❓ Mr. Whitby questions the Minister for Corrective Services on the benefits of the new supermax unit at Casuarina Prison. The Minister details the unit's purpose for managing violent and high-risk prisoners, while also highlighting improvements to the corrections system under the current government.
AnsweredQoN 431Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CASUARINA PRISON —
EXPANSION
431. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's investment in expanding Casuarina Prison, which will
include the state's first supermax unit. Can the minister outline to
the house how this supermax unit will help corrective services in keeping staff
safe and the state's prisons in good order?
EXPANSION
431. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's investment in expanding Casuarina Prison, which will
include the state's first supermax unit. Can the minister outline to
the house how this supermax unit will help corrective services in keeping staff
safe and the state's prisons in good order?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Baldivis for
that great question. I remind the house about what the McGowan government
inherited back in 2017 in the Department of Justice's corrections arm,
which was nothing short of a train wreck. We had not enough beds for prisoners,
we had no money and the policies were not working properly. It was an absolute
train wreck. Over the last three and a half years we have completely
transformed the corrections arm of the Department of Justice to make it one of
the leaders in Australia. We have not only put more beds into place, with 212
beds immediately in 2017, but also expanded Bunbury Regional Prison, using 92.5
per cent local content; the 512-bed expansion at Casuarina Prison is now
complete; the Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison for women is absolutely
world-leading in what it is doing at the moment; and of course we now have the
344-bed expansion for Casuarina Prison. Part of that expansion will be another
128 mainstream beds. Some of it will be for the issues that we have with mental
health in prison. Of course, a significant number of prisoners have mental
health problems. They have not been looked after well in the past. We will be
building a facility to actually help alleviate some of their problems as part
of the rehabilitation process. There will also be a facility for the ageing
prisoners, who are currently in our infirmary in Casuarina as well. The ageing
population in the prison system across Australia is rapidly growing, and we
need to have proper facilities to look after those people.
The
most important part is that what was left to us as a government was a failure
to have enough beds in disciplinary units to deal with violent,
out-of-control prisoners, those gangsters and criminals who stand over other
prisoners. There were simply not enough beds in the system to allow us to
actually separate them off and incarcerate them somewhere else, and change
their behaviour. That is the basis of the supermax. The supermax will have 40
beds. Twenty of those beds will be effectively isolation. They will not be
allowed to mix with the other prisoners. They will not be allowed to have
visits. Those visits will only be via Skype from the front visitor centre. They
will not be able to have their recreation. They will effectively have cages at
the back of their cells in which they will have their recreation. If they
change their behaviour and if they understand the discipline of prison, they
can move into the other part of the prison, which is a slightly more relaxed
environment—only slightly more relaxed. It will be completely isolated
from the rest of the prison. Anybody who goes into the supermax will not want
to be there. It will not be a place of any rehabilitation. It will not be a place
of programs. It will not be a place of education. It will be a place of, ''If
you go there, you change your behaviour or you'll remain there until
you learn that.''
The people who will be incarcerated
in there will be those who are an extreme threat to the state's
security, with offences such as terrorism-related
offences, serial criminality, high-risk escapes, extreme level of threat and
violence in prisons, and high-end organised crime that requires
management. Those are the types of people, member for Baldivis, who will be
incarcerated in this facility. It will be the only one of its kind in the whole
of Australia. It has been much needed. It has been called for for many years by
prison officers, and we are going to deliver. Once again, it is the McGowan
government that actually not only creates jobs, but creates jobs in such a way
that it delivers a good outcome for taxpayers, and rehabilitation for
prisoners.
Dr A.D. Buti interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Armadale! I call you to order for the second time. Being on that front bench
there has certainly excited you today!
that great question. I remind the house about what the McGowan government
inherited back in 2017 in the Department of Justice's corrections arm,
which was nothing short of a train wreck. We had not enough beds for prisoners,
we had no money and the policies were not working properly. It was an absolute
train wreck. Over the last three and a half years we have completely
transformed the corrections arm of the Department of Justice to make it one of
the leaders in Australia. We have not only put more beds into place, with 212
beds immediately in 2017, but also expanded Bunbury Regional Prison, using 92.5
per cent local content; the 512-bed expansion at Casuarina Prison is now
complete; the Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison for women is absolutely
world-leading in what it is doing at the moment; and of course we now have the
344-bed expansion for Casuarina Prison. Part of that expansion will be another
128 mainstream beds. Some of it will be for the issues that we have with mental
health in prison. Of course, a significant number of prisoners have mental
health problems. They have not been looked after well in the past. We will be
building a facility to actually help alleviate some of their problems as part
of the rehabilitation process. There will also be a facility for the ageing
prisoners, who are currently in our infirmary in Casuarina as well. The ageing
population in the prison system across Australia is rapidly growing, and we
need to have proper facilities to look after those people.
The
most important part is that what was left to us as a government was a failure
to have enough beds in disciplinary units to deal with violent,
out-of-control prisoners, those gangsters and criminals who stand over other
prisoners. There were simply not enough beds in the system to allow us to
actually separate them off and incarcerate them somewhere else, and change
their behaviour. That is the basis of the supermax. The supermax will have 40
beds. Twenty of those beds will be effectively isolation. They will not be
allowed to mix with the other prisoners. They will not be allowed to have
visits. Those visits will only be via Skype from the front visitor centre. They
will not be able to have their recreation. They will effectively have cages at
the back of their cells in which they will have their recreation. If they
change their behaviour and if they understand the discipline of prison, they
can move into the other part of the prison, which is a slightly more relaxed
environment—only slightly more relaxed. It will be completely isolated
from the rest of the prison. Anybody who goes into the supermax will not want
to be there. It will not be a place of any rehabilitation. It will not be a place
of programs. It will not be a place of education. It will be a place of, ''If
you go there, you change your behaviour or you'll remain there until
you learn that.''
The people who will be incarcerated
in there will be those who are an extreme threat to the state's
security, with offences such as terrorism-related
offences, serial criminality, high-risk escapes, extreme level of threat and
violence in prisons, and high-end organised crime that requires
management. Those are the types of people, member for Baldivis, who will be
incarcerated in this facility. It will be the only one of its kind in the whole
of Australia. It has been much needed. It has been called for for many years by
prison officers, and we are going to deliver. Once again, it is the McGowan
government that actually not only creates jobs, but creates jobs in such a way
that it delivers a good outcome for taxpayers, and rehabilitation for
prisoners.
Dr A.D. Buti interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Armadale! I call you to order for the second time. Being on that front bench
there has certainly excited you today!
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