$2.5 billion prison “short-term” fix for overcrowding

VICTORIA’S Chief Magistrate says the justice system is under “serious” strain, which won’t be eased by the $2.5 billion Ravenhall Prison in the long-term.

Ravenhall Prison. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

THE new $2.5 billion Ravenhall Prison will only provide short-term relief for Victoria’s struggling prison system, according to the state’s Chief Magistrate.

Peter Lauritsen has criticised Corrections Victoria for not adequately dealing with overcrowding in prisons, which has prevented scores of offenders from being brought before magistrates.

He said remand numbers had created a “massive, serious issue” for the justice system and that there were no long-term solutions in sight.

“All the players in the system are doing their best to overcome the issue,” he told the Law Institute of Victoria.

“Magistrates have been extremely patient in the face of what should not be happening, and they deserve credit for allowing the system to function even with these jolts, which have been going on for nearly four years.

“We continue to search for solutions.”

Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen

In July, a third of Victoria’s prisoners were on remand — up on just 18 per cent four years ago.

Mr Lauritsen said the system had been “caught unaware by the massive increase” and has sought to relieve the pressure by sitting on weekends, nights, using audio visual links between court and prison and several County Court court rooms and cells.

But such measures had failed to fix the issue, Mr Lauritsen said.

“We adopted a number of measures over time to try to overcome it, but we haven’t ultimately succeeded. The remand population has grown dramatically and it’s not stopping.”

A maximum-security prison insider told the Sunday Herald Sun inmates were daily being knocked back from scheduled court appearances because police cells were constantly at capacity.

“Every day we get calls that the cells are full which means we can’t send inmates out to court because there’s no room. Overcrowding in police cells affects overcrowding within the prison system,” the source said.

Prisoners are due to move into Ravenhall from next week.

Ravenhall Prison. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The prison will have the capacity to hold up to 450 remand prisoners, at a cost of $2.5 billion over 25 years.

Mr Lauritsen said Ravenhall will only provide “short to medium term respite” for inmates failing to front court.

“Ravenhall is a medium term solution, say five years, and perhaps the problem will re-emerge to a degree by then,” he said.

Corrections Victoria spokesman Michael Newhouse attributed the growth in remand prisoners to the increase in offenders being refused bail, especially for violent crimes.

He said the department is working with police and courts to manage prison population growth and has boosted a range of measures including video conferencing capabilities to alleviate the issue.

But Opposition Corrections spokesman Edward O’Donohue said the state government had failed to keep up with Victoria’s “rapid growth” in population and crime.

“Daniel Andrews has no plan to deliver the prison capacity needed to keep dangerous criminals behind bars,” he said.

@AneekaSimonis