Eight month parole delays for Queensland prisoners

A Supreme Court judge has unleashed on Queensland’s Parole Board, describing its functioning as “Kafkaesque” as prisoners wait more than six months beyond their eligibility dates to have their applications heard.

A SUPREME Court judge has unleashed on Queensland’s Parole Board, describing its functioning as “Kafkaesque” and borderline delinquent.

Due to unprecedented delays in the board, prisoners who were eligible for parole in May will likely not have their application heard until January 2022.

At the same time, people sent to jail for parole breaches – some as minor as being late for a check-in appointment – are spending more than six months in custody to have the suspension evaluated.

A frustrated Judge Thomas Bradley told the Brisbane Supreme Court last week that he “would like to see any member of the board placed in custody for six or seven months beyond the date when the court suggested their (parole) eligibility should be considered and scrutinise their behaviour”.

Supreme Court Justice Thomas Bradley. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Waugh

The comments were sparked over a man who had been given a parole eligibility date on the day he was sentenced in October last year but for whom the board was yet to make a decision.

Lawyer for the Parole Board Tom Fall told court the board needed more information about an alleged assault in prison the man was recently involved in.

“If the board continues to not make decisions about matters for months and months and months and months and months and then raises things that have happened over periods - when the board is in default of its own processes - as reasons why parole should not be given, honestly, that’s a Kafkaesque situation, that’s just extraordinary behaviour,” Judge Bradley said.

Judge Bradley said he was “almost tempted to say delinquency” to describe the length of time the board are taking to make decisions.

Commenting on the delays, Prisoners’ Legal Service Principal Solicitor Helen Blaber said current Parole Board’s delays were “completely unprecedented”.

“If you’re returned to custody on a suspension, you might have family that can pay rent for you for a while, but not for six months, so then you lose your house, and then you might lose your job, your connections,” she said.

Ms Blaber said parole was in the interest of community safety but many people were now walking free from jail at the end of their prison term with no community supervision.

“If you don‘t get parole and get to the end of your jail time, you can live where you want, you can do whatever you want, essentially, whereas if you are released on parole they want to assess where you are living and can impose conditions such as rehabilitation programs,” she said.

The Queensland Government had engaged accounting firm KMPG to undertake an urgent review of the Board’s operations.

“There has been a significant increase in prisoner numbers, with approximately 1,000 more prisoners now held in custody compared to a year ago,” the Parole Board said in a statement.

“The Board will continue to do everything that it can to decide parole applications as quickly as possible.”

Additional reporting by Kay Dibben