A British corrections expert has been appointed to oversee reforms at Tasmania’s troubled Risdon Prison.

Brian Edwards has been announced as the state prison service’s director of change management more than 10 months after a report recommended the position. Report by 9 News.

Mr Edwards has been given the job for two years following a report last year from former Australian Federal Police chief Mick Palmer on the problems at Risdon.

The prison has been the scene of two hostage dramas and three break-outs in recent years, including last month’s escape by two inmates from its adjacent minimum security facility.

“I have been a strong advocate for corrections reform and we need to put resources into it, even in a time of budgetary stress,” Minister for Corrections Nick McKim said in a statement on Monday.

“Mr Edwards’ appointment is a major step forward in the process Mick Palmer identified for progressing operational and cultural reform.”

Mr Edwards has worked in the British prison system for 34 years and was awarded an OBE for his contribution in 2006.

Opposition spokeswoman Vanessa Goodwin said the appointment had taken too long.

“While the Liberals welcome the appointment of Brian Edwards as the Tasmanian Prison Service change manager, it is long overdue,” she said.

“The appointment of a change manager was one of the key recommendations to come out of the Palmer Report and should have been done sooner.”

Mr Edwards will begin in the position on February 27.

Tammy Corrections Reform, Tasmania

Refusal to grant parole and the cancellation of parole had increased the WA prison population by over 700 at an estimated cost of about $115, 950 per day.

Taxpayers are footing an extra $116, 000 a day to keep prisoners inside jail and not grant them parole, according to a new report tabled in Parliament.

Figures outlined in the report show that since 2009, the number of offenders released on parole in Western Australia had fallen significantly, dropping from 92 per cent to 21 per cent, and there had been a significant increase in the rate of cancelled parole orders, which almost doubled to about four parolees out of 100 having their orders cancelled. Report by The Sydney Morning Herald.

This means WA now has a lower rate of offenders on parole and a higher rate of offenders in prison compared to the Australian average.

In March 2011, the rate of offenders on parole was 27.6 per 100,000 individuals in WA and 69.5 per 100,000 in Australia. In contrast the rate of imprisonment in the state is 213.6 per 100,000, compared with the Australian average of 125.

Auditor-General Colin Murphy found that most of this could be attributed to the Department of Corrective Services’ stricter approach to parolee non-compliance with parole conditions, resulting in a big increase in the rate of cancelled parole orders.

Mr Murphy said the department had responded to the findings of several internal reviews of its management of parolees and over the last two years had made significant changes in both policy and practice.

“There is no doubt parole is a controversial issue and there is ongoing debate about the best way to ensure the community remains safe,” he said.

“Minimising the risks and maximising the benefits of parole relies on the effective and consistent supervision and monitoring of parolees, making sure that offenders comply with parole conditions, and when they do not, appropriate action is taken.

“Stricter enforcement of parole conditions by DCS has meant that breaches are more often resulting in consequences for the parolee, such as the cancelling of their parole.”

Mr Murphy said the department’s refusal to grant parole and its cancellation of parole had increased the prison population by over 700 at an estimated cost of about $115, 950 per day.

“Parole carries a short term crime risk, but it is also a cost effective way to supervise some offenders, and can help reduce the long term risk of reoffending by providing controlled reintegration into the community,” Mr Murphy said.

“Even though DCS’s policy framework has been improved there is inconsistency in the management of parolees and the monitoring of some parole conditions.

“If parole conditions are not monitored effectively then some parolees may be breaching conditions without DCS knowing and some parolees may return to the behaviours which contributed to their initial imprisonment.

“Unapproved changes in accommodation, the way DCS uses drug tests and the manner in which they ensure program attendance are examples of conditions that can be better and more consistently monitored.

“DCS has made significant changes to its management of parolees, but there is more to be done if it is to minimise the risks and maximise the benefits of parole.”

In recent years the Adult Community Corrections philosophy has moved from a “welfare based” model to one which ensures compliance with all community orders, according to the department.

“[It] provides a robust, contemporary and credible system of supervision of offenders which focuses on risk assessment, risk management and public protection as the priority,” they said.

This resulted in the development of the Enforcement Policy in 2009, which addressed the response by staff and stakeholders to non-compliance by parolees to order requirements.

But the report’s key findings suggested that:

• The introduction of the Enforcement Policy by DCS has not yet led to consistent supervision of offenders. Despite efforts by DCS to communicate policy changes, understanding and application of the policy is variable.
• Changes to the Enforcement Policy have reduced the discretion of community correctional officers to deal with breaches of parole conditions and requires all breaches to be reported to the parole board. It is not yet clear if this change will reduce the frequency that offenders breach parole or if the increased cancellation of parole will have a negative impact on long term reoffending rates.
• Issues identified in DCS internal professional standards reviews – such as a lack of senior staff oversight, not adequately using assessment tools that help determine a parolee’s supervision level and reporting frequency and not always explaining to a parolee their obligations – were still evident despite DCS taking a proactive approach to identify them.
• Because DCS is not monitoring all parole conditions, and for some conditions relies on parolees to self-report non-compliance, some parolees may be breaching their orders without DCS knowing. This is because some conditions such as “not to enter licensed premises” or “not to have contact with females under 16″ are impractical to monitor.  The stricter enforcement of parole conditions reduce the incentive for parolees to self-report issues that could result in cancellation of their parole.
• Better monitoring of some parole conditions is needed. The use of drug tests and the monitoring of program attendance are inconsistent; reducing the effectiveness of both conditions. There was no evidence that DCS had confirmed program attendance for over 55 per cent of parolees. Similar inconsistencies were evident with parolees requiring drug testing. Not checking these conditions often enough may enable a parolee to return to high risk behaviours without DCS addressing the increased risk.

The report has recommended that the effectiveness of parole should be improved by:

• Ensuring staff have a consistent understanding of its parole policies.
• The department conduct regular reviews of staff compliance and suitability of monitoring methods, including parolee’s accommodation, drug testing and attendance at programs.
• Examine the impact and effectiveness of the Enforcement Policy and other parole initiatives.
• Improve the integration of offender information so that correctional officers have better access to up-to-date, comprehensive documents.

The department has welcomed the report and the recommendations, saying that it had already commenced a significant body of work into addressing a number of concerns highlighted by this review as well as other internal directed reviews.

“The review undertaken by the Office of the Auditor-General has highlighted the department’s need to not only ensure that a sound communication strategy is in place for the dissemination of policy and procedural change, but that the information communicated is embedded in operational practice,” it said in the report.

“This issue has previously been identified by the Division and a number of strategies have been implemented which already show very positive improvement in enforcement.

“The key focus for DCS is to contribute to community safety by upholding the integrity of custodial and non-custodial sentences and by positively influencing offender behaviour to reduce reoffending.

“The department acknowledges the need for continuous improvement in compliance with policies and procedures governing the management of parolees in the community and will use the Auditor General’s report to inform future developments.”

Tammy Probation and Parole, Western Australia

Criminals are using the lack of rehabilitation in South Australian jails to win less jail time.

In the past 12 months, evidence of the lack of rehabilitation has been considered by judges when:

• Releasing a multiple child sex offender from indefinite detention partly because a lack of resources had delayed rehabilitation.
• Overturning the indefinite detention of a rapist, partly because it was “unfair” he was denied rehabilitation reserved for those soon to be released.
• Fixing a non-parole period for a drug user, commenting he could access better rehabilitation in the community.
• Suspending the sentence of a man convicted of assault, commenting this would allow him to access community rehabilitation.
• Lowering a non-parole period for a sex offender, commenting prison could set back his recovery.

Chair of the Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee George Mancini said the trend was increasing because of a State Government policy of longer sentences. “It is an aspect of overcrowding, of longer terms of imprisonment and not spending sufficient resources on rehabilitation,” he said.  A spokesman for Prisons Minister Tom Koutsantonis defended the Government’s record on rehabilitation.  “Prior to 2005, there was no sex offender treatment in SA prisons at all,” the spokesman said.

A number of the recent decisions have been made on the advice of Dr Raeside, a consulting psychiatrist to the Department of Correctional Services, who has been praised by judges for his professionalism and is highly critical of rehabilitation in the state’s jails.

“I figure if we are going to lock more people up for longer (whether one agrees with that policy or not) then we ought to do something for them whilst they are there to reduce the chances of them re-offending and make the community safer when they get out,” he said.

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New South Wales, Australia, prison officers say an Easter weekend outbreak of violence at Parklea prison is a prelude to further trouble in the state’s jails if the State Government privatises prison operations.  Story from the Canberra Times.

The Prison Officers Vocational Branch, the union representing officers, says private jail operators would not employ enough staff to contain the sort of incident that occurred last Friday, in which a group of inmates, allegedly bikies, attacked another prisoner during morning muster, reportedly using sharpened toothbrushes.

The Department of Corrective Services has downplayed the incident. It said only seven prisoners were involved, and only one inmate, Mesbah Mirzaei, who allegedly led the attack, was a member of the bikie gang Notorious.

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A company expected to bid for contracts to operate two jails in Australia has backed facilities in which inmates have keys to their cells and are on a first-name basis with their jailers. Gary Sturgess, research director of the U.K.-based Serco Group, will tell a New South Wales, Australia, parliamentary inquiry Friday that decency, not efficiency, is the main reason to privatize jails.  This report from Fox News Australia.

He says overseas experience shows that prisoners enjoy more privileges — including being given the keys to their own cells — in correctional systems where private and public providers compete … Prisoners in these systems spend more time out of their cells and have far greater interaction with their jailers — with whom they are frequently on first-name terms — than in systems where public providers face no competition, Sturgess says.  The results are safer jails and lower rates of reoffending.

Serco is expected to bid for the contracts to operate Cessnock prison, in the Hunter Valley, and Parklea prison, in western Sydney, when the jails are privatized this year.  The company already operates one jail in Victoria and one in Western Australia.

Sturgess’s submission to the upper house inquiry links private jail services in Britain to the “decency agenda” pursued by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.   “Contract prisons in the U.K. are more humane, partly because government demanded a higher standard when writing the original contracts, partly because price was not allowed to dominate the procurement process, and partly because the political and policy environment at the time when the market was first established was focused on the quality of prison life,” the submission from Serco argues.   He said the inmates in low- and medium-security prisons in Britain had been allowed to hold duplicate keys to their own cells, which improved both efficiency and decency.

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A secret plan to move all prisoners from Cessnock Jail in New South Wales under the cover of darkness took place despite union officials slapping an emergency ban on the transfers.  This report from the Daily Telegraph.

A convoy of prison vans – staffed by senior executive officers – was sent to the jail to begin staging the mass transfer of all 460 inmates from the prison.  The operation got underway shortly after 11pm with prisoners being loaded 20 at a time into six prison vans for the journey to Sydney, where they were to be placed in a number of other correctional centres.

Union officials branded the operation as a recipe for disaster, claiming safety standards had been ignored.   Public Service Association executive secretary Steve Turner said a ban had been placed on the movement of all prisoners last night.   “It is hard enough to move one angry prisoner, let alone 20 at a time,” Mr Turner said …

According to sources inside the jail the first indication prisoners had of the move was when cell doors opened and they were ordered into trucks.   “They will leave the jail empty-handed and they will be angry,” a source told The Daily Telegraph. They were to be transferred to Long Bay, Silverwater Prison and the John Maroney Correctional Centre.

Cessnock, which has been at the centre of the privatisation dispute between the State Government and the Corrective Services Union, has 460 minimum security prisoners and 100 maximum security prisoners.   The Government’s plans to privatise prisons has upset prison workers, with stop work meetings and protests organised in the past few months.  Earlier this month, prison officers refused to work overtime.

Former union boss John Robertson led the campaign against the Government’s power privatisation plans but since becoming Prisons Minister he supports prison privatisation.

vericatrajkova Australasia, Australia, INTERNATIONAL, New South Wales

Prison officers at Goulburn Jail will walk off the job today to rally against the NSW Government’s push to privatise jails, warning that the Goulburn facility could now be on the hit list.

The NSW Public Service Association (PSA) said the walkout follows Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham’s admissions this week that the sell-offs were an attempt to break the strength of their prison officers’ union …

PSA assistant general secretary Steve Turner said the Government has to come clean on its privatisation plans.   “(Monday) Commissioner Woodham revealed planning was at an advanced stage for a 500 bed privately funded and operated prison in the Grafton shire,” Mr Turner said.  “First Cessnock and Parklea, now Grafton, tomorrow it could be Goulburn – where will it stop?”

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The debate over whether or not to privatize prisons in Australia’s New South Wales continues with Ministers opposed and the Corrections Chief in favour.

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Today, the Australian state of New South Wales will officially open an $86million psychiatric hospital at Long Bay jail to treat more than 100 prisoners whose psychiatric problems have made them either unfit to enter a plea or meant that they were found not guilty on the grounds of mental illness.

A recent survey indicated that mental illness affects half of all female inmates at the jail and about 35% of the male inmates.

More details can be found at ABC Local Radio.

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The Government of western Australia, faced with an overcrowded prison system, have blamed the previous administration for doing nothing, according to Australia.TO.

Corrective Services Minister Christian Porter said that due to a complete failure of Labor to build any significant prison infrastructure between 2001-08, the Liberal-National Government would now have to pick up the pieces.   “There are currently 4,012 offenders in prisons throughout the State,” Mr Porter said … “The fact that our prison systems are still running well is due to the dedication and professionalism of Corrective Services staff who, for too long, have had to pick up the slack caused by the previous Government’s incompetence.”

The Minister said that under Labor the prisoner population rates increased by more than 800, yet they only built an extra 296 beds in eight years.   In 2007-08, WA prisons had the second highest rate of overcrowding in Australia.   “Labor’s answer to overcrowding was a prisoner reduction strategy, designed to send less criminals to jail,” Mr Porter said. “They failed to properly address offending in our community and, as a result, the WA public lost confidence in the justice system.”

“The challenge for the Liberal-National Government will be to build prison capacity, while at the same time correct the mistakes of Labor’s cop-out approach to offending and implement policies that meet community expectations,” he said … “We have already committed $150million for a new 150-bed prison at Derby, which includes 50 more beds than Labor had proposed.  The Government has committed 80 beds for a new juvenile facility; plans to enhance work camps throughout WA in our first 12 months in power; started planning a new 350-bed maximum security prison; and have other significant projects that will be announced in this year’s Budget.”

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