Briefs on selected key reports/inquiries
Women prisoners - Queensland
Briefs on selected key reports/inquiries
1988
Commission of Review into Corrective Services in Queensland 1988 (Kennedy Report (Final Report)(August 1988) & Interim Report (May 1988))
The Kennedy Review into corrective services in Queensland resulted in extensive changes to the system - including new legislation, a new organisational structure and the creation of a series of new policies and procedures.
In the part of the paper which dealt with Prisoner welfare (pgs 165-193) special needs groups were identified. These ‘special needs' groups included Aboriginals, long term prisoners, intellectually handicapped prisoners and drug an alcohol dependant prisoners. However, women were not included here nor mentioned in any other part of the section.
It is not until 1992 that Queensland Corrective Services Commission gives special status to women prisoners. This was 4 years after the Kennedy Report recognised ‘special needs groups' and 2-3 years after the first Women's Community Custody Programs were established in Townsville.
1989
The Women's Community Custody (WCC) program
“Until 1988, all women prisoners were incarcerated in Brisbane. Women were first imprisoned at the Townsville Correctional Centre in 1988 in an effort to locate North Queensland women closer to their homes. In the same year some women were permitted to have their young children with them in custody.
Open custody centres were established for women in Townsville in 1995 and at Numinbah in South East Queensland two years later. The Women's Community Custody (WCC) program began at the Helana Jones Community Corrections Centre (HJCCC) in 1989 and the Warwick Women's Work Camp (WWWC) was established in 1995. A new Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre (BWCC) was built to replace the old Boggo Road women's prison in 1999”.
1992
Review Committee established to give effect to ‘special needs status' of women prisoners.
This Committee, consisting of QCSC staff and female prisoners, was established in response to the ‘special needs status' given to women prisoners in 1992 by the QCSC. The Committee completed a report in 1993 (Report of the Women's Policy Review) and recommendations were implemented during 1994-1997. (CF the Public Sector review of the Corrective Services Commission 1993).
1993
Public Sector Management Commission's Review of the Queensland Corrective Services Commission 1993
This Government-commissioned review of the QCSC was largely positive, and recommended retaining the Commission structure. Recommendations were also made in relation to a range of other issues.
People in prisons, notes (chap 1 executive summary): the effectiveness of the sentence management process was considered and a lack of consistency with implementation was noted.
“a range of prisoners with particular needs have been identified by the commission - sexual offenders, women, young offenders, people with intellectual disabilities, offenders with drug and alcohol dependencies.
Note - report makes no mention of mental illness, just intellectual disabilities.
“the commission has developed a range of responses to address the needs of some of these groups, including a substantial policy proposals to address the structural disadvantages faced by the small number of women prisoners [emphasis added PM].
Chap 5 - full discussion of ‘people in prisons' - women/findings (pg 144-146);
Women prisoners are disadvantaged by current security classification procedures and limited alternative correctional settings
Women prisoners have a range of special health, program and social needs which are insufficiently addressed by current services, policies and procedures
The ‘Report of the Women's Policy Review' provides sound basis for addressing the range of institutionalised disadvantage experienced by women prisoners
Recommended: by the 30th of June 1994, the Director prepare for the QCSC Board's consideration, a sentence management and classification system specifically designed for the needs of women prisoners.
Recommended: the QCSC executive consider the recommendations of the Report of the Women's Policy Review and report to the Board on proposed actions by 28 Feb 1994. Such proposed actions are to specify financial implications, including any capital works requirements, where applicable.
1995
Open custody centres for women established in Townsville
A later one was established at Numinbah in SE Qld in 1997. A female work camp opened in Warwick in 1995 with offenders sourced from Helana Jones Community Corrections Centre. See above, WCC 1989
1996
Criminal Justice Commission Report on Police Watchhouses in Queensland
Report considered and made recommendations in relation to conditions, including overcrowding, in the 197 Police Watch houses in Queensland housing those refused bail by police (minimal numbers) and those awaiting transfer to a custodial centre (majority of those detained in watch houses).
1998
Townsville Correctional Centre for women
Attempt to locate female inmates, who had previously only been detained in Brisbane, closer to their families and communities in Nth Qld. Some women at this time were also permitted to have their children with them in custody.
Townsville Women's Correctional Centre
“Queensland's second stand-alone women's correctional facility, Townsville Women's Correctional Centre (TWCC), received its first prisoners in December 2008. Construction of the new $130 million facility began in mid-2006. The centre replaced the previous facility, established in 1986 within the perimeter of the men's TCC.
TWCC can accommodate up to 154 offenders. The centre includes a specialist mothers and babies unit featuring two units with four oversized bedrooms in each to accommodate up to eight mothers and babies. The centre also features state-of-the art security including video, audio, biometrics, staff duress tracking, movement control and perimeter security.
Other features include 64 secure cells and 90 residential units; special facilities for prisoners with disabilities; a double unit (equivalent to eight beds) for mothers with babies; Indigenous meeting place; medical services building; program education building; sentence management building; administration building; new gatehouse; central kitchen and bulk store; covered sports hall; and a visits facility”.
1999
Corrections in the Balance: A Review of Corrective Services in Queensland - A Commission of Inquiry, Queensland Corrective Services Review (Peach Inquiry)
A QLD Government commissioned review of ten years of operation of the QCSC which made a number of recommendations, including that the Commission structure be returned to a departmental structure; a separation of custodial and community corrections; and that the needs of Indigenous persons should be more effectively addressed.
Proposals: recognising the special needs of women offenders, Aboriginal offenders and Torres Strait Islander offenders by modifying the system to provide culturally meaningful and gender relevant deterrents and a stronger likelihood of rehabilitation;
Only discussion of women prisoners (pg 89):
“A special assessment and programs unit would provide timely assessment Reports: Community corrections staff are often unable to meet the Courts' and the Community Corrections Board's demands for specialist assessment services and reports on offenders. In many cases this results in offenders being imprisoned or not being released from prison to a community-based order. This proposal aimed to resource community corrections to provide a variety of specialised services such as the provision of psychiatric and psychological assessments to Courts and boards; assessments of high risk offenders; and the delivery of specialised programs and interventions, particularly to women offenders.
This proposal could result in the diversion of some prisoners from custody to a community-based option where their needs and risks can be better managed. The provision of these services would also encourage the release of prisoners from custody and significantly increase the rehabilitative element of community-based orders”.
Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, Leneen Forde AC, 1999 (Forde Report)
Investigation of treatment of children in licensed government and non-government institutions in Queensland 1911 to 1999, leading to recommendations in relation to youth justice.
Lots of discussion about female children in these institutions and the types of offences (or lack there of) for which they were held in hospitals/detention centres.
Also, extensive discussion of Aboriginal girls in these centres - goes towards the relationship between females imprisoned/institutionalised at a young age who then end up in adult prisons.
Children offenders and the juvenile justice system (p41):
Female juvenile offenders, on the other hand, continued to be confined in adult women's prisons until 1881, when the Toowoomba Courthouse was proclaimed an Industrial and Reformatory School for Girls aged nine to 17 years. Its administration, though, remained within the prison system. After some 22 years in service, the Toowoomba facility was closed in 1903 and the inmates dispersed to denominational industrial schools (Schofield 1971).
Girls in state care/ juvenile detention:
KARRALA HOUSE (p14)
In its 1963 Annual Report the Department reported that Karrala House was established ‘for the purpose of dealing with the more emotionally disturbed girl and those girls in denominational homes who are incorrigible and are continually upsetting other inmates'.40 In a 1962 memorandum to the Director of Mental Hygiene, Dr Atherton expressed the following view:
As indicated earlier, I believe that this Home would fulfil the most useful function by taking the more recalcitrant type of girl who is hardened to ordinary handling in a private or Church Home… Discipline should be as rigid as that in a Prison which would be the place these girls would find themselves but for their age. As Prison is a deterrent to crime so, in my opinion, should the discipline and consequent fear of return to this Home be a deterrent to the girls from returning to an antisocial or asocial form of behaviour.41
The government, it seems, was content to allow the churches to carry on the business of reforming wayward girls. Its commitment in respect of Karrala House was limited to providing a quasi-penal institution to facilitate the task of extracting and disciplining ‘problem' girls and returning them back to the denominational homes for future care.42 A total of 547 girls were to pass through Karrala before its closure in 1971. Most of these girls had not been convicted of a criminal offence, but had committed status offences. In the majority of cases, it appears that sexual behaviour perceived as inappropriate prompted the Children's Court to make an order for care and control.43 Girls initially admitted to one of the denominational training homes or a similar institution for care, whose behaviour and emotional disturbance was such that they could no longer be cared for in that home, were also admitted to Karrala House.44 The institution was eventually closed in October 1971, after the inauguration of the new girls' section at Wilson Youth Hospital. All inmates remaining at Karrala House were transferred to this new unit.
Wilson Youth Hospital (p153)
Management and discipline
Children could be admitted to Wilson because they were on remand for, or had been convicted of, a criminal offence. Equally they could be admitted merely as children in the care and control of the Director of Children's Services because they had, for instance, been declared ‘uncontrollable' (for truanting) or were deemed to be ‘exposed to moral danger'. Even children in the care and protection of the Director could, with Ministerial approval, be Chapter 7: ‘Correctional' Facilities (1900-1998) 155 admitted. Girls at Wilson were generally within the ‘uncontrollable' and ‘exposed to moral danger' categories. A witness who had herself been charged with being in moral danger observed that there were other girls in Wilson with her who had been the victims of incest, while many ‘had run away from physically and emotionally abusive homes'. An analysis of the reasons for admission, carried out in 1978 by a group of concerned citizens calling themselves Justice for Juveniles and based on the Annual Report of the Director of Children's Services, revealed that 80 per cent of the girls in Wilson were under care and control orders for ‘status offences', under section 60 of the Children's Services Act 1965, with only 18.8 per cent having been committed to care for criminal offences.50 The figures for boys were almost exactly reversed: 74.2 per cent were admitted for offences and 24.2 per cent for being uncontrollable or ‘likely to lapse into a career of vice and crime'. Significantly, none of the boys had been admitted to care for being ‘exposed to moral danger', as opposed to 10.6 per cent of the girls.
2004
Legal Aid Queensland review of access to legal services for women and girls in custody
The review was motivated in part by rising numbers of women in custody (almost tripling in number from 1995-2000. The report documents the results of a survey that was distributed to women and girls in custody in QLD to assess the difficulties experienced by participants in accessing the services of Legal Aid Qld. The results of the survey illustrated those women in custody experience considerable difficulty in accessing legal aid services.
De Simone, T., & d'Aquino, C, (2004) Inside Out: The Access of Women and Girls in Custody to Legal Aid Services
Results of surveys showed (Executive Summary, p5):
- Low levels of satisfaction with the advice service and with the videoconferencing advice service
- The qualitative results show that there are issues for women in trying to obtain advice with some complaining that their efforts to be put on a waiting list for advice were denied by prison guards
- Difficulties that women face in contacting Legal Aid in QLD - not having a free number that they can use for advice (as opposed to the rest of QLD), not having a confidential phone line, having limited access to telephones and having long waiting periods for advice
- Responses from participants showed that jail treatment, discrimination and children were teh biggest area of problem for participants - not suprising given the number of women prisoners with children
- The bulk of the qualitative comment showed dissatisfaction with the way that the service was delivered such as failure to keep appointments, limited contact with a solicitor and lack of communication between solicitor and client
- Conclusion: project team felt that there were some simple systemic changes that could be made to the way that Legal Aid Qld provides its services to women in custody that would greatly improve their access to legal services
Significant recommendations included:
BAIL - recommendation 1 (p 12):
That the in-house bail section negotiate a protocol with the Department of Corrective Services about urgent access to prisoners in relation to Supreme Court bail applications.
That the in-house bail section maintains regular legal advice sessions at Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre.
In relation to Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, the In-house Bail Section will only represent prisoners if they are referred by in-house solicitors. Prisoners can make contact through a video link-up. Contact is usually made through the legal advice solicitors at Legal Aid Queensland.
If a prisoner is not successful in obtaining a grant of legal aid to apply for bail then the person is sent a “Bail by Mail” self-help kit with the refusal letter. As well, the solicitor will assist prisoners who are unsuccessful with legal advice in relation to their own bail application. Again, a request for legal advice in this area is forwarded on by the legal advice solicitors.
The solicitors from the In-house Bail Section commented that they experienced difficulties because they are unable to access the regular legal visits on Monday or Thursday and otherwise there was restricted access in relation to bail matters when urgent access was needed. Since 2002 Sisters Inside Inc has provided a support program for women in the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre who are preparing self-represented Supreme Court Bail application. These women have been refused funding from Legal Aid Queensland for Supreme Court Bail.
The support workers using the ‘Bail by Mail' self help kit, provide assistance in gathering supporting documentation needed for the application. In 2002 the program completed 15 bail applications in the Supreme Court with approximately six successful. In 2003, 13 bail applications were made with six of these being successful.
Since 2002 Sisters Inside Inc has supported over 40 women in the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre who have been interested in making Supreme Court Bail Applications. During 2003 another 5 women approached Sisters Inside to support them to find accommodation and the necessary medical certificates and references in respect of bail applications being made through Legal Aid Queensland. All five of these applications were successful.
A recurring issue is that women approach Sisters Inside too late in the criminal law process, so that their application is too close to their court hearing and not likely to succeed.
JAIL TREATMENT - recommendation 2 (p28)
That there be a further review of the unmet legal need of prisoners for administrative law problems as Prisoners Legal Service is unable to meet demand at current level of resourcing.
The comments regarding jail treatment suggest that Prisoners' Legal Service is under-resourced as there were many comments about the participant's inability to be able to contact and get advice from Prisoners' Legal Service.
Participants reported that they have not done anything about their situation due to fear of reprisal and belief that they have no options. A further comment was made about programmes in prisons being in English so that it was not fair for people who cannot speak English. Participants also spoke about having a fear of deportation if the did anything.
YOUNG WOMEN IN DETENTION (p17)
The history of youth detention services makes the tracking of young women in detention a challenge. In the 1990's the Department of Corrective Services and the Department of Families transferred responsibility for youth detention.
Young women in detention has been a neglected area of study with little in the way of any data available, this is primarily due to the small number of young women in detention. The reports that do exist are usually directed towards the better "management" of young women and the establishment of further and more effective programs designed to better reintegrate young women into the community. No reports could be found on young women and legal needs. In Queensland there is only the capacity of 18 beds in the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre for the housing of young women and this is rarely at even half capacity
2005
Department of Corrective Services, Work outreach camps community engagement report (cf 2008 Green paper)
Mentions of women:
Quantify, in dollar and benefit terms, the value to the community that has been derived through the WORC camp (4): Information forwarded from Warwick cites that the Women's camp has served in excess of 135,211 hours in 10 years of operation. This equates to an equivalent dollar value of about $1,487,321 worth of labour. It was mentioned that, during the month of September 2005, the women in the Warwick camp had prepared and painted the interior of the Killarney Recreation Hall. Quotes from other sources indicated that the painting of the interior walls and ceilings would cost about $8,000.
Recommendations (p 17):
No. 7 the Department expand the WORC Program by establishing a women's camp in northern Queensland. Rationale: Female offenders from Townsville Correctional Centre would have access to the same opportunities as female offenders in south east Queensland.
No. 8 When funding becomes available, the Department give consideration to the establishment of an additional women's camp in south east Queensland. Rationale: Expected increases in the south east Queensland population could see a rise in female offender numbers.
Anti Discrimination Commission of Queensland Report: Women in Prison (2006)
Consolidated list of recommendations from the Executive Summary:
That the Department of Corrective Services address matters raised in the Report on the Review into Women in Prison in their review of the Corrective Services Act 2000.
That the Department of Corrective Services, as a matter of priority, identify and takeappropriate action to address possible discrimination against women prisoners raised inthis (2006) Report.
That the Department of Corrective Services include in its annual reports for 2005-06 and 2006-07 its progress on recommendations made in this (2006) Report.
The report also made 7-10 specific recommendations under each of the following categories:
Custodial infrastructure and classification
Low security facilities
Conditional release
Strip-searches
Rehabilitation and social reintegration
Vocational and educational training
Work and industry opportunities
Drug and substance abuse
Mental health issues
Other health issues
Custody issues
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
Young women in prison
Culturally and linguistically diverse prisoners
Women prisoners who are mothers of dependent children
Transgender female prisoners
Accountability of prisons
RESPONSE TO THIS REPORT from Qld Corrective Services:
Response to Executive recommendations on pg 15-16
Responses to specific recommendations pgs 17-61
NB: responses to specific recommendations can be found via contents
2008
Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) policy for women prisoners.
This policy - Improving Outcomes for Women Offenders (Women Offenders Policy and Action Plan 2008-2012) - was released in 2008, and had been preceded by earlier, similar policies dating from 2001.
Policy statement:
Queensland Corrective Services acknowledges that imprisonment of women can have profound effects on their children and families and broader implications for society. The Agency is committed to managing a correctional system that is responsive to the issues and challenges relevant to women offenders. The distinct needs and characteristics of women offenders are recognised and correctional responses will be based on their identified risks and needs. The Improving Outcomes for Women Offenders: Women Offenders Policy and Action Plan 2008-2012 provides a framework to improve the gender responsivity of Queensland's adult corrective services system, to improve service delivery to women offenders, to sustain existing initiatives and to develop new strategies in the longer term.
Policy Principles:
Queensland Corrective Services' vision is to be a leader in corrections and a partner in criminal and social justice. Accordingly, the Agency seeks to set the benchmark for the management of women offenders. To achieve this vision, the Agency will ensure correctional responses for women offenders are designed to take into account their distinct needs, characteristics, life experiences and family circumstances within broader offender management practice. Correctional responses will be based on identified risks and needs of women offenders.
Within the context of safety and security, QCS supports the following principles:
• Women offenders will be able to access programs, services, and opportunities that are responsive to their needs.
• Women offenders will be managed with respect and regard for dignity, in a way which facilitates self-responsibility.
• Women offenders will be provided with rehabilitative and culturally-sensitive environments that acknowledge their diverse characteristics, needs and life experiences in accordance with assessed risks and needs.
• Correctional services for women will acknowledge the centrality of relationships and the importance of maintaining connections with family. Individual women offenders will be encouraged and supported to maintain their role as primary caregivers.
• Correctional services for women will adopt a consistent and co-ordinated approach to service delivery that incorporates inter-agency collaboration and provides opportunities for support that extends beyond the period of correctional supervision.
Green Paper - Reform of Low Security Custody in Qld, Oct 2008
Impacts on women:
Executive summary of proposed reforms (pg 5);
- Palen Creek which is a low security correctional centre accommodating men will transition to an all women Base Work camp with capacity for women and their babies.
- Also, the Helena Jones Centre (low security) will transition to a post release support accommodation centre for women, operated by a non-government organisation.
Reasons for expanding work camps (pg 6);
Future expansion/accommodating growing numbers of women prisoners:
“the proposed new model for Work camps will assist QCS in managing growing female prisoner numbers by providing additional accommodation options for low risk women offenders until the planned completion of correctional centres for women in Townsville and Gatton. Completion of the women's correctional centre in Townsville will substantially increase the state's capacity for women offenders and will provide adequate capacity for the northern region. With this investment, QCS is entering a new era in which it can deliver dedicated infrastructure, programs and resources that are tailored to the women prisoner population”.
Current low security centres & women (pg 7);
Low security beds for women offenders are located in South-East Queensland at Numinbah, in Brisbane City at Albion, and in Townsville. During 2007-08, 632 offenders were accommodated in low security centres across Queensland.
The Industries which women work in while at the low security correctional centres and work camps (pg 8 Table 1);
Townsville: crops, Narinbah: dairy, livestock, textile products, assembly & packaging, Helana Jones: assembly & packaging.
The VET programs which are available to women depending on which centre they are accommodated at (pg 9 table 2);
Townsville (men &Women): conservation, construction engineering, first aid, horticulture, transport and distribution
Numinbah (m&W): automotive, fitness, hospitality, IT, rural, textile fabrication, Literacy and numeracy, conservation, construction engineering, first aid, horticulture, transport and distribution
Heleana Jones (Women only): asset maintenance, automotive, conservation, construction, first aid, hospitality, literacy and numeracy
Work camp sites in Qld: 11 for men, 2 for women (pg 11), correctional centres in Qld,
Case Studies: Warwick Women's work Camp (pg 14);
Reform proposals and changes for women offenders (pg 18);
Currently, all South-East Queensland low security centres for women offenders are linked to Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre. This is to facilitate rehabilitation and transition from high to low security centres and then to the community. Women offenders accommodated in low security centres are encouraged to develop increased levels of personal responsibility and, as in secure custody, opportunities are provided for them to take part in education, work, vocational training and other programs.
With female prisoner numbers increasing, there are women currently residing in high security facilities, who are suitable and eligible for placement at a low security facility, if a bed were available. It is therefore proposed that a dedicated women's Base Work camp will be established at Palen Creek. Palen Creek will provide an additional 120 beds for women classified as low risk and has the highest standard of accommodation of the low security facilities in South East Queensland. This centre will require minimal change to accommodate mothers and babies, thereby recognising the need to provide women with appropriate rehabilitation and accommodate them in an environment that acknowledges their diverse characteristics, needs and life experiences.
This arrangement will be strengthened as a result of plans to expand the number of women's Work camps. This will provide additional opportunities for low risk women offenders to make reparation to the community by being employed on meaningful projects in regional communities. In addition, the transition of Helana Jones Centre to a post-release supported accommodation facility for women in South-East Queensland is proposed. This will assist to address a critical shortage of appropriate accommodation in the community for women exiting custody.
Unstable accommodation can be a significant factor in undermining an offender's prospects of successfully re-integrating in the community and not committing further offences. Low risk offenders currently residing at the Helana Jones Centre will be transferred to Palen Creek
Leave arrangements for women:
“Work camps will become the central form of re-integration into the community while offenders are in custody. Re-integration and resettlement leave of absence will be discontinued. While offenders are at Work camps, they have supervised access to the community and are encouraged to undertake essential shopping and participate in community events. Participation in Work camps will be a significant indicator of an offender's positive progression through the correctional system. The low level of security at Work camps and the frequent interaction with the community mean that offenders will be in a strong position to demonstrate their trustworthiness and rehabilitation. It is likely that participation in a Work camp will be viewed positively by Parole Boards when considering applications by offenders for parole. The Corrective Services Act 2006 will be amended to remove re-integration and resettlement leave provisions”.
Identification of reasons for reform - growth in number of women prisoners:
To manage growth [in prisoner numbers], the Queensland Government has invested in a major capital works program, including:
the construction of a new women's correctional centre in Townsville and the development of a new correctional precinct at Gatton.
Other significant capital works include the recently completed Brisbane Correctional Centre;
expansion of the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre;
redevelopment and expansion of the Townsville Men's and Townsville Women's correctional centres;
planning for an expansion of Lotus Glen Correctional Centre at Mareeba.
The South-East Queensland Correctional Precinct at Gatton will be the next major prison development in Queensland. Pre-construction work for the site began in January 2008.
It is anticipated that in future years the number of Work camps and community service projects will increase as a result of this growth.
In the short term, the proposed change to the offender profile at Palen Creek Correctional Centre, converting it to an all women Base Work camp, will help QCS to manage growing female prisoner numbers. Palen Creek will provide an additional 120 beds for women classified as low risk.
In addition the change in function to the Helana Jones Centre to a post-release supported accommodation facility for women in South-East Queensland will assist to address a critical shortage of appropriate accommodation in the community for women exiting custody. Unstable accommodation can be a significant factor in undermining an offender's prospects of successfully re-integrating in the community and not committing further offences”.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (2004) Social Justice Report 2004HREOC, Canberra 2004
Types of offences committed by women
A profile of Queensland female offenders revealed that 45.3 percent of Indigenous female inmates were sentenced for a violent crime, 28.3 percent for property crime, 24.5 percent for 'Other' crime (which includes social security fraud, procedures offences, unlawful possession of weapons and driving related offences) and 1.9 percent for drug offences.(1) The statistics on violent offences indicate that Indigenous women are more likely than non-Indigenous (38.6%) to commit a violent offence. However, Indigenous women are less likely to be incarcerated for drug offences as compared with non-Indigenous women (15.2%). At 1 March 2004 Indigenous women represented 23.4 per cent of the total female population in Queensland open and secure centres.(2)
Legislation
1988
Corrective Services Act 1988, Corrective Services (Administration) Act 1988 and Corrections Services (Consequential Amendments) Act 1988 repealed Prisons Act 1958.
This legislation was introduced as a result of the Kennedy review, introducing major reforms. In part, set up the Queensland Corrective Services Commission (QCSC) to replace the Prisons Department and Probation and Parole.
1993
Qld Law Reform Commission's The Bail Act (Working Paper No. 41) (Feb 1993)
An examination of Bail Act within context of RCIADIC, in relation to the question of a right to bail, and bail for persons committing domestic violence offences. See also law Reform Commission's The Bail Act (Report No. 43) (June 1993) - final report on aforementioned issues relating to bail.
2000
Corrective Services Act 2000
Changes introduced by this legislation, which completely repealed the 1988 corrections legislation and were based on the Peach Review (1999), included abolition of remissions, and restrictions on eligibility for parole, as well changes to prison operations more generally.
2006
Corrective Services Act 2006, Queensland Corrective Services, (2006) Guide to the Corrective Services Act 2006, QCS Qld
Key features of the new legislation were a new security classification system; abolition of judicial review of management decisions about prisoner security and placement; changes to eligibility criteria for prisoners to be transferred to Work Camps to exclude sexual offenders; and supervised parole replacing all other forms of early release.
(1) Department of Corrective Services (Women's Policy Unit), Profile of female offenders under community and custodial supervision in Queensland, Queensland Government, Brisbane 2003, Chapter 3, p13.
(2) Australian Bureau of Statistics, Corrective Services, Australia, March Quarter 2004,