‘Bursting at the seams’: prisoner numbers explode across Qld jails

Thousands of Queensland criminals are now sharing cells as the state grapples with unprecedented overcrowding with almost 11,000 inmates.

Thousands of Queensland criminals are now sharing cells as the state grapples with unprecedented overcrowding with almost 11,000 inmates.

New figures show there are 10,800 prisoners in Queensland jails living out 7546 cells.

The startling figures means more than 6000 prisoners are stuck sharing small rooms together for hours every day.

Some jails are becoming so full that most of their cells are filled with two prisoners.

Queensland Corrective Services figures show multiple jails are bursting at the seams with prisoners including Borallon prison which is at 165 per cent capacity and Brisbane which is at 170 per cent.

Arthur Gorrie has 1461 prisoners, 1002 “built beds” and 890 cells and is at 164 per cent capacity, forcing hundreds of inmates to “double up” in cells and sleep on mattresses on the floor.

A prison cell at Borallon Correctional Centre Brisbane.(AAP Image/Jono Searle)

Wolston jail where some of the state’s most notorious murderers and sex offenders are housed is at 153 per cent capacity while Woodford is at 150 per cent capacity with 1519 prisoners living out of 1008 cells.

Maryborough is at 150 per cent capacity, Townsville Men’s 159 per cent and Capricornia is at 138 per cent capacity with 1049 prisoners in 760 cells.

All of the jails, other than Arthur Gorrie, Borallon and Capricornia, have surplus “built beds” with many using bunk beds to cram prisoners inside cells which were built to originally house one person.

In their small cells prisoners share a TV, toilet and shower.

A prison cell at Borallon Correctional Centre in Brisbane.(AAP Image/Jono Searle)

It comes as the state faces a shortage of corrective services staff and as a new 1536-bed mega jail at Gatton has been delayed by months and won’t house prisoners until at least the end of the year.

The cost of prisoners is also so high that taxpayers are spending $2.7m a day or almost $1b a year to keep them locked up, according to the net operating costs of $251.09 per prisoner per day in 2022-23.

Together Union assistant state secretary Michael Thomas said there was now a “locked in trend” of increasing numbers of people being incarcerated in both Queensland and Australasia.

“While building more capacity will help alleviate some of those pressures, the reality is that unless we start looking at all the options available to try to reduce crime and reduce recidivism we are going to continue to have to spend millions and millions of dollars on the housing of prisoners,” he said.

“But right now correctional officers are at the frontline of dealing with the stress, the danger and the risks that come with overcrowding and the government and the department needs to do everything it can to manage and reduce those risks.

“The reality is our jails were made with infrastructure and facilities to house one prisoner per cell yet the new normal is two prisoners in every cell and jails bursting at the seams.”