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❓ WA Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding the imprisonment of fine defaulters, seeking data on frequency, demographics, and associated costs. The response provides some data directly and refers to tabled papers for further information, while also noting limitations in data collection.

AnsweredQoN 1832Legislative Assembly

Asked

18 February 2014

Member

Mr P. Papalia

Portfolio

Emergency Services; Corrective Services; Small Business; Veterans

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to provisions within the Fines, Penalties and Infringement Notices Enforcement Act 1994 enabling fine defaulters to enter prison under a warrant of commitment to clear fines, and I ask: (a) for each calendar year from 2008 to the present date, on how many occasions did offenders enter prison solely to clear fine defaults - please identify only those who entered prison for fine default alone (i.e. no other offence), but include each entry to prison as a separate incident even if the same offender was incarcerated for the same reason more than once in a calendar year; (b) how many of these individuals re-entered the prison system for identical reasons (i.e. fine default alone) on more than one occasion during the period 2008 to the present time; (c) how many of these individuals re-entered the prison system for identical reasons on more than two occasions during the same period, on more than three, and on four or more occasions; and (d) of those offenders who entered prison for fine default identified above, how many (in each calendar year) were: (i) incarcerated for only a four day period from Friday to the following Monday; (ii) flown at government expense from a remote regional community to the prison and then returned to their community; (iii) Aboriginal; and (iv) female?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered

19 March 2014

Responded by

Minister for Emergency Services; Corrective Services; Small Business; Veterans

Response time

29 days

The Department of Corrective Services advises:
(a) [see tabled paper no].
(b) 236
(c) During the period 01/01/08 to 31/12/13:
232 individuals entered the prison system for fine default only on 2 occasions.
4 individuals entered the prison system for fine default only on 3 occasions.
No individuals entered the prison system for fine default only on 4 or more occasions.
(d)(i) [see tabled paper no].
(d)(ii) The data recorded via the Total Offender Management System (TOMS) custodial application allows DCS to identify fine default offences. It does not provide the means to identify whether a prisoner was flown from a regional community at Government expense. This information is currently managed and recorded separately and would require manual analysis.
(d)(iii) -(iv) [see tabled paper no].

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