ABC News
Wednesday 6 January, 1999
Prison overcrowding engineered for profit: advisory service
The Prison Advisory Support Service has accused the Western
Australian Government of engineering overcrowding in the
prisons system to sell its concept of "prison-for-profit".
Spokesman, Brian Steels, says the planned 750-bed Woorooloo
South Prison will be completed in about two years, and the
Government is keen to ensure that it is viable for a private
operator.
Critics of the Government's tougher sentencing laws have pointed
out that the legislation has been put in place without apparent
thought for the strain being placed on the State's jails.
But Mr Steels says it all makes sense when the Government's
plan to bring private operators into the prisons system is
considered.
He says the intolerable burden that has been placed on Western
Australia's jails is creating the climate for the Government to
more easily sell its concept of prison-for-profit.
The State Government has rejected Mr Steels' comments.
The Acting Justice Minister, Kevin Prince, says it is stupidity to
suggest prisons would be overcrowded deliberately.
He says the Government has accepted that overcrowding
problems need to be addressed, and that is why the new prison
will be built at Woorooloo next year.
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