Construction work on the ACT's new low security prison can begin in the next 12 months with $35 million pledged to the project in the ACT budget.
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Design work on the 80-bed "reintegration centre" outside the tall wire fences of the maximum security prison at Hume is underway but there are still some elements of the project which remain unclear, including how male and female prisoners will be kept separate in the cottage-style accommodation.
![Canberra's maximum security Alexander Maconochie Centre has been at or near capacity for many months. Picture: Jay Cronan. Canberra's maximum security Alexander Maconochie Centre has been at or near capacity for many months. Picture: Jay Cronan.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/dc5syd-6dw3kfwotp4xu2qqhn2.jpg/r0_218_4256_2611_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Funding for the low security facility is the biggest single budget allocation to the ACT's justice system.
It is also one of the most contentious.
The corrections union says that prisoner capacity inside the maximum security fence should be expanded "to cater for the risk profile of the prisoners the ACT has, not the prisoners the department wishes it had". Capacity of the jail has been at or near maximum for some time.
The union's regional secretary Madeline Northam said there simply not enough suitable prisoners in the ACT to be housed in a low security setting.
The government's budget pledge is to recruit more corrections staff but could provide no clarity around the number. Corrections wants to examine operational procedures before providing a firm recruitment target over the next 12 months.
The union wants 60 more corrections officers "to provide adequate cover", which excludes the numbers needed to staff the reintegration centre.
Minister Shane Rattenbury is committed both to building support services for people on bail and leaving jail, and slowing the ACT justice system's alarming rate of recidivism, especially among our indigenous detainees.
There is also a high-level parliamentary agreement to consider, in which his party has given an ambitious written pledge to reduce recidivism in the ACT by 25 per cent by 2025. Failing to meet that target could have political consequences for the Greens.
Mr Rattenbury said that from a security viewpoint, the reintegration centre was similar in concept to the NSW prison farms - "without the farm element" - and he envisaged cottage-style accommodation without the need for a direct form of supervision.
![A low security section, most likely cottages, will expand Canberra's prison capacity. A low security section, most likely cottages, will expand Canberra's prison capacity.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/4eea49d5-6104-447a-9a8c-e10f86da2cd1.jpg/r0_0_1000_664_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Inmates would cook their own meals and clean their own rooms, as well as participate in programs which prepare them for release.
"These are people who are low risk detainees who are still serving a sentence but making that transition to release or parole," he said.
Those who qualify for minimum security would be assessed on criteria such as offence type, compliance while in custody, involvement in rehabilitation, and the time left on the detainee's sentence.
Without the option of electronically monitoring low-risk prisoners nor of periodic detention, ACT courts use intensive corrections orders in which sentenced prisoners serve their time in the community with a strict set of conditions.
Depending on the severity of sentence, if a person breaches an order they can be arrested on the spot, taken to the watch-house and placed before a magistrate.
A major breach would likely land the person back in Canberra's maximum security prison.
Bail options are also an issue for the courts. Magistrates are less likely to bail a person who has no stable accommodation nor place of residence. Particularly vulnerable are female offenders fleeing domestic violence.
Of the $13.1 million allocated over the next three years to a "justice housing" program, $7.1 million would be used as capital to purchase Canberra property suited to the program.
The process of identifying the appropriate properties would begin soon.
"We anticipate there would be a level of group accommodation with some communal living and ties with the support services; we expect these are more likely to be houses than units," Mr Rattenbury said.
"But we need to think about the make-up of our cohort quite carefully. Women are likely to be in smaller groups than men, and issues around location and access to transport are important to people with reporting requirements."
The $6 million balance of the funds would be used to deliver services using providers with "a proven track record".