Ms ROSOL – Minister, I’d like to ask some questions around lockdowns in corrections. There have been significant issues with lockdowns, first identified or reported on by the Custodial Inspector in 2018, with ongoing repeated reports. Since then the government’s performance has continued to deteriorate in this area. We obtained an RTI that showed that in 2024 there were 6000 lockdowns, almost 2500 of which were over four hours long and almost 900 over eight hours long. The prison system experienced an average 16 lockdowns per day, 2.5 of which are over eight hours long. Unsurprisingly, Tasmania has the lowest out-of-cell time in the country. What steps, if any, are you taking to reduce the number of lockdowns that take place?
Mr BARNETT – Thank you for the question. I can appreciate your interest in this matter, which you have had for some time. The government is focused on reducing the amount of time prisoners spend in lockdown across all our correctional facilities and we acknowledge that this is a challenge and an area for improvement, as noted by the Custodial Inspector. I want to acknowledge that upfront and that’s why we’re investing heavily in recruiting more staff and building more capacity within the system.
Lockdowns occur for many reasons, including managing prisoner behaviour, security protocols and staffing issues to meet the demand in the prison system. Since 2020, there have been 257 new correctional officers employed within the TPS, and again I put on record my thanks to those correctional officers and the staff that support them. They’re on the front line and they do a great job.
We’re investing $38 million into the construction of a new maximum‑security unit within the Risdon Prison Complex to help alleviate bed pressures for this cohort of prisoners. Over the last five years we’ve made significant infrastructure investments, including constructing the new Southern Remand Centre at Risdon. Lockdowns do not always necessitate prisoners being confined to their cells, often they may only be limited to their accommodation units or divisions.
It is important to note that when lockdowns do occur, essential services and inmate supports, including personal visits, are maintained wherever possible and when it is safe to do so. I’m aware there was a particularly difficult period of lockdowns over October and to date in November in the Southern Remand Centre, so I note that as well.
Ms ROSOL – Thank you, minister. You talked about increasing staff numbers. The lockdown data shows that 94 per cent of lockdowns over four hours long were caused by staffing shortages. Have you met with the CPSU to seek their advice on how to reduce staff shortages, and are you acting on any advice from the union?
Mr BARNETT – On the first day in my job as minister for Corrections and Rehabilitation, I visited Risdon Prison. I visited and met with Narelle Pamplin, the Director of Prisons, who’s also with us today, and I was very impressed with her level of professionalism and dedication to the role. As I said, since 2020 we’ve employed an extra 257 correctional service officers. I will just see if the secretary or the deputy secretary can assist with respect to the other part of that question, if that’s possible.
Ms BOURNE – Sure, through you, minister. I don’t want to speak for the director or the deputy secretary of Corrective Services, but engagement with unions continues and is frequent at various levels of existing engagement, working groups and the like. I engage with the CPSU as well, and I know in the past my colleagues openly talk with the unions about their views on the range of strategies that can potentially be actioned to reduce the number of lockdowns, because, as the minister alluded to, in some ways, locking down a facility or a part of a facility is an important operational tool to ensure a safe correctional environment and environment for staff, but, obviously, there is a compromise to be had. One example I think I can refer to is the Risdon Prison Complex’s flexible staffing strategy that has been implemented, as I understand it, in consultation with unions. I guess, in summary, that consultation continues and we need the input of unions and staff to to inform our processes, to ensure their safety and the operations of the prison.
