Tolley Anne: Corrections Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Tolley Anne: Corrections Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:617. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I move  
That the Corrections Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 I nominate that the bill be referred to the Law and Order Committee. I would like to acknowledge at the outset the work of my predecessor the Hon Judith Collins in developing and introducing this bill.  
The statutory purpose of the corrections system is to improve public safety and contribute to the maintenance of a just society. To achieve this custodial sentences and orders must be administered in a safe secure humane and effective manner. Overall the legislation governing the administration of the corrections system is working well. However some provisions have been identified as barriers to effectiveness and efficiency in the management of prisons and the Corrections Amendment Bill has been introduced to remove such barriers.  
The bill builds on a number of initiatives already put in place by this Government over the last 3 years. In the previous term this Government passed legislation to allow for prisons to be managed under contract to the Department of Corrections. This is expected to facilitate innovative and cost-effective practice in contract prisons and in the prison system as a whole. Prison security has been upgraded which has led to decreases both in escape rates and in the number of prisoners testing positive for drugs and alcohol. Rehabilitation programmes in prisons have been improved and the number of prisoners going through drug treatment units has doubled to ensure that prisoners with drug and alcohol problems address the causes of their offending.  
Drug and alcohol use in prisons has already reduced significantly during recent years. When testing was introduced in 1997-98 36 percent of prisoners tested positive for drugs—36 percent. In the year to date that figure has reduced to just 5 percent. However we believe there are still too many prisoners using these substances. The amendments in this bill will help reduce the use of drugs and alcohol even further. Currently some prisoners water-load which means they drink a lot of water to intentionally dilute their urine samples. This bill makes it a disciplinary offence to consume administer or supply any substance with the intent of diluting any sample and therefore avoiding detection.  
I have also taken the opportunity to make the strip-searching procedure more effective. Currently some of the provisions relating to strip-searching are unclear or introduce unnecessary delays—for example by requiring approval of a prison manager before strip-searching a prisoner reasonably believed to be in possession of an unauthorised item. The amendments in the bill will provide greater clarity and certainty as to when strip-searching must be undertaken and on the process for doing so. This is expected to significantly improve the department’s ability to deal effectively with contraband in prisons.  
Amendments in this bill will assist in achieving positive outcomes from the management of prisons under contract. Managers of contract prisons are expected to carry out all aspects of prisoner management. However their ability to do this is constrained by the fact that the Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections cannot delegate powers and functions to the organisation that is contracted to manage a prison or to its staff. Just to give an example the chief executive is unable to delegate two functions to the managers of contract-managed prisons that have been delegated to the managers of public prisons. These are the authority to allow the temporary removal or temporary release of a prisoner and the power to approve private prison visitors. The changes contained in this bill will ensure that managers of all prisons irrespective of whether they are contract or publicly managed have the same authorities. Of course appropriate checks and balances will be retained including the current provision preventing the chief executive from delegating certain powers to a staff member of a prison. Importantly delegating does not affect the chief executive’s ultimate responsibility for the actions of those acting under the delegation.  
The bill will help to improve the quality of prison health services by aligning statutory responsibilities with the way the services actually operate. Current legislation places contracted part-time medical officers at the forefront in this organisation in the delivery of health care to prisoners. In reality this key role is played by full-time health centre managers who are registered nurses employed by prisons. The role of “health centre manager” will be recognised in law while retaining the requirement to ensure that prisoners have treatment from medical practitioners when required.  
Gaining work skills and a work ethic is an important part of preparing offenders for release back into the community. This bill will allow prisoners to gain self-employment skills—for example in carving or other art work—and provides a transparent basis for this to happen provided certain conditions are met. The money earned will be paid to the chief executive; some of this will be applied to the prisoner’s board and other payments such as reparation and child support. The amendments in the bill will be supported by related amendments to the Corrections Regulations once this bill is enacted.  
In conclusion I want to ensure that front-line staff can manage prisoners without putting their own health and safety at risk and without compromising the fair and humane treatment of prisoners. The changes in the bill will help to achieve this and provide important support for the measures already taken by this Government to make the corrections system work more efficiently and effectively. I commend this bill to the House.