PRISONS OVERSPEND BY $33M

"It has certainly been a difficult year with the sharp increase of almost
800 more inmates to be managed by the department," the Corrective Services
Commissioner, Mr Leo Keliher ,said in his foreword.

"Every area was affected, with correctional, remand and periodic detention
centres at capacity and staff stretchedto manage the increased workload."

The 12 per cent rise in the number ofmale prisoners and 43 per cent rise in
female inmates also led to "undesirable practices" in their management, the
department admitted.

Prisoners had to be moved around quickly, an old jail was reopened, courts
granted bail less often and convictions for some types of crime increased.

"As a result there were greater inmate movements which increased the cost of
staff escorting the. Overtime increased and operational costs rose and to
accommodate the inmates, the department was forced to reopen previously
decommissioned beds," the report said.

Parramatta Correctional Centre was reopened "temporarily" to accommodate 200
full-time inmates and almost 200 periodic detainees. The department had to
conduct a recruitment drive to cope with the extra prisoners, the report
said.

There were a record 7,240 inmates last year compared with 6,452 the previous
year. Of the 6,802 men in jail this year, one in seven was indigenous. Of
the 438 women, one in five was indigenous.

The report makes clear that the department was not ready for the population
blowout. At the beginning of last financial year, it had very few beds
available.

"Strong growth is expected to continue," warned the Corrections Health
Service (CHS) in its own separate annual report.

As the prison population grows, so does the drug problem for prison
managers. An estimated four in five inmates were incarcerated last year for
offences related to alcohol or other drug use, bringing with them related
health problems.

A CHS study of 314 inmates at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre
at Silverwater found almost half had been exposed to hepatitis A, with
cannabis use the most likely cause of transmission.

Seven out of 10 female inmates have a history of injecting drug use and
nearly the same proportion are hepatitis C positive.

Corrective Services revealed in its report that it will establish a
permanent investigation task force to deal exclusively with drug-related
corruption inco-operation with the Independent Commission Against
Corruption.

Italso plans to spend $3.725 million over the next four years to add an
extra 12 dog squads to the 32 already in the State's jails.Its Drug Detector
Dog Unit last year stepped up screening as the prison population grew.

Of the 40,000 jail visitors searched by various methods, 200 were detected
trying tosmuggle illicit drugs into prisons. Urine testing led to 1,656
inmates being found positive for drugs, most of whom were charged.