Increase in prisoners let out of state’s overcrowded jails

Despite the number of prisoners being let out increasing, most Queensland prisons remain over capacity.

PAROLE Board orders granting prisoners’ jail release increased by 13 per cent in the last year, new figures show.

Applications considered by the Parole Board also increased 24 per cent compared to the previous year, from 2517 decisions in 2017-18 to 3129 in 2018-19.

The number of refusals decreased 13 per cent to 18 per cent.

A connecting walk way at Wolston Correctional Centre. Picture: Liam Kidston.

The increase in parole release decisions comes at a time of rampant overcrowding at the state’s jails, with most prisons over capacity.
Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said even more people should be released and many were being kept in prison longer than they needed simply because they had a lack of support or an available place to stay in the community.
“There needs to be investment in accommodation and courses made available to people so that they can be reintegrated into the community,” he said.
“They need to be reintegrated into society as opposed to being warehoused.”
He said the cost to house a prisoner was close to $200 a day compared to community supervision which was about $15.
Mr Potts said he believed the increase in granted decisions was a sign the Parole Board was maturing and streamlined after Walter Sofronoff’s review of parole in 2016 recommended widespread reform.
But he said the board should have more funds than what was currently provided by the State Government and should be a stand-alone entity rather than being part of Queensland Corrective Services.
Figures released by QCS showed of all prisoners released during 2016-17, there were 44.6 per cent returned to jail under new term of imprisonment in 2018-19.
Assault rates in jails soared last year, with each category above QCS targets, which included 9.2 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults per 100 inmates.

Serious assaults on prisoners was 2.8 per 100, while prisoner-on-officer assaults was .87 and serious assaults on officers .08.