The NSW Government has moved to lower the level of proof needed to prove misconduct by inmates in prison.
Under legislation introduced to the state parliament, the burden of proof for prison offences will be changed to “satisfied on the balance of probabilities”, rather than “beyond reasonable doubt”, as is currently required.
NSW Minister for Corrections Anoulack Chanthivong said this was being done to “better protect Corrective Services NSW staff and the community”.
“The government has the shared goal with the union of making sure correctional centres are the safest environment possible for staff,” Chanthivong said.
“We are introducing this legislation as a way to best meet this shared goal. These changes come after many months of consultation and engagement on a revised inmate misconduct system between Corrective Services NSW and the Public Service Association.”
Investigations into criminal conduct in prisons will still be dealt with by NSW Police according to the criminal standard of proof.
Police officers in NSW now have the power to monitor the phones of some domestic violence offenders under a scheme beginning at the start of October.
Under the serious domestic abuse prevention order (SDAPO) scheme, courts will be able to issue the new type of protection order against domestic violence offenders.
The orders will allow police to access the phone login details of the offender and to download its contents in real time. An offender can also be ordered to tell the police if they open a dating app profile or enter into a new relationship, under such an order.
NSW Police and prosecutors can apply for such an order to be imposed on someone charged with a “serious domestic violence offence”, and they can be applied whether the person has been tried, acquitted or had their conviction squashed or set aside.
An order lasts for up to 5 years, and a 7-year prison sentence and $33,000 fine can be imposed if it is breached.
The NSW Government has invested $9.3 million into the new SDAPO scheme.
A man has been arrested after he allegedly tried to fly contraband attached to a drone into the ACT’s prison.
The 22-year-old was spotted allegedly flying a drone near the perimeter fence of the Alexander Maconochie Centre in late September and was arrested shortly after.
According to ACT Police, the drone was found with an attached drink container that had a smart watch, SIM card, drugs and nicotine patches inside it. A second item attached to the drone also had drugs, USB memory sticks and nicotine patches, police said.
Ten months after it was handed a report into the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, the ACT government has responded to its recommendations.
The territory government has accepted or noted 14 of the 15 recommendations made by the ACT Custodial Inspector, including to define the purpose of the centre and its model of care.
In its response, the government said it wanted to create “long-lasting and systemic change” and over the next 12 months will undertake a “critical exploration” to better articulate the strategic purpose of the youth justice centre.
“This is a significant piece of work for government,” it said.
“The review of Bimberi’s model of care will need to be holistic and will therefore take time to complete.”
The ACT Government is also developing the Youth Justice Strategic Plan, a 5-year roadmap aimed at strengthening the youth justice system.
New whistleblower protections for people in prison have passed the Tasmanian lower house.
The legislation, put forward by the state Greens, aims to ensure that people in prison who report an issue are protected from reprisal.
It comes after the Tasmanian Custodial Inspector raised concerns that whistleblowers in prison are fearful of reprisal and called for legislated protections.
“With Tasmania’s corrections system in crisis, now more than ever we need people to speak out about what’s happening inside our prisons,” Greens MP Cecily Rosol said.
“Whistleblowers provide invaluable insights into the state of Tasmania’s corrections system, where overcrowding, excessive lockdowns and barriers to rehabilitation have all been reported.”
The Tasmanian prison watchdog has recommended people in prison be given the option to voluntarily remain in custody overnight after their release if they cannot find transport in the community.
In a new report, the Custodial Inspector raised concerns about people in prison in the state sometimes being released after business hours without their personal items or money, due to an unexpected release decision by the court.
For those living in Tasmania’s north or north-west, there may not be public transport options, and, if someone can’t find a friend or family member “who can drop everything and pick them up or money to pay for private transport, the prospect of sleeping rough is real”.
The Inspector found “regular and positive examples” of prison staff “going above and beyond” in these situations, such as by working later to facilitate the release of property or finances, waiting with someone in the dark until they were picked up and trying to find last-minute crisis accommodation.
But “relying on goodwill is not a long-term solution to this problem”.
The Inspector recommended that the Tasmanian Government make a legislative change to allow people in prison to voluntarily stay another night. The report acknowledges that for most people this would be “repugnant” but “for those with no option [it] would likely be welcomed”.
This would allow someone to voluntarily request to stay overnight in prison after their release date if there is a sufficient reason to do so, such as a lack of transport.
New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia allow for people in prison to request to stay up to an extra four days after their release date. The person in custody must request this or consent to it happening.
A 30-year-old First Nations man has died at Hakea Prison.
WA Corrective Services said that prison staff had provided first aid to the man before paramedics arrived and that “preliminary reports indicate that there were no suspicious circumstances” involved in his death.
A report will now be prepared for the coroner.
This is the 25th First Nations death in custody this year and the 77th death in custody overall.
The WA prison inspector recently said the conditions at Hakea were “entirely unacceptable” and were in breach of international human rights.
In early October a district judge described the conditions at the prison as “dangerously unstable”, with “severe overcrowding” leading to “cramped, unhygienic and undignified conditions”.
The NSW Government has moved to lower the level of proof needed to prove misconduct by inmates in prison.
Under legislation introduced to the state parliament, the burden of proof for prison offences will be changed to “satisfied on the balance of probabilities”, rather than “beyond reasonable doubt”, as is currently required.
NSW Minister for Corrections Anoulack Chanthivong said this was being done to “better protect Corrective Services NSW staff and the community”.
“The government has the shared goal with the union of making sure correctional centres are the safest environment possible for staff,” Chanthivong said.
“We are introducing this legislation as a way to best meet this shared goal. These changes come after many months of consultation and engagement on a revised inmate misconduct system between Corrective Services NSW and the Public Service Association.”
Investigations into criminal conduct in prisons will still be dealt with by NSW Police according to the criminal standard of proof.
Police officers in NSW now have the power to monitor the phones of some domestic violence offenders under a scheme beginning at the start of October.
Under the serious domestic abuse prevention order (SDAPO) scheme, courts will be able to issue the new type of protection order against domestic violence offenders.
The orders will allow police to access the phone login details of the offender and to download its contents in real time. An offender can also be ordered to tell the police if they open a dating app profile or enter into a new relationship, under such an order.
NSW Police and prosecutors can apply for such an order to be imposed on someone charged with a “serious domestic violence offence”, and they can be applied whether the person has been tried, acquitted or had their conviction squashed or set aside.
An order lasts for up to 5 years, and a 7-year prison sentence and $33,000 fine can be imposed if it is breached.
The NSW Government has invested $9.3 million into the new SDAPO scheme.
A man has been arrested after he allegedly tried to fly contraband attached to a drone into the ACT’s prison.
The 22-year-old was spotted allegedly flying a drone near the perimeter fence of the Alexander Maconochie Centre in late September and was arrested shortly after.
According to ACT Police, the drone was found with an attached drink container that had a smart watch, SIM card, drugs and nicotine patches inside it. A second item attached to the drone also had drugs, USB memory sticks and nicotine patches, police said.
Ten months after it was handed a report into the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, the ACT government has responded to its recommendations.
The territory government has accepted or noted 14 of the 15 recommendations made by the ACT Custodial Inspector, including to define the purpose of the centre and its model of care.
In its response, the government said it wanted to create “long-lasting and systemic change” and over the next 12 months will undertake a “critical exploration” to better articulate the strategic purpose of the youth justice centre.
“This is a significant piece of work for government,” it said.
“The review of Bimberi’s model of care will need to be holistic and will therefore take time to complete.”
The ACT Government is also developing the Youth Justice Strategic Plan, a 5-year roadmap aimed at strengthening the youth justice system.
New whistleblower protections for people in prison have passed the Tasmanian lower house.
The legislation, put forward by the state Greens, aims to ensure that people in prison who report an issue are protected from reprisal.
It comes after the Tasmanian Custodial Inspector raised concerns that whistleblowers in prison are fearful of reprisal and called for legislated protections.
“With Tasmania’s corrections system in crisis, now more than ever we need people to speak out about what’s happening inside our prisons,” Greens MP Cecily Rosol said.
“Whistleblowers provide invaluable insights into the state of Tasmania’s corrections system, where overcrowding, excessive lockdowns and barriers to rehabilitation have all been reported.”
The Tasmanian prison watchdog has recommended people in prison be given the option to voluntarily remain in custody overnight after their release if they cannot find transport in the community.
In a new report, the Custodial Inspector raised concerns about people in prison in the state sometimes being released after business hours without their personal items or money, due to an unexpected release decision by the court.
For those living in Tasmania’s north or north-west, there may not be public transport options, and, if someone can’t find a friend or family member “who can drop everything and pick them up or money to pay for private transport, the prospect of sleeping rough is real”.
The Inspector found “regular and positive examples” of prison staff “going above and beyond” in these situations, such as by working later to facilitate the release of property or finances, waiting with someone in the dark until they were picked up and trying to find last-minute crisis accommodation.
But “relying on goodwill is not a long-term solution to this problem”.
The Inspector recommended that the Tasmanian Government make a legislative change to allow people in prison to voluntarily stay another night. The report acknowledges that for most people this would be “repugnant” but “for those with no option [it] would likely be welcomed”.
This would allow someone to voluntarily request to stay overnight in prison after their release date if there is a sufficient reason to do so, such as a lack of transport.
New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia allow for people in prison to request to stay up to an extra four days after their release date. The person in custody must request this or consent to it happening.
A 30-year-old First Nations man has died at Hakea Prison.
WA Corrective Services said that prison staff had provided first aid to the man before paramedics arrived and that “preliminary reports indicate that there were no suspicious circumstances” involved in his death.
A report will now be prepared for the coroner.
This is the 25th First Nations death in custody this year and the 77th death in custody overall.
The WA prison inspector recently said the conditions at Hakea were “entirely unacceptable” and were in breach of international human rights.
In early October a district judge described the conditions at the prison as “dangerously unstable”, with “severe overcrowding” leading to “cramped, unhygienic and undignified conditions”.
Children in custody in South Australia will “remain at risk” until urgent changes around the use of isolation are implemented, a new report by the Training Centre Visitor has found.
The report focused on the use of isolation at the Adelaide Youth Training Centre and is based on a long-running review of isolation records, contemporaneous logs and operational practices over six months.
Its investigation found a range of issues, including an apparent normalisation of isolation to manage behavior, inconsistencies in the application of thresholds and times when uses of isolation were not properly recorded or justified.
The investigation found that many of these instances may be in breach of state legislation and international conventions.
“The use of isolation as a routine response to complexity, behavioural risk or staffing constraints undermines the rehabilitative intent of youth detention and reflects a failure to meet required standards of care,” SA Training Centre Visitor Shona Reid said in the report.
From April to June last year, there were 176 staff-ordered isolations at the youth prison. In the following three months, there were 215 isolations.
The Training Centre Visitor called on the state government to ensure that all uses of isolation are regulated and conform with human rights standards, mandate improved record keeping and invest in non-punitive de-escalation practices.
A trial has been launched effectively allowing double the amount of time to file a criminal appeal, following concerns that not enough time was being given to complete the needed documents.
Currently, an appeal against a conviction or sentence must be filed within 28 days.
But, under a procedural rule that came into effect at the start of October, a further 28-day extension will be on offer, with no explanation required.
This new rule will apply during a trial period running from October to the end of March next year.
The directive said that lawyers in Victoria had raised concerns about difficulties in completing the necessary documentation before the 28-day deadline closed.
The age of criminal responsibility in Victoria has officially risen to 12 years old.
The Victorian parliament passed legislation last year raising the age from 10 to 12 years old, and this change came into effect from the start of October.
Victoria is now the second Australian jurisdiction to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old, after the ACT increased it to 14 earlier this year.
The Commission for Children and Young People welcomed the change but said the state government should go further and increase the age to 14 years old.
“This is an important step in keeping children and young people out of the criminal justice system, reflecting the evidence about what works to make communities safer,” the commission said.
“However, more needs to be done to ensure lasting impact.”
The NT Government has announced a $2 million, 3-year reform agenda that it said would help people in prison gain useful skills and access employment when they are released.
The industries, skills and employment initiative will aim to “transform time in custody into real pathways to employment – directly tackling the root causes of crime: poor education, lack of skills and long-term unemployment”.
The plan will include a 4-stage, case-managed pathway from custody to community which will include pre-release support, assistance on the day of release and a 12-month workplace mentoring program.
The Territory government will also “modernise” the education provided in prison with improvements to learning, literacy and numeracy and a “revitalised” training partnership that will tie Charles Darwin University to labour demands in the area.
There will also be industry-specific training that leads directly to job placements, and training and work programs for people on bail and those transitioning from remand.
Nine men incarcerated at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre have received sentences after being involved in a riot at the prison early last year.
The men received 8-month sentences after they escaped from their cells in January last year and rioted.
In the sentencing, the judge acknowledged the “harsh” and “oppressive” conditions in the prison at the time and accepted that this “unpleasant” environment led them to escape their cells.
One of the man’s lawyers said that his client had been sharing a dorm with 18 other men at the time, with only four fans between them, and that they had to wear the same clothes for up to six days in a row, “without the ability to change or wash properly”.
The Queensland Government has passed legislation that will allow Queensland Police to issue on-the-spot 12-month Police Protection Directions (PPDs).
Currently, police can only issue a 5-day protection order before they are required to apply to the court for a longer term Domestic Violence Order (DVO).
PPDs will extend this period from five days to 12 months, allowing police to enforce longer restrictions without immediate court involvement.
The Queensland Government has stated that police officers will be able to issue PPDs from 1 January 2026.
A PPD will always prohibit the respondent from committing domestic violence against a namedperson for 12 months. It may also include non-contact conditions and conditions about places where the respondent can and cannot go.
Breaching a PPD will be a criminal offence and can result in a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
The new laws contain rules that the police need to follow when issuing PPDs. People can seek an internal review with the Queensland Police and/or apply to the Magistrates Court for review of a PPD.
The new laws will also roll out GPS tracking for “high-risk domestic violence offenders”. This means that, in some circumstances, a court may make electronic monitoring a condition of a DVO.
The Queensland Government has stated they expect that electronic monitoring will commence for at least 150 “high-risk offenders” by the end of 2025.
PLS does not assist with domestic violence orders or criminal law. If you require legal advice about a PPD in the future, you can contact Legal Aid for free on the Arunta Telephone System by dialing *#04.
Children in custody in South Australia will “remain at risk” until urgent changes around the use of isolation are implemented, a new report by the Training Centre Visitor has found.
The report focused on the use of isolation at the Adelaide Youth Training Centre and is based on a long-running review of isolation records, contemporaneous logs and operational practices over six months.
Its investigation found a range of issues, including an apparent normalisation of isolation to manage behavior, inconsistencies in the application of thresholds and times when uses of isolation were not properly recorded or justified.
The investigation found that many of these instances may be in breach of state legislation and international conventions.
“The use of isolation as a routine response to complexity, behavioural risk or staffing constraints undermines the rehabilitative intent of youth detention and reflects a failure to meet required standards of care,” SA Training Centre Visitor Shona Reid said in the report.
From April to June last year, there were 176 staff-ordered isolations at the youth prison. In the following three months, there were 215 isolations.
The Training Centre Visitor called on the state government to ensure that all uses of isolation are regulated and conform with human rights standards, mandate improved record keeping and invest in non-punitive de-escalation practices.
A trial has been launched effectively allowing double the amount of time to file a criminal appeal, following concerns that not enough time was being given to complete the needed documents.
Currently, an appeal against a conviction or sentence must be filed within 28 days.
But, under a procedural rule that came into effect at the start of October, a further 28-day extension will be on offer, with no explanation required.
This new rule will apply during a trial period running from October to the end of March next year.
The directive said that lawyers in Victoria had raised concerns about difficulties in completing the necessary documentation before the 28-day deadline closed.
The age of criminal responsibility in Victoria has officially risen to 12 years old.
The Victorian parliament passed legislation last year raising the age from 10 to 12 years old, and this change came into effect from the start of October.
Victoria is now the second Australian jurisdiction to increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old, after the ACT increased it to 14 earlier this year.
The Commission for Children and Young People welcomed the change but said the state government should go further and increase the age to 14 years old.
“This is an important step in keeping children and young people out of the criminal justice system, reflecting the evidence about what works to make communities safer,” the commission said.
“However, more needs to be done to ensure lasting impact.”
The NT Government has announced a $2 million, 3-year reform agenda that it said would help people in prison gain useful skills and access employment when they are released.
The industries, skills and employment initiative will aim to “transform time in custody into real pathways to employment – directly tackling the root causes of crime: poor education, lack of skills and long-term unemployment”.
The plan will include a 4-stage, case-managed pathway from custody to community which will include pre-release support, assistance on the day of release and a 12-month workplace mentoring program.
The Territory government will also “modernise” the education provided in prison with improvements to learning, literacy and numeracy and a “revitalised” training partnership that will tie Charles Darwin University to labour demands in the area.
There will also be industry-specific training that leads directly to job placements, and training and work programs for people on bail and those transitioning from remand.
Nine men incarcerated at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre have received sentences after being involved in a riot at the prison early last year.
The men received 8-month sentences after they escaped from their cells in January last year and rioted.
In the sentencing, the judge acknowledged the “harsh” and “oppressive” conditions in the prison at the time and accepted that this “unpleasant” environment led them to escape their cells.
One of the man’s lawyers said that his client had been sharing a dorm with 18 other men at the time, with only four fans between them, and that they had to wear the same clothes for up to six days in a row, “without the ability to change or wash properly”.
The Queensland Government has passed legislation that will allow Queensland Police to issue on-the-spot 12-month Police Protection Directions (PPDs).
Currently, police can only issue a 5-day protection order before they are required to apply to the court for a longer term Domestic Violence Order (DVO).
PPDs will extend this period from five days to 12 months, allowing police to enforce longer restrictions without immediate court involvement.
The Queensland Government has stated that police officers will be able to issue PPDs from 1 January 2026.
A PPD will always prohibit the respondent from committing domestic violence against a namedperson for 12 months. It may also include non-contact conditions and conditions about places where the respondent can and cannot go.
Breaching a PPD will be a criminal offence and can result in a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
The new laws contain rules that the police need to follow when issuing PPDs. People can seek an internal review with the Queensland Police and/or apply to the Magistrates Court for review of a PPD.
The new laws will also roll out GPS tracking for “high-risk domestic violence offenders”. This means that, in some circumstances, a court may make electronic monitoring a condition of a DVO.
The Queensland Government has stated they expect that electronic monitoring will commence for at least 150 “high-risk offenders” by the end of 2025.
PLS does not assist with domestic violence orders or criminal law. If you require legal advice about a PPD in the future, you can contact Legal Aid for free on the Arunta Telephone System by dialing *#04.
This information was provided by Prisoners’ Legal Service, Queensland. It is information only and should not be relied on as legal advice.
Including tough bail laws being introduced in Victoria, the South Australian Government ruling out raising the age of criminal responsibility, a new parole board president appointed in Queensland and more.
The Australian Federal election is coming up. This is about voting for the Prime Minister and other federal politicians. It will be held on 3 May 2025.
“We can’t get information about how a party or candidate’s policies must impact prisoners,” Kelly told About Time. “Prison officers also will not provide us with any information as it is seen as political.”
Prison work differs across the country.
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