❓ Mr. Whitby questions the Minister for Corrective Services on the expansion of Casuarina Prison and its impact on overcrowding and local benefits. The Minister details the expansion, rehabilitation programs, and criticizes the previous government's lack of investment in corrective services.
AnsweredQoN 15Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PRISONS —
INFRASTRUCTURE EXPANSION
15. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the construction of four
new prison units at Casuarina Prison that got underway yesterday.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on how these new prison beds will ease the
overcrowding of prisons that was inherited from the previous Liberal–National
government?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house on how local businesses and local workers will
benefit from the construction of this project?
INFRASTRUCTURE EXPANSION
15. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the construction of four
new prison units at Casuarina Prison that got underway yesterday.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on how these new prison beds will ease the
overcrowding of prisons that was inherited from the previous Liberal–National
government?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house on how local businesses and local workers will
benefit from the construction of this project?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Baldivis very
much indeed for his interest in state security and the creation of local jobs,
particularly in the southern suburbs.
(1)–(2) I rise with great pleasure to talk about the
sod-turning ceremony that I was a part of yesterday at Casuarina Prison,
which will result in the creation of four new units, containing 512 extra
prison beds for the state of Western Australia. This expansion of Casuarina
Prison comes on top of the 160 new beds, the construction of which is well
underway at Bunbury Regional Prison, that will be delivered to the state of Western
Australia in August this year. The four new units at Casuarina are aimed to be
completed, the first two, by December this year and, the second two, in April
next year. Two of those prison units go to rehabilitation and will deal with
the challenges that we have within the prison system. One unit will be the male
alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility that we promised in the election and
forms part of our methylamphetamine action plan.
I inform the house about the outcome
of the Wandoo facility, which I talked about last year and which was opened
last year—the 80-bed facility near Fiona Stanley Hospital, which is the
female alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility. The first 24 women will be
graduating from that facility over the next couple of weeks and they have
basically turned around their lives. It is a very, very good story. I hope that
we can achieve the same thing with the male prison units at Casuarina. One of
the other prison units of the two groups of prison units, I hope, will also
deal with some of the problems we have in prisons whereby people who are
suffering from mental health problems are not properly treated within the
prison system itself. They do suffer, they do get picked on, they do cause
problems for both prisoners and staff, and they are better placed in a separate
unit where their problems can be addressed. So the step-up, step-down facility
will also be part of rehabilitation at Casuarina Prison.
I point this out because in contrast
with the situation that I was left with as the Minister for Corrective Services,
I have to inform the house that after two years as Minister for Corrective
Services and after going through the details of every component of the then
Department of Corrective Services, which is now part of the Department of
Justice, it has become very, very clear to me that that portfolio was basically
abandoned in 2014—abandoned. No money whatsoever was put into the
portfolio. There was no expansion or any investment in infrastructure or
programs that could deal with what was a rapidly increasing prison population.
The population increased by 25 per cent in just three years, yet money was cut
from the budget. A staff freeze was put in place in 2016. The churn in terms of
the number of prison officers who leave the system is between 80 and 90 a year,
and over a three-year period we had a staff freeze in place. Consequently, we
are now catching up, trying to deal with the understaffing and overcrowding as
fast as we possibly can by taking on more prison officers. It is not as though
the previous government was not warned. The former Commissioner of Corrective
Services, Mr McMahon, in 2015 in the estimates hearing said —
If we keep growing at this rate—I
am being conservative—in the medium term we potentially need to be
walking into a new facility over the next three years. That has been discussed
at a range of levels that I cannot go into, but I am well aware of the figures
and the projections.
Point of Order
Mr V.A.
CATANIA : This question is obviously a ministerial statement, which
could have been done at the start.
The SPEAKER : Sit down! I will
call you to order if you do frivolous points of order. Minister, you will get
to the end of this.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I will finish
up very soon. But I quote Mr McMahon to point out to the house that the
previous government was well aware of the overcrowding problems, it was well
aware that it needed to invest and failed to do so. Mark that attitude in
contrast with what we are doing. We will have 900 new beds in place next year—that
is nearly a whole new prison within three years—and we will have
increased dramatically the number of prison officers staffing those prisons.
That is what we are doing as a McGowan Labor government and it stands in stark
contrast with what the former government did with the corrections system.
much indeed for his interest in state security and the creation of local jobs,
particularly in the southern suburbs.
(1)–(2) I rise with great pleasure to talk about the
sod-turning ceremony that I was a part of yesterday at Casuarina Prison,
which will result in the creation of four new units, containing 512 extra
prison beds for the state of Western Australia. This expansion of Casuarina
Prison comes on top of the 160 new beds, the construction of which is well
underway at Bunbury Regional Prison, that will be delivered to the state of Western
Australia in August this year. The four new units at Casuarina are aimed to be
completed, the first two, by December this year and, the second two, in April
next year. Two of those prison units go to rehabilitation and will deal with
the challenges that we have within the prison system. One unit will be the male
alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility that we promised in the election and
forms part of our methylamphetamine action plan.
I inform the house about the outcome
of the Wandoo facility, which I talked about last year and which was opened
last year—the 80-bed facility near Fiona Stanley Hospital, which is the
female alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility. The first 24 women will be
graduating from that facility over the next couple of weeks and they have
basically turned around their lives. It is a very, very good story. I hope that
we can achieve the same thing with the male prison units at Casuarina. One of
the other prison units of the two groups of prison units, I hope, will also
deal with some of the problems we have in prisons whereby people who are
suffering from mental health problems are not properly treated within the
prison system itself. They do suffer, they do get picked on, they do cause
problems for both prisoners and staff, and they are better placed in a separate
unit where their problems can be addressed. So the step-up, step-down facility
will also be part of rehabilitation at Casuarina Prison.
I point this out because in contrast
with the situation that I was left with as the Minister for Corrective Services,
I have to inform the house that after two years as Minister for Corrective
Services and after going through the details of every component of the then
Department of Corrective Services, which is now part of the Department of
Justice, it has become very, very clear to me that that portfolio was basically
abandoned in 2014—abandoned. No money whatsoever was put into the
portfolio. There was no expansion or any investment in infrastructure or
programs that could deal with what was a rapidly increasing prison population.
The population increased by 25 per cent in just three years, yet money was cut
from the budget. A staff freeze was put in place in 2016. The churn in terms of
the number of prison officers who leave the system is between 80 and 90 a year,
and over a three-year period we had a staff freeze in place. Consequently, we
are now catching up, trying to deal with the understaffing and overcrowding as
fast as we possibly can by taking on more prison officers. It is not as though
the previous government was not warned. The former Commissioner of Corrective
Services, Mr McMahon, in 2015 in the estimates hearing said —
If we keep growing at this rate—I
am being conservative—in the medium term we potentially need to be
walking into a new facility over the next three years. That has been discussed
at a range of levels that I cannot go into, but I am well aware of the figures
and the projections.
Point of Order
Mr V.A.
CATANIA : This question is obviously a ministerial statement, which
could have been done at the start.
The SPEAKER : Sit down! I will
call you to order if you do frivolous points of order. Minister, you will get
to the end of this.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I will finish
up very soon. But I quote Mr McMahon to point out to the house that the
previous government was well aware of the overcrowding problems, it was well
aware that it needed to invest and failed to do so. Mark that attitude in
contrast with what we are doing. We will have 900 new beds in place next year—that
is nearly a whole new prison within three years—and we will have
increased dramatically the number of prison officers staffing those prisons.
That is what we are doing as a McGowan Labor government and it stands in stark
contrast with what the former government did with the corrections system.
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