3. DAVID GARRETT (ACT) Link to this
to the Minister of Corrections
What cost savings can be achieved through building prefabricated modular units to house prisoners, and when can we expect to see the first prefabricated prison in place and occupied by criminals?
Hon SIMON POWER (Minister of Justice) Link to this
I am advised that the use of prefabricated modular units is one of a number of options being considered to accommodate prisoners. The Department of Corrections expects that modular units will cost approximately half of the $643,000 per bed that it cost when the previous Government built its four new prisons. If that option is agreed to, the department expects the first modular unit to be occupied by prisoners in, or around, September 2012.
Can the Minister confirm that the prefab prison—when it is built—will not have underfloor heating, plasma televisions in every cell, and expensive gymnasium facilities, and that criminals in those facilities will be required to work?
I can advise that there will be no underfloor heating or plasma televisions in a new prison. Inmates will have appropriate exercise facilities, rather than the type of gymnasium I saw at one of the new prisons built by the previous Government. It seemed flash enough to charge a joining fee and for yearly membership. As for work in prisons, the Government has pledged to boost by 1,000 the number of prisoners who will be learning industry-based skills through the department’s inmate employment scheme, by 2011.
Hon Clayton Cosgrove Link to this
Can the Minister assure the House that those prefabricated modular units will provide at least the same level of security as is provided by current prison facilities; and, further, given that the current lifespan of prisons is over a hundred years, will the modular units provide a similar level of durability, so that the taxpayer does not end up paying twice: once for those units, and a second time for more substantial replacements?
The Minister is confident that the new measures introduced by this Government will meet many of the standards that we would expect from our prison system, including the matters raised by the member opposite. I tell the House that we will act on measures to keep our prison system safe. This Government will not take 9 years to introduce a corrections amendment bill.
Sandra GoudieHas the Minister received any other feedback on the cost savings from building prefabricated modular units?
Yes. The Leader of the Opposition has criticised the Government’s plan to save taxpayer dollars, stating that “If you are short-sighted enough to build something cheap and nasty you will be rebuilding before very long.”, and “When you are building a public institution, you build it to make it last.” That is a surprising claim, when the four prisons built under Labour, where costs blew out by half a billion dollars, have already racked up $9 million in repair bills.