8     Corrective services - annual report 2017 - Productivity Commission

Attachment tables

Attachment tables are identified in references throughout this chapter by a ‘8A’ prefix (for example, table 8A.1) and are available from the website (www.pc.gov.au/rogs/2018).

Figure 8.1      Imprisonment rates, total prisonersa

a See table 8A.5 for detailed footnotes and caveats.

Source: ABS (unpublished) Australian Demographic Statistics, as at December of each year,
       Cat. no. 3101.0; State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.5.

Figure 8.2      Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‑Indigenous age standardised imprisonment rates, 2016‑17a

a  See table 8A.5 for detailed footnotes and caveats.

Source: ABS (unpublished) Australian Demographic Statistics, Cat. no. 3101.0; ABS (unpublished) Experimental Estimates and Projections, Indigenous Australians (series B), Cat. no. 3238.0; State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.5.

Figure 8.3      Community corrections rates, total offendersa

a See table 8A.5 for detailed footnotes and caveats.

Source: ABS (unpublished) Australian Demographic Statistics, as at December of each year, Cat. no. 3101.0; State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.5.

Figure 8.4      Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‑Indigenous age standardised community corrections rates, 2016‑17a

a  See table 8A.5 for detailed footnotes and caveats.

Source: ABS (unpublished) Australian Demographic Statistics, Cat. no. 3101.0; ABS (unpublished) Experimental Estimates and Projections, Indigenous Australians (series B), Cat. no. 3238.0; State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.5.

Box 8.1           Objectives for corrective services

Corrective services aim to contribute to the protection and creation of safer communities through the effective management of offenders and prisoners, commensurate with their needs and the risks they pose to the community, by providing:

·       a safe, secure and humane custodial environment

·       appropriate management of community corrections orders

·       programs and services that address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law abiding way of life.

Governments aim for corrective services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

Figure 8.5      Corrective services performance indicator framework

Box 8.2           Prisoner employment by Indigenous status

‘Prisoner employment by Indigenous status’ measures the participation of eligible prisoners in employment opportunities that develop their work skills and qualifications and assist them to obtain employment after release from custody, disaggregated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous prisoners.

Similar levels of employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous prisoners indicates equity of access to prisoner employment.

Data are not yet available for reporting against this indicator.

Box 8.3           Offence related programs

‘Offence related programs’ measures the delivery of programs to prisoners and offenders by corrective services that target specific factors related to their risk of re-offending.

Data are not yet available for reporting against this indicator.

Box 8.4           Education and training

‘Education and training’ is defined as the number of prisoners participating in one or more accredited education and training courses under the Australian Qualifications Framework, as a percentage of those eligible to participate (that is, excluding those unable to participate for reasons of ill health, relatively short period of imprisonment or other reason). These data do not include participation in non‑accredited education and training programs or a range of offence related programs that are provided in prisons, such as drug and alcohol programs, psychological programs, psychological counselling and personal development courses.

High or increasing education and training participation rates of prisoners are desirable. The rates reported for this indicator should be interpreted with caution as the indicator does not assess participation relative to individual prisoner needs, or measure successful program completion.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Figure 8.6      Percentage of eligible prisoners in education and training, 2016‑17a

a See box 8.4 and table 8A.10 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.10.

‘Employment’ is defined as the number of prisoners employed as a percentage of those eligible to work (that is, excluding those unable to participate in work programs because of full‑time education and/or training, ill health, age, relatively short period of imprisonment or other reason).

High or increasing percentages of prisoners in employment are desirable, as addressing the limited vocational skills and poor employment history of some prisoners has been identified as a key contributor to decreasing the risk of re‑offending.

This indicator should be interpreted with caution because of factors outside the control of corrective services, such as local economic conditions, which affect the capacity to attract commercially viable prison industries, particularly where prisons are remote from large population centres.

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Box 8.5           (continued)

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Figure 8.7      Percentage of eligible prisoners employed, 2016‑17a

a See box 8.5 and table 8A.11 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.11.

Box 8.6           Time out‑of‑cells

‘Time out‑of‑cells’ is defined as the average number of hours in a 24‑hour period that prisoners are not confined to their cells or units. The periods during which prisoners are not confined to their cells or units provides them with the opportunity to participate in a range of activities that may include work, education and training, wellbeing, recreation and treatment programs, the opportunity to receive visits, and interacting with other prisoners and staff.

A relatively high or increasing average time out‑of‑cells per day is desirable. Prison systems with higher proportions of prisoners who need to be accommodated in more secure facilities because of the potentially greater risk that they pose to the community are more likely to report relatively lower time out‑of‑cells.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Figure 8.8      Time out‑of‑cells (average hours per day), 2016‑17a

a See box 8.6 and table 8A.12 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.12.

Box 8.7           Community work

‘Community work’ measures corrective services management of the requirements for offenders to perform unpaid community work.

This indicator was reported against in previous years but, as part of work to improve proxy measures, is undergoing conceptual redevelopment and definition.

Data are not yet available for reporting against this indicator.

Box 8.8           Prison utilisation

‘Prison utilisation’ reflects the extent to which prison design capacity meets demand for prison accommodation. It is defined as the annual daily average prisoner population as a percentage of the number of single occupancy cells and designated beds in shared occupancy cells provided for in the design capacity of the prisons.

It is generally accepted that prisons require spare capacity to cater for the transfer of prisoners, special‑purpose accommodation such as protection units, separate facilities for males and females and different security levels, and to manage short‑term fluctuations in prisoner numbers. Therefore percentages close to but not exceeding 100 per cent are desirable.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       not complete for the current reporting period. Data for 2016‑17 were not provided by Victoria or SA.

Figure 8.9      Prison design capacity utilisation, 2016‑17a, b

a Data are not provided by Victoria and SA. b See box 8.8 and table 8A.13 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.13.

Box 8.9           Apparent unnatural deaths

‘Apparent unnatural deaths’ is defined as the number of deaths, divided by the annual average prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (to give the rate per 100 prisoners), where the likely cause of death is suicide, drug overdose, accidental injury or homicide.

Zero, low or decreasing rates of apparent unnatural deaths are desirable. The rates for this indicator should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction, but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population can represent only a very small number of deaths.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

a See box 8.9 and tables 8A.14 and 8A.15 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats. – Nil or rounded to zero.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.15.

‘Assaults in custody’ is defined as the number of victims of acts of physical violence committed by a prisoner that resulted in physical injuries reported over the year, divided by the annual daily average prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (to give the rate per 100 prisoners). Rates are reported for two measures:

·       assaults against another prisoner by seriousness of impact

·       assaults against a member of staff by seriousness of impact.

‘Assaults’ refer to acts of physical violence resulting in a physical injury but not requiring overnight hospitalisation or on‑going medical treatment. ‘Serious assaults’ refer to acts of physical violence resulting in injuries that require treatment involving overnight hospitalisation in a medical facility or ongoing medical treatment, as well as all sexual assaults.

Zero, low or decreasing rates of assaults in custody are desirable. The rates reported for this indicator should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction, but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger prisoner populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population may represent only a very small number of actual incidents.

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Box 8.10         (continued)

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable over time but not directly comparable across jurisdictions due to different reporting practices and variation in service delivery arrangements for delivering prisoner health care, whereby not all jurisdictions have access to the medical information needed to accurately classify incidents into the assault categories used in this indicator

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Table 8.2        Rate of prisoner assaults, 2016‑17a

a See box 8.10 and table 8A.16 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats. – Nil or rounded to zero.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.16.

‘Cost per prisoner/offender’ is defined as the average daily cost of providing corrective services per prisoner and per offender, reported separately for net operating expenditure and for capital costs per prisoner and offender and for secure and open custody for prisoners.

A low or decreasing cost is desirable in achieving efficient resource management. Efficiency indicators are difficult to interpret in isolation and should be considered in conjunction with effectiveness indicators. A low cost per prisoner, for example, can reflect less emphasis on providing prisoner programs to address the risk of re‑offending.

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Box 8.11         (continued)

Factors that can affect the results for this indicator include: the composition of the prisoner population requiring different accommodation and/or management; the size and dispersion of the geographic area across which services are delivered; the potential (or lack of) for economies of scale; and, the impact of the wider criminal justice system policies and practices.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Figure 8.10    Recurrent expenditure per prisoner per day, 2016‑17a

a See box 8.11 and table 8A.17 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.17.

Figure 8.11    Real net operating expenditure per prisoner per day
(2016‑17 dollars)a

a See box 8.11 and table 8A.18 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.18.

Figure 8.12    Real net operating expenditure per offender per day
(2016‑17 dollars)a

a See box 8.11 and table 8A.18 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.18.

Box 8.12         Completion of community orders

‘Completion of community orders’ is defined as the percentage of community corrections orders completed during the year that were not breached for failure to meet the order requirements or because further offences were committed. Order requirements may involve restrictions on the offender’s liberty (as with home detention), a requirement to undertake community work or other specified activity (such as a drug or alcohol program), regularly attending a community corrections centre as part of supervision requirements, or other conditions.

High or increasing percentages of order completions are desirable. Completion rates should be interpreted with caution. The indicator is affected by differences in the overall risk profiles of offender populations, and risk assessment and breach procedure policies. High‑risk offenders subject to higher levels of supervision have a greater likelihood of being detected when conditions of orders are breached. High breach rates could therefore be interpreted as a positive outcome reflecting the effectiveness of more intensive offender management. Alternatively, a high completion rate can mean either high compliance or a failure to detect or act on breaches of compliance.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Figure 8.13    Completion of community corrections orders, by type of order, 2016‑17a, b

a Data for restricted movement orders are not applicable to Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT, as these jurisdictions did not have this category of order during the reporting period. b See box 8.12 and table 8A.19 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.19.

Box 8.13         Escapes

‘Escapes’ is defined as the number of escapes divided by the annual average
prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (for a rate per 100 prisoners), and is reported separately for prisoners escaping from secure custody and from open custody.

Zero, low or decreasing rates are desirable. Escape rates should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction, but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population can represent only a very small number of actual incidents.

Data reported for this measure are:

·       comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time

·       complete for the current reporting period (subject to caveats). All required 2016‑17 data are available for all jurisdictions.

Table 8.3        Rate and number of prisoner escapes, 2016‑17a

a See box 8.13 and table 8A.20. – Nil or rounded to zero.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished); table 8A.20.

24‑hour
court cell

Cells located in a court and/or police complex that are administered by corrective services.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

People identifying themselves as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders if they are accepted as such by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community.

Assault

An act of physical violence committed by a prisoner that resulted in physical injuries. An assault is recorded where either:

·   a charge is proved either by a jurisdictional correctional authority, a Governor’s hearing or a court of law, or

·   there is evidence that an assault took place because at least one of the following circumstances apply:

-  there is at least one apparently reliable witness to the assault, or the victim claims assault and there is no obvious reason to doubt this claim, or

-  a visible injury has occurred and there is sufficient circumstantial or other evidence to make an assault the most likely cause of the injury on the basis of the balance of probabilities.

The rate is based on a count of victims of assaults not incidents, that is, an assault by two prisoners on one other prisoner is counted as one assault, whereas a single incident in which one prisoner assaults two other prisoners is counted as two assaults.

Apparent unnatural death

The death of a person who is in corrective services custody (which includes deaths that occur within prisons, during transfer to or from prison, within a medical facility following transfer from prison, or in the custody of corrective services outside a custodial facility):

·       whose death is caused or contributed to by traumatic injuries sustained, or by lack of proper care, while in such custody

·       who dies or is fatally injured in the process of prison officers attempting to detain that person

·       who dies or is fatally injured in the process of that person escaping or attempting to escape from prison custody

·       where there is sufficient evidence to suggest, subject to a Coroner’s finding, that the most likely cause of death is homicide, suicide, an accidental cause or a drug overdose.

Capital costs

Combined depreciation costs, the user cost of capital (calculated as 8 per cent of the value of government land and other assets), and debt servicing fees – financial lease payments incurred by governments as part of contracts for privately owned prisons or prisons built under Public‑Private Partnership arrangements, comparable to the user cost of capital for government owned facilities.

Community
corrections

Community‑based management of court‑ordered sanctions, post‑prison orders and administrative arrangements and fine conversions for offenders, which principally involve one or more of the following requirements: supervision; program participation; or community work.

Community work (offenders)

Unpaid community work (hours) by offenders serving community corrections orders during the counting period.

Escapes

Health expenditure

Expenditure on primary, secondary and tertiary health services for prisoners incurred either directly by corrective services or indirectly by other departments, agencies or service providers on behalf of Corrective Services.

Home detention

A corrective services program requiring offenders to be subject to supervision and monitoring by an authorised corrective services officer while confined to their place of residence or a place other than a prison.

Imprisonment rate

The annual average number of prisoners per 100 000 population aged 17 years or over in those jurisdictions where persons are remanded or sentenced to adult custody at 17 years of age, or 18 years or over in those jurisdictions where the age for adult custody is 18 years old.

Net operating expenditure per prisoner/offender

The daily cost of managing a prisoner/offender, based on operating expenditure net of operating revenues (see definitions below) divided by (i) the number of days spent in prison or detention by the daily average prisoner population and the daily average periodic detention population on a 2/7th basis or (ii) the number of days spent under community corrections supervision by the daily average community corrections population respectively.

Offender

An adult person subject to a non-custodial order administered by corrective services, which includes bail orders if those orders are subject to supervision by community corrections.

Open prison

A custodial facility where the regime for managing prisoners does not require them to be confined by a secure perimeter physical barrier, irrespective of whether a physical barrier exists.

Operating expenditure

Expenditure of an ongoing nature incurred by government in the delivery of corrective services, including salaries and expenses in the nature of salary, other operating expenses incurred directly by corrective services, grants and subsidies to external organisations for the delivery of services, and expenses for corporate support functions allocated to corrective services by a broader central department or by a ‘shared services agency’, but excluding payroll tax and excluding prisoner health and transport/escort costs where able to be disaggregated by jurisdictions. Net operating expenditure also excludes operating revenues.

Operating revenues

Revenue from ordinary activities undertaken by corrective services, such as prison industries.

Prison

A legally proclaimed prison or remand centre for adult prisoners.

Prisoner

A person held in full time custody under the jurisdiction of an adult corrective services agency. This includes sentenced prisoners serving a term of imprisonment and unsentenced prisoners held on remand.

Private prison

A government or privately owned prison (see prison) managed under contract by a private sector organisation.

Recurrent expenditure

The combined total of net operating expenditure (i.e. operating expenditure excluding operating revenues) and capital costs (see previous definitions).

Reparation order

A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders with a community service bond/order or fine option that requires them to undertake unpaid work.

Restricted
movement order

A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders that limits the person’s liberty to their place of residence unless authorised by corrective services to be absent for a specific purpose, for example, Home Detention Orders.

Secure prison

A custodial facility where the regime for managing prisoners requires them to be confined by a secure perimeter physical barrier.

Supervision order

A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders that includes a range of conditions other than those categorised as restricted movement or reparation.

Transitional Centres

Transitional Centres are residential facilities administered by corrective services where prisoners are prepared for release towards the end of their sentences.

Transport and escort services

Services used to transport prisoners between prisons or to/from external locations (for example, court), whether by corrective services officers or external contractors involved in escorting prisoners as part of the transport arrangements.

User cost of capital

The cost of funds which are tied up in government capital used to deliver services and identifies the opportunity cost of this capital (the return forgone by using the funds to deliver services rather than investing them elsewhere or using them to retire debt). User cost of capital is calculated by applying a nominal rate of 8 per cent to the value of government assets.