EASTERN GOLDFIELDS REGIONAL PRISON
988. Hon ROBIN SCOTT to the minister representing the
Minister for Corrective Services:
I refer to a report on page 1 of the Kalgoorlie Miner
of Saturday, 13 October 2018.
(1) Is the WA
Prison Officers' Union correct in asserting that prisoners are sent
from other regions to the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison?
(2) How many
male prisoners are currently sleeping on mattresses on the floor of the Eastern
Goldfields Regional Prison?
(3) How many unfilled staff vacancies are there at the
Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON
replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question. The Department of Justice advises the following.
(1) Corrective
Services determines the placement and distribution of the offender population
across private and public adult custodial facilities to optimise the
utilisation of the department's infrastructure assets in accordance
with the individual offender's risk classification, and security,
rehabilitative and health needs.
(2) There are eight
owing to muster pressures and two as a personal choice. For operational
reasons, corrective services from time to time uses mattresses on the floor as
temporary sleeping options to accommodate and manage a fluctuating prison
population. These figures vary from day to day.
(3) There have
been challenges in recruiting staff to fill positions at the Eastern Goldfields
Regional Prison. The department has a targeted regional recruitment and
retention plan, and a locally based recruitment campaign is underway to address
staffing recruitment issues.
The remainder of the answer about the
position, staff vacancies and staffing level agreement is in tabular form and I
seek leave to have it incorporated into Hansard.
Leave granted.
The following material
was incorporated —
Position
|
Staff
Vacancies
|
Staffing
Level Agreement
|
Public
Servants
|
0
|
Not
applicable
|
Principal
Officer
|
0
|
2
|
Senior
Officer
|
7
|
21
|
Prison
Officer
|
8
|
116
|
Vocational
Support Officer
|
16
|
29
|
Total
|
31
|
168
|