delivering what we expected, in the same way as the other contract is not delivering what we expected. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: He also has the same concerns about Hakea Prison and Bandyup Women’s Prison. We are talking about both private and public prisons. What is the concern? Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: I am enormously concerned about Hakea Prison. Professor Richard Harding described the staff relations and the issues involved in that prison as toxic. That was his word, not mine, to describe Hakea Prison, the main receiving prison in the State. I am also very concerned about Bandyup Women’s Prison. It is not operating the way in which it should. During the last years of the previous Government, there was chronic overcrowding in the prison system. The number of people in prison escalated dramatically, and the numbers of deaths in custody were at record levels. They are all signs of a system under enormous stress. One of the great challenges that I have had to face in the two years I have been in this position has been to overcome what I think was one of the great failings of the previous Government. The challenge has been to get the prison system back to the stage at which it is no longer on alert and no longer recording less than satisfactory outcomes. We are doing that through a number of initiatives. Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mrs C.L. Edwardes: Is this alert notice no longer in existence? Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: There is no such thing. That was Professor Harding talking about his view of the prison system. No doubt he used a bit of poetic licence. To the best of my knowledge, it is not a formal status within the Department of Justice. Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Ms S.E. Walker: He has an alert list. It says so in the report. Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: He looks at prisons. He has told me and has written in his reports that the three prisons in the State - Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Ms S.E. Walker: What do you think it means when a prison is on alert? Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
Mr J.A. McGINTY: It is Professor Harding’s term for a prison that is not performing in the way in which we would expect it to perform. It means that there is sufficient concern about the way in which that prison is operating to warrant all the authorities taking particular measures, which of course is what we are doing. The three prisons about which he is particularly concerned - I share those concerns - are Hakea, described by him as toxic; Acacia Prison, the privatised prison that simply is not delivering; and Bandyup, the women’s prison. They are the three primary concerns. Of course, there are other areas of concern within the prison system. I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
I refer to the member’s three questions. “On alert” is Professor Harding’s term. One of the things we are doing about that alert status is getting the prisons to an acceptable operational level. We are making sure that we learn from what Professor Harding tells us about the errors of the past. We want a prison system that achieves 100 per cent outcomes. We are also allocating money to make sure that the real problems in the prison system, such as the unacceptable levels of drug use, are for the first time properly addressed. We are also looking at ways in which we can, via the re-entry program, work with prisoners to address their social exclusion factors - that is, accommodation, employment and training - as well as the causes of their offending behaviour. We continue to work with those prisoners when they leave prison, with the one simple objective of reducing crime. The one group in the community that is most likely to commit a crime tomorrow is that of prisoners on release from prison.
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