❓ Hon. Alison Xamon questions the Minister for Corrective Services regarding the implementation of recommendations from a report on strip searching practices in WA prisons. The Minister responds that a new policy has been approved but is yet to be implemented.
AnsweredQoN 1455Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
CORRECTIVE SERVICES —
STRIP SEARCHES
1455. Hon ALISON XAMON to the minister representing the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the Office of the Inspector
of Custodial Services report, ''Strip Searching Practices in Western Australian
Prisons'', and to recommendation 1 regarding strip searching policy.
(1) Has this
recommendation now been completed?
(2) If yes to
(1), please table a copy of any amended or new policy?
(3) If no to (1) —
(a) why not; and
(b) when is it
anticipated this recommendation will be completed?
STRIP SEARCHES
1455. Hon ALISON XAMON to the minister representing the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the Office of the Inspector
of Custodial Services report, ''Strip Searching Practices in Western Australian
Prisons'', and to recommendation 1 regarding strip searching policy.
(1) Has this
recommendation now been completed?
(2) If yes to
(1), please table a copy of any amended or new policy?
(3) If no to (1) —
(a) why not; and
(b) when is it
anticipated this recommendation will be completed?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) No. On 31
October 2019, the new prison searching policy, ''Commissioner's
Operational Policy and Procedure 11.2—Searching'', was approved
by the Commissioner of Corrective Services. This policy was developed
considering legislation, international standards, risk factors and a comparative
assessment of practices in other states. The
new searching policy reduces the number of routine or mandated strip searches of prisoners, especially when a secure chain of custody is maintained—for
example, transfer between prisons—states that no visitor under the age
of 18 years will ever be stripsearched; and recognises that stripsearching
prisoners on initial reception into prison is an important and necessary
control in managing risks and contributing to the overall management of
detecting and preventing the passage of unauthorised items into prisons.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) (a) Although
the ''Commissioner's Operational Policy and Procedure 11.2—Searching''
has been approved, it is yet to be implemented.
(b) The
implementation of the searching COPP is scheduled for December 2019 to January
2020. Once implemented, taking into account security implications, only
applicable sections of the policy will be made available to the public.
some notice of the question.
(1) No. On 31
October 2019, the new prison searching policy, ''Commissioner's
Operational Policy and Procedure 11.2—Searching'', was approved
by the Commissioner of Corrective Services. This policy was developed
considering legislation, international standards, risk factors and a comparative
assessment of practices in other states. The
new searching policy reduces the number of routine or mandated strip searches of prisoners, especially when a secure chain of custody is maintained—for
example, transfer between prisons—states that no visitor under the age
of 18 years will ever be stripsearched; and recognises that stripsearching
prisoners on initial reception into prison is an important and necessary
control in managing risks and contributing to the overall management of
detecting and preventing the passage of unauthorised items into prisons.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) (a) Although
the ''Commissioner's Operational Policy and Procedure 11.2—Searching''
has been approved, it is yet to be implemented.
(b) The
implementation of the searching COPP is scheduled for December 2019 to January
2020. Once implemented, taking into account security implications, only
applicable sections of the policy will be made available to the public.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.