Questions without notice and ministers statements
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:00): (925) My question today is to the Minister for Corrections. Minister, we have heard reports of the overuse of lockdown at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre for about a year now. Reports indicate that these lockdowns are not due to individual behaviour but are due to rostering, understaffing and changes in administrative processes. Reports indicate that the lockdowns have been worsening over the last few weeks. Minister, why are women prisoners being forced into prolonged and frequent lockdowns simply because Corrections Victoria cannot manage its rosters, and what are you planning to do about it, noting your duty of care for all people incarcerated in Victoria?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:00): I thank Ms Copsey for this question on an important issue that I can say as minister I have had a number of discussions with Corrections Victoria and the department about. I had the opportunity to visit Dame Phyllis Frost only a few weeks ago for the second cohort of graduates as part of our twinning program and see the work that program has done in building the women’s confidence, leadership skills and teamwork skills that we hope will put women in a better place when they leave Dame Phyllis Frost.
This issue has been going on for a number of months now. I must admit that as minister I have been quite frustrated too, understanding that the staff there – I just want to thank them – are very passionate about making a difference, all the CV staff at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. Lockdowns are sometimes required in our prison system. It is necessary to maintain the safety and security of prisoners and staff. We do expect them to be kept to a minimum and to make sure that people have access to all the essential services that can be delivered during these times. We continue to invest in additional staff, and that is why the announcement I made last sitting week was so important. The majority of those moneys, the $700 million, will be about additional staff and to make sure we can also take out the kinks from the rostering issue. In the meantime we have had additional staff come across from other prisons within the Corrections Victoria network to assist at Dame Phyllis Frost. This should not be happening, and with the additional staff – as we speak, there are additional squadrons being trained – this issue will be resolved shortly.
Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (12:02): Thank you, Minister, for that answer. Clients of community legal services who are currently incarcerated in Dame Phyllis Frost Centre have reported that lockdowns do remain ongoing, despite your discussions, with women locked down on 11 days so far in May alone. Prolonged isolation, as you would know, affects physical, mental and psychosocial health, and it impedes access to justice and participation in the programs that you rightly called out as being very important to people’s rehabilitation and journey towards release. As legal appointments get cancelled with little or no notice, it also impedes access to justice. Is it true that record keeping for reductions in out-of-cell hours is so rudimentary that it is impossible for you to distinguish between people being locked down for 15 minutes during a day or being locked down for a full day?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice) (12:03): I thank Ms Copsey for her supplementary question in regard to this issue. I have been pretty up-front that there have been recent lockdowns. I do not make any apologies for prioritising the safety and wellbeing of staff and prisoners and the necessity of this in a correctional facility from time to time. I know the department is working to provide greater flexibility and looking at some of the industrial arrangements to resolve this issue going forward. In terms of the record keeping – I think that was the second part of the question, Ms Copsey – I do get a record of all disruptions when they are above 15 minutes, more broadly, but you are right, there is a range within that, because someone could be locked down for 15 minutes while others could be locked down for 2 hours at a time. There is a bit of discrepancy. The way that data is kept is another gripe of mine since coming to this portfolio, as is the level of data and the need to digitise a lot of this work. I think that is something that, across government, technology could assist us with, and hopefully with Western Plains opening these issues will not be so rudimentary.