Question Without Notice No. 472 asked in the Legislative Council on 23 August 2017 by Hon Colin Tincknell
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
CORRECTIVE SERVICES — CASUARINA PRISON
472. Hon COLIN TINCKNELL to the minister representing the Minister for Corrective Services:
I am going to break this question down into just two. I have four questions here, but I realise it is a bit long, so I am just going to ask the two.
(1) Does the government have a plan to deal with the growing prisoner numbers and overcrowding at Casuarina Prison?
(2) Does the government have a plan to deal with the growing numbers of prisoners on remand being held with sentenced prisoners at Casuarina Prison?
The PRESIDENT: Member, you have actually got four parts to your question. It will probably be easier for the minister, who is representing another minister in the other place, to give the full answer that he has been provided. Perhaps you could ask the other two parts of the question as well.
Hon COLIN TINCKNELL: Thank you, Madam President. The question continues —
(3) The minister was quoted in an article by Jacob Kagi of the ABC, published on Tuesday, 22 August as stating —
We have been able to find some money that I think will be able to alleviate some of the problems.
(a) How much additional funding is the minister referring to, in order to alleviate these problems;
(b) how does the government plan to spend these funds;
(c) what impact does the government believe these measures will have on prison population numbers; and
(d) does the government have a strategy to fix these problems for good, as opposed to alleviating them?
(4) Acting corrective services commissioner Tony Hassall was quoted in the same article as stating —
... having initiated two key projects earlier this year that will benefit Casuarina and the wider prison estate.
Can the minister expand on the two key projects to which the acting commissioner is referring?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The Minister for Corrective Services has advised as follows.
(1)–(2) The government has considered the impact of the growing prisoner population at Casuarina and other prisons as part of the 2017–18 budget process. The government's plan for dealing with these challenges will be detailed as part of the 2017–18 budget.
(3) (a)–(d) This information is subject to a decision of cabinet. At this time, no further details will be provided.
(4) The two key projects are the completion of the project definition plan for Casuarina Prison and development of a robust custodial infrastructure plan for the prison estate.