Mr. Love questions the Minister for Corrective Services about the perceived deterioration of the prison system. The Minister refutes the claim, citing improvements under the current Commissioner and valuing the Inspector of Custodial Services' reports, while acknowledging ongoing challenges.

AnsweredQoN 436Legislative Assembly
Asked
19 June 2024
Portfolio
Corrective Services

QuestionView source ↗

BUNBURY REGIONAL PRISON —
REPORT
436. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I have a supplementary question. The
minister has held the corrective services portfolio for over a year now. Why
does the prison system seem to be deteriorating rather than improving under his
leadership?

AnswerView source ↗

It
is not. That is an interesting observation that the member has made. Based on
what evidence is he making that claim?
Mr R.S. Love : Last week you
dismissed some of the findings of the Office of the Inspector of Custodial
Services. You do not seem to believe what they are saying.
Mr P. PAPALIA : No, the
Inspector of Custodial Services —
Mr R.S. Love interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please.
Mr P. PAPALIA : The Inspector
of Custodial Services fulfils a wonderful purpose—independent oversight
of our corrective services system. It means he reports to me and then
Parliament about the status of corrective services sites right across the state on a regular basis. He conducts regular
reviews and inspections, and he also does short- notice, out of session–type
inspections and reports. He provides an invaluable service. He has a range of
volunteer prison visitors who also provide advice to me about the situation in
the prison system. I value greatly everything that he provides and his insight.
I meet with him regularly and I respect his views and observations.
With this particular report, the
member is talking about something that was the situation some time ago. It is
no longer the case. There is always more to be done at every corrective
services site. I am very comfortable that the government has appointed an
excellent Commissioner for Corrective Services. He is addressing a range of
challenges right across the corrective services portfolio and he is doing a really
good job. The prison and corrective services system is in far better hands now
than it was.
Mr R.S. Love : In your hands?
Mr P. PAPALIA : I am talking about the Commissioner for
Corrective Services. The member may recall that we moved his predecessor on. The
current commissioner is doing a good job, and I am optimistic that conditions
will improve as he gets his work done.
The SPEAKER : That concludes
question time. I note that that last supplementary question was a much broader
question than the original question, which is not as it should be. It should be
a simple, direct question that relates to the original question, not a broad
question, because part of the issue with that is that it invites a broader
response.

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