BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.0.1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6@communityjusticecoalition.org DTSTART:20150816T173000Z DTEND:20150816T193000Z DTSTAMP:20221109T113305Z URL:https://www.communityjusticecoalition.org/events/overcrowding-inspecto rs-forum-2015/ SUMMARY:OVERCROWDING INSPECTOR'S FORUM 2015 DESCRIPTION:\nOVERCROWDING INSPECTOR'S FORUM 2015\n\n\nCJC/ICJ Analysis of Report &\; Poster andRunning Sheet\n\n\n\nhe report warns of the con sequences of prison overcrowding\non rehabilitation\, health\, education s ervices\, and possible riots.\n\nWEDNESDAY  26 AUGUST 2015 \n5.30pm - 7. 30pm\n\nPARLIAMENT HOUSE \nMacquarie Room\, Macquarie Street\, Sydney\n\n FORUM CHAIR: \nTHE HON JOHN DOWD AO QC  \nFormer Attorney General and Su preme Court Judge\nwith\nTHE HON. ELIZABETH EVATT AC \nFormer Chief Justi ce\, Family Court of Australia\n\nSPEAKERS: \nDR JOHN PAGET\nInspector of Custodial Services\n\nTHE HON DAVID ELLIOTT MP\nMinister for Corrections\ n\nTHE HON GUY ZANGARI MP\nShadow Minister for Corrections\n\nTHE HON DAVI D SHOEBRIDGE MLC\nThe Greens Justice and Police Spokesperson\n\nMR STEVE T URNER\nPublic Service Association Assistant General Secretary\n\nMedia pre sent and questions from the floor.\n\nAdults $20\, students\, concession $ 10 cash or cheque only \nRSVP: info@communityjusticecoalition.org\n\nOrg anised by:\nThe Community Justice Coalition and the\n\nInternational Commi ssion of Jurists  \n\n\n\nREPORT ON THE 2015 FORUM ON OVERCROWDING \n\n \nOn Wednesday the 26th of August 2015 at NSW Parliament House\, the Commu nity Justice Coalition and the International Commission of Jurists jointly hosted a forum to discuss the Inspector of Custodial Services’ Report c oncerning the adverse consequences of the growing inmate population and co nsequential overcrowding. \nIssues that the Inspector highlighted in his report included the negative impacts that overcrowding has on prisoners su ch as reduced access to rehabilitation programs\, education\, health servi ces\, and family access. He documented NSW having the least time out of ce lls in Australia with more people crammed into cells than Health Regulatio ns permit. \nThe forum featured presentations by Inspector John Paget\, P SA Assistant General Secretary Steve Turner for prison officers and The Gr eens Justice Spokesperson The Hon. David Shoebridge MLC. Ms Joy Gardiner\, the mother of a prisoner at Lithgow\, described what the effects were for her son. He was deprived of education\, counselling or a hearing for paro le. Corrective Services Assistant Commissioner Luke Grant responded to the general concerns. \nThe sponsors of the Forum regretted the absence of t he Minister responsible for the area\, David Elliott and of Shadow Ministe r Guy Zangari. Chair John Dowd clarified that the Minister was given the o pportunity to send a representative. David Shoebridge highlighted the lack of an acceptable official reaction to the Report and said “this Report by the Inspector should have been a comprehensive wake up call”. \nSinc e the Report was published\, John Paget stated that the prison population had continued to increase from 11\,339 to 11\,955 as of the 7th August 201 5. He said that the system was “clearly operating beyond its capacity an d that removal of overcrowding is the essential condition for improvement within prisons”. The Bureau of Crime Statistics published figures showin g that there had been a 12.2% increase in the adult prison population over one year and increasing. David Shoebridge questioned why the prison popul ation was expanding despite violent crime being at a historic low. Luke Gr ant linked it to the events of Jill Meagher’s death and the Martin Place siege. He further commented that there is very little excess capacity to respond to increased prison population numbers and it was hard to predict future trends in the prison population. \nThroughout the Forum there was strong criticism of the increasingly common trend of tripling up in cells designed for two. Luke Grant affirmed that this was a “highly undesirabl e practice that we would never resort to unless we have insufficient space ”. However he argued that there had been exaggeration and that there wer e only 80 individuals in ‘triple up’ cells and an overwhelming majorit y of those were held on a short-term basis. He questioned the legitimacy o f the standards in the Health regulation\, stating that there is “no sci ence behind the existing public health regulation”. He said there is “ not much evidence that there is any difference” between cells that are c ompliant with the regulations\, and those that aren’t. \nCorrective Ser vices Assistant Commissioner Luke Grant said :\n“There was some referen ce to the public health regulation. The fact is that there is no science b ehind the existing public health regulation. Public health regulation at the moment requires every inmate to have 5. square metres of space - if t hey are going to be in that space/sleeping accommodation for more than 28 days. It came from regulations that were created perhaps for boarding hous es and other circumstances – and we have been trying to understand what does it mean if they have got 4 square metres\, or if they have got 6 squ are metres – is there any protection conferred on people to their mental health or otherwise. We have engaged an independent body of people - the Kirby Institute at the University of NSW to review the literature. We’v e got Justice Health doing surveillance on all cells – and we’ve got D enise here who has been involved in that project – looking at all cells where people are sharing accommodation – that is less than compliant\, t he smaller spaces\, to see\, is there any difference? I think at the mome nt there is not much evidence that there is any difference. Corrective Se rvices and Justice Health do very well in managing public communicable dis eases outbreaks – very strict policies in place. We haven’t had massiv e outbreaks. We haven’t had the concerns over rights because people are making a big effort – as John has acknowledged – to manage these arran gements. So I think the most important thing for me to say – and I am no t here officially speaking on behalf of Corrective Services – is that we are very mindful of the overcrowding issue and we are doing our best to a ccommodate that\, to grow the beds. We have put up a whole series of strat egies to government\, and some of them are under consideration\, including the one John mentioned before about electronic monitoring – that’s on the table for consideration.”\nFurther comments were made on the impact of the overcrowding issue on the internal management of the prisons. In p articular\, Steve Turner highlighted the effect that overcrowding had on w orkplace safety for prison officers. He raised concerns about the changes in workers compensation legislation. \nLimited resources and the existenc e of budget restrictions on Corrective Services was a major concern to par ticipants of the Forum. In particular\, John Paget highlighted how this ca n lead to reduced staff and more frequent lockdown periods. Luke Grant hig hlighted CSNSW’s strong record of financial efficiency. He said: “Corr ective Services NSW has got the lowest cost per prisoner per day across th e country\, significantly lower than the national average. That was not th e case five or six years ago – we have done a lot of work to make our pr isons more efficient.” David Shoebridge criticised efficiency as a measu re of success as it only reveals\, “we spend the least per prisoner per day and this is just a race to the bottom that NSW is winning” but the p roper measure of success should be changes in recidivism. \nDespite his c riticisms\, John Paget applauded CSNSW in managing the overcrowding situat ion without the loss of life experienced in other jurisdictions. He pointe d to legacies of the past as contributing to the problem\, in particular i nadequate planning for bed spaces and 19th century facilities.\nThe forum also discussed the advantages of keeping prisons under public management. The high numbers of people on remand was criticised. John Dowd pointed to how many people “serve time incorrectly”\, either being found innocent at trial\, or having been incarcerated longer than they are eventually se ntenced or not having their case pursued. He said that bail legislation sh ould be about ensuring presence at proceedings\, not assessing the likelih ood of committing another offence. The audience also raised alternatives t o remand\, including forms of electronic tracking.\nThe Forum made a numbe r of resolutions\, which were agreed to by all present.\n1) The forty seve n Recommendations of the Inspector’s Report should be implemented. \n2) The government should increase the number of judges in the District Court s to lessen the period before trial. \n3) Alternatives to imprisonment sh ould be seriously considered. A special emphasis was put on the use of ele ctronic monitoring. \n4) The NSW government should allocate more funds to CSNSW to prevent tripling-up and the unnecessary movement of prisoners\, which interferes with education and social support networks.\nDownload a P DF of our report Here\n \n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.communityjusticecoalition.org/wp-con tent/uploads/2022/11/screenshotforum.png CATEGORIES:Events END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR