A Ground Breaking Project Comes to Fruition
03/06/08
A GROUND BREAKING PROJECT COMES TO FRUITION
Releasing the Report into the Review of Assessment and Classification within the Department of Corrective Services, the Inspector of Custodial Services Richard Harding commented that “this is the most comprehensive analysis of assessment and classification that has so far occurred within Australia”.
This Report demonstrated that, while the processes currently applied were excellent, the tools used to determine a prisoner's security classification tended to 'over-classify' some types offenders. This resulted in undue over crowding in the State's maximumand
medium-security facilities. The work done in this review showed that modified versions of the existing tools could, with a much higher degree of accuracy, predict those prisoners likely to escape or likely to commit prison-based offences. The resultant tools represent best practice in the determination of security classification and will enable the Department to better identify and manage its risks.
The policy implications of this Report for the Government are highly significant. It means that the priority for new accommodation does not lie in additional maximum security accommodation in the Metropolitan area. Pressure on the three secure Metropolitan prisons – Casuarina, Acacia and Hakea – would be relieved if two measures were taken: first, to expand minimum-security accommodation throughout the State; second, to increase secure accommodation in regional areas.
Even under existing classification rules, many minimum-security prisoners are held in the secure Metropolitan prisons, and a properly calibrated classification tool would increase those numbers. The Metropolitan secure prisons also accommodate many Aboriginal prisoners who are held ‘out-of-country’ because of the absence of suitable secure accommodation in the regions. Whilst the commitment to a new prison in Derby will begin to address this issue, an even more pressing need is for an increase
in secure accommodation in the Eastern Goldfields.
The Inspector said:
“If this dual track policy were developed by the Government, it would mean that pressure for an extremely expensive new Metropolitan maximum security prison would be deferred for a decade, giving the Department time to bring its policies and processes into better alignment with correctional needs. In the past, the Department has been sending confused messages to the Government, in particular with its continuing support for a so-called Prison Precinct south of Perth and also with its ambivalence as to the future of well-performing minimum-security prisons, notably Karnet. This Report should finally put to rest these policy failures.”
The Report also looks at the allocation of offenders to treatment programs. The most significant finding was the enormous gap between the number of prisoners identified as requiring a treatment program and the Department's capacity to meet that demand. The shortfall in program availability has often been commented on by the Inspector since the first Karnet Report of 2001 and has recently been the source of adverse comment by the Chair of the Prisoners’ Review Board. Professor Harding commented that “the huge investment made by the State in the secure management of prisoners is to a significant extent wasted if during that time proper efforts are not made to identify and deliver the offender programs that they require.”
The final aspect of this Report describes the development a new tool and process to assist prisoners in their preparation for successful re-integration back into their communities. The novel approach adopted integrates the efforts of Community and Juvenile Justice with that of Prisons and should lead to a more seamless approach to the management of offenders. In the end, such a joined up and coordinated effort can only be good for the community.
In summary, this Report enables the Department to take the lead in Australia in both identifying and managing its risks, and in comprehensively addressing the rehabilitation of offenders.
At the direction of the Minister, the inquiry was carried out by the Inspector’s office in full working partnership with the Department, so that the findings and their implications now represent common ground.
Richard Harding
Inspector of Custodial Services
3 June 2008
Professor Harding will be available for comment from 7:00 a.m. Wednesday 4 June and can be
contacted on 0403 387 440. Download : A Ground Breaking Project Comes to Fruition (PDF)
A GROUND BREAKING PROJECT COMES TO FRUITION
Releasing the Report into the Review of Assessment and Classification within the Department of Corrective Services, the Inspector of Custodial Services Richard Harding commented that “this is the most comprehensive analysis of assessment and classification that has so far occurred within Australia”.
This Report demonstrated that, while the processes currently applied were excellent, the tools used to determine a prisoner's security classification tended to 'over-classify' some types offenders. This resulted in undue over crowding in the State's maximumand
medium-security facilities. The work done in this review showed that modified versions of the existing tools could, with a much higher degree of accuracy, predict those prisoners likely to escape or likely to commit prison-based offences. The resultant tools represent best practice in the determination of security classification and will enable the Department to better identify and manage its risks.
The policy implications of this Report for the Government are highly significant. It means that the priority for new accommodation does not lie in additional maximum security accommodation in the Metropolitan area. Pressure on the three secure Metropolitan prisons – Casuarina, Acacia and Hakea – would be relieved if two measures were taken: first, to expand minimum-security accommodation throughout the State; second, to increase secure accommodation in regional areas.
Even under existing classification rules, many minimum-security prisoners are held in the secure Metropolitan prisons, and a properly calibrated classification tool would increase those numbers. The Metropolitan secure prisons also accommodate many Aboriginal prisoners who are held ‘out-of-country’ because of the absence of suitable secure accommodation in the regions. Whilst the commitment to a new prison in Derby will begin to address this issue, an even more pressing need is for an increase
in secure accommodation in the Eastern Goldfields.
The Inspector said:
“If this dual track policy were developed by the Government, it would mean that pressure for an extremely expensive new Metropolitan maximum security prison would be deferred for a decade, giving the Department time to bring its policies and processes into better alignment with correctional needs. In the past, the Department has been sending confused messages to the Government, in particular with its continuing support for a so-called Prison Precinct south of Perth and also with its ambivalence as to the future of well-performing minimum-security prisons, notably Karnet. This Report should finally put to rest these policy failures.”
The Report also looks at the allocation of offenders to treatment programs. The most significant finding was the enormous gap between the number of prisoners identified as requiring a treatment program and the Department's capacity to meet that demand. The shortfall in program availability has often been commented on by the Inspector since the first Karnet Report of 2001 and has recently been the source of adverse comment by the Chair of the Prisoners’ Review Board. Professor Harding commented that “the huge investment made by the State in the secure management of prisoners is to a significant extent wasted if during that time proper efforts are not made to identify and deliver the offender programs that they require.”
The final aspect of this Report describes the development a new tool and process to assist prisoners in their preparation for successful re-integration back into their communities. The novel approach adopted integrates the efforts of Community and Juvenile Justice with that of Prisons and should lead to a more seamless approach to the management of offenders. In the end, such a joined up and coordinated effort can only be good for the community.
In summary, this Report enables the Department to take the lead in Australia in both identifying and managing its risks, and in comprehensively addressing the rehabilitation of offenders.
At the direction of the Minister, the inquiry was carried out by the Inspector’s office in full working partnership with the Department, so that the findings and their implications now represent common ground.
Richard Harding
Inspector of Custodial Services
3 June 2008
Professor Harding will be available for comment from 7:00 a.m. Wednesday 4 June and can be
contacted on 0403 387 440. Download : A Ground Breaking Project Comes to Fruition (PDF)