❓ Mr. Alban inquires about the implementation of the Acacia Prison expansion. The Minister responds with details on the expansion's cost, current prison population, cost comparisons between public and private prisons, and workers' compensation injury rates.
AnsweredQoN 250Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ACACIA
PRISON — EXPANSION
250. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I understand that the transfer of prisoners to Acacia Prison
following the $126 million expansion is going well. Can the minister provide an
update to the house on how this program has been implemented?
PRISON — EXPANSION
250. Mr F.A. ALBAN to the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I understand that the transfer of prisoners to Acacia Prison
following the $126 million expansion is going well. Can the minister provide an
update to the house on how this program has been implemented?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his question and for his interest in
the prison system.
On 5 January this year, the expansion at Acacia Prison in the
hills was completed. The 387-bed expansion cost $126 million. The Department of
Corrective Services along with Serco have developed a fill strategy so that we
can start moving the medium-security prisoners from other parts of the estate
into what will now be the biggest prison in Australia with almost 1 400 beds.
As of 19 March last week, the prison population at Acacia was 1 288, an
increase of 289.
I am proud of the comparison of the cost per prisoner per day
between the private prison system and the public prison system. The average
cost per prisoner per day at Acacia is $157, and in the public prison system—as
a rough comparison—it is $378; that is a significant saving to the
taxpayers of Western Australia.
Interestingly, last week the
Economic Regulation Authority released a discussion paper on a few different
options for the future of different corrections facilities. It found that
contracts between the Department of Corrective Services and Serco, the private
provider in Western Australia, for facilities at Acacia Prison and Wandoo
Reintegration Facility provided a greater level of scrutiny and transparency
than those in the public prison system. The opposition has continually
castigated the government on this matter, even though it gave Serco the
contract to run Acacia Prison when it was in government. The opposition has
said that the government continually hides behind that contract to avoid
scrutiny. Having said that, I welcome the comments made by the member for Warnbro,
the shadow minister, last week that the ERA proposal for service level
agreements between the Department of Corrective Services and public prisons
seemed reasonable. Well done, member for Warnbro! Congratulations on realising
what is so obvious to everyone on this side of the house. I will give one point
of comparison to show why privately run prisons get better value for money for
taxpayers than the public prison system. We just have to look at one key
performance indicator—for example, the workers' compensation
injury rates. In the public prison system we have got the number of prison
officers on current workers' compensation claims down to 16 per cent
and for youth custodial officers we have got it down to 22 per cent. Does
anyone want to guess what the workers' compensation claim rate is in
the private prison system? It is one per cent. Obviously, there is an awful lot
that the public prison system can learn from the private prison system, which
is why we believe in contestability, and why there is still a lot of room to
reform the public prison system and get better value for money for the
taxpayers of Western Australia.
the prison system.
On 5 January this year, the expansion at Acacia Prison in the
hills was completed. The 387-bed expansion cost $126 million. The Department of
Corrective Services along with Serco have developed a fill strategy so that we
can start moving the medium-security prisoners from other parts of the estate
into what will now be the biggest prison in Australia with almost 1 400 beds.
As of 19 March last week, the prison population at Acacia was 1 288, an
increase of 289.
I am proud of the comparison of the cost per prisoner per day
between the private prison system and the public prison system. The average
cost per prisoner per day at Acacia is $157, and in the public prison system—as
a rough comparison—it is $378; that is a significant saving to the
taxpayers of Western Australia.
Interestingly, last week the
Economic Regulation Authority released a discussion paper on a few different
options for the future of different corrections facilities. It found that
contracts between the Department of Corrective Services and Serco, the private
provider in Western Australia, for facilities at Acacia Prison and Wandoo
Reintegration Facility provided a greater level of scrutiny and transparency
than those in the public prison system. The opposition has continually
castigated the government on this matter, even though it gave Serco the
contract to run Acacia Prison when it was in government. The opposition has
said that the government continually hides behind that contract to avoid
scrutiny. Having said that, I welcome the comments made by the member for Warnbro,
the shadow minister, last week that the ERA proposal for service level
agreements between the Department of Corrective Services and public prisons
seemed reasonable. Well done, member for Warnbro! Congratulations on realising
what is so obvious to everyone on this side of the house. I will give one point
of comparison to show why privately run prisons get better value for money for
taxpayers than the public prison system. We just have to look at one key
performance indicator—for example, the workers' compensation
injury rates. In the public prison system we have got the number of prison
officers on current workers' compensation claims down to 16 per cent
and for youth custodial officers we have got it down to 22 per cent. Does
anyone want to guess what the workers' compensation claim rate is in
the private prison system? It is one per cent. Obviously, there is an awful lot
that the public prison system can learn from the private prison system, which
is why we believe in contestability, and why there is still a lot of room to
reform the public prison system and get better value for money for the
taxpayers of Western Australia.
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