Breathtaking stupidity from Labor on Risdon report

It beggars belief that Labor is calling for a report into security issues at Risdon prison to be made publicly available, including to Risdon inmates.

Madeline Ogilvie should be embarrassed for even suggesting such a ridiculous idea.

Not only that, it’s completely hypocritical, given the Labor-Green Government refused to release a similar report in 2012.*

Prisons are complex and challenging environments and it’s clear Ms Ogilvie has little understanding of these issues given her simplistic media statements.

If Ms Ogilvie is really serious about prison reform she will stop politicising the issues at the prison and paying lip service to prison reform through self-serving statements in the media.

There is no doubt that a single prison jurisdiction poses particular challenges, not to mention the prison infrastructure deficiencies we have inherited.

Instead of constantly carping and criticising from the sidelines, she and her colleagues ought to be expressing gratitude to our correctional staff for the difficult job they perform.

Needless to say, the Government will not compromise community safety by handing out sensitive information on prison security.

We have introduced a range of measures to address issues at Risdon, including:

• Implementing the recommendations of the report into prison security following the recent security breach in the minimum security prison;
• Recruiting 65 new correctional staff in 2014 and 2015, with further positions being recruited right now;
• Additional funding of $9.2 million to the TPS in 2014-15 and 2015-16;
• Engaging specialist expertise to provide advice on self-harm prevention in prisons; and
• Providing funding to the Office of the Ombudsman to undertake planning work for the implementation of a Tasmanian Custodial Inspector.

Any recommendations identified in the ongoing Coronial inquest into deaths in custody will be considered as a priority by the Government.

* Examiner newspaper 7/2/2012: “(Corrections Minister) Mr McKim confirmed that he yesterday received a report into last month’s escape involving two prisoners. However, he said that the report would not be made public as releasing such detail could compromise security.”
Vanessa Goodwin, Minister for Corrections