❓ Hon Giz Watson requests detailed data on prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in WA prisons and juvenile detention centres from 2007-2011. The Department of Corrective Services provides some data but cites resource constraints and system limitations for incomplete responses.
AnsweredQoN 4781Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the statement by the Attorney General on 21 September 2011 in the other place that ‘the number of serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults for 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-10 and 2010-11 is 25, 31, four and 16’, and I ask -
(1) Will you please table full details of all prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in Western Australian prisons and juvenile detention centres for the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2011 inclusive, including but not limited to the following (if known) -
(a) nature of assault;
(b) age of victim;
(c) at which prison or juvenile detention centre the assault took place; and
(d) whether the victim had newly arrived in the prison or juvenile detention centre (whether as a first time prisoner or as transferee from another facility)?
(2) Given that prisoners may not feel safe to report assaults while still serving their sentence, how were these statistics obtained?
(1) Will you please table full details of all prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in Western Australian prisons and juvenile detention centres for the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2011 inclusive, including but not limited to the following (if known) -
(a) nature of assault;
(b) age of victim;
(c) at which prison or juvenile detention centre the assault took place; and
(d) whether the victim had newly arrived in the prison or juvenile detention centre (whether as a first time prisoner or as transferee from another facility)?
(2) Given that prisoners may not feel safe to report assaults while still serving their sentence, how were these statistics obtained?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
1 November 2011
Responded by
Minister for Finance representing the Minister for Corrective Services
Response time
35 days
The Department of Corrective Services (the Department) has separated the response into two parts - for adults and juveniles.
ADULTS
(1) [See tabled paper no.]
(a)-(d) It is not feasible to provide the requested information as it would require extensive analysis which would divert an unreasonable portion of the Department's resources from its day to day business operations.
(2) These statistics were obtained from staff incident reports from the Total Offender Management Solution (TOMS).
JUVENILES
(1)(a)-(c) [See tabled paper no.]
(d) The Department is unable to provide this information as youth custodial offender management tools do not allow for extraction of this type of information.
(2) Youth Custodial Services extracted this information from TOMS. It is operational procedure for officers to record in TOMS any assault that comes to their attention regardless of whether the victim reports the incident or not. This includes where the officer views the assault, or identifies that an assault has occurred based, for example, on information from other detainees or noticing bruises consistent with an assault on a young person.
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ADULTS
(1) [See tabled paper no.]
(a)-(d) It is not feasible to provide the requested information as it would require extensive analysis which would divert an unreasonable portion of the Department's resources from its day to day business operations.
(2) These statistics were obtained from staff incident reports from the Total Offender Management Solution (TOMS).
JUVENILES
(1)(a)-(c) [See tabled paper no.]
(d) The Department is unable to provide this information as youth custodial offender management tools do not allow for extraction of this type of information.
(2) Youth Custodial Services extracted this information from TOMS. It is operational procedure for officers to record in TOMS any assault that comes to their attention regardless of whether the victim reports the incident or not. This includes where the officer views the assault, or identifies that an assault has occurred based, for example, on information from other detainees or noticing bruises consistent with an assault on a young person.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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