Cost of housing prisoners in Victoria rises
The costs for housing prisoners is now higher in Victoria than any other state. Here’s how much each prisoner is costing taxpayers each day and year.
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The cost of housing prisoners in Victoria has risen to more than $860 million a year.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the cost per prisoner per day is higher in Victoria than any other state.
In Victoria the “real net operating expenditure per prisoner per day” costs taxpayers $323.82, or $118,194 a year.
In NSW the cost per prisoner per day is $181.85 while in Queensland it is $181.55.
The number of prisoners in Victoria’s adult jails constantly changes but the average number of inmates last year was 7,285.
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The high cost of housing prisoners in Victoria has been attributed to a number of factors.
The government has made significant investments to modernise the prison system, manage serious offenders and improve rehabilitation chances through education and training.
It comes as new figures also show serious assaults on staff have doubled since 2014 and prisoner on prisoner assaults have increased by more than 40 per cent in the past five years.
The Sunday Herald Sun has been told that Ravenhall prison has recently been told to add an extra 300 beds to bring capacity up to 1,600, despite being originally built as a 1300 bed facility.
It is understood this will be achieved by adding bunks to existing single cells.
MP David Southwick, the opposition’s corrections spokesman, said: “Our prisons needs to be safe, affordable and effective.
“With assaults on staff and inmates continuing to rise, jamming more prisoners into overcrowded cells will only lead to further increases in serious incidents.”
Corrections Minister Ben Carroll said the Andrews Labor Government introduced tough new laws in 2016 to crack down on violence against prison officers.
“The Liberals sat on their hands for four years during their era of do-nothing government — destroying our corrections system and risking the safety of staff and the community,” Mr Carroll said.
“We’ll always back our hardworking staff, giving them the resources they need to keep themselves and the community safe.”
The annual Report on Government Services (RoGS), released in January, also showed the rate of total assaults on staff in 2017-18 was the lowest rate since 2011-12.
The Sunday Herald Sun has been told the high cost per prisoner per day in Victoria has been largely driven by additional costs linked with managing an increase in remand prisoners and, subsequently, prisoner movements throughout the system.
Expenditure is also impacted by factors such as prioritising prisoner rehabilitation and wellbeing.
Prisoners have more out-of-cell hours in Victoria compared to the national average, which is more expensive.
A spokesman for Corrections Victoria said: “The annual Report on Government Services (RoGS) … demonstrated that incident rates in the prison system can vary significantly from year to year.
“Corrections Victoria is committed to the safety and security of all of staff and prisoners, and refers all allegations of criminal activity and serious incidents to Victoria Police for investigation.”