Women’s jail bursting at the seams so prisoners serving jail terms at police stations

FEMALE prisoners are being forced to serve their jail terms in police holding cells because the Victoria’s maximum security women’s prison is full.

FEMALE prisoners are being forced to serve their jail terms in police holding cells because Victoria’s maximum-security women’s prison is full.

Sources have told the Herald Sun the population at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre this week exceeded 500 prisoners for the first time and is now at capacity.

Cells at Mill Park police station are now being used as temporary prison cells for women waiting for a bed at the Ravenhall complex.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said when capacity existed across the Corrections prison system, prisoners could be held in police cells while on remand and before and after sentencing.

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Corrections Minister Gayle Tierney with Dame Phyllis Frost Prison general manager Tracy Jones. Picture: Kylie Else

“Mill Park police cells have provided this extra capacity in recent days. The Mill Park police station remains fully operational and service to the community has not been disrupted,” she said.

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed the state’s prisoner custody system was at breaking point with almost every police cell in Victoria now occupied.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said yesterday officers were being forced to drive prisoners across Victoria to try and find a cell. “We are shuffling prisons all over the state,” he told 3AW.

The Health Centre at Dame Phyllis Frost Prison in Ravenhall. Picture: Kylie Else

“It is certainly what you don’t want. We are at cell cap­acity at the moment. It is a problem, it comes back again and again,” Mr Ashton said.

“We need to get Corrections Victoria to take the prisoners. We have people doing their entire sentence in the police cells which is not good.

“We can’t offer the services Corrections Victoria provide.”

Minister for Corrections Gayle Tierney admitted yesterday the system was struggling but denied it was at capacity.

“It is not at capacity … there is absolute pressure in the system, we do not deny that,” she told parliament. “That pressure has been brought about by us introducing tougher sentencing laws and making changes to bail and parole.”

The most recent corrections records revealed the population at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre had increased by more than 10 per cent, from 445 prisoners to 494, between January and June. That figure exceeded 500 this week, according to several sources.

Opposition police spokesman Ed O’Donohue said it was not good enough.

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