Jail for Drones Near Prisons; Less Automatic Parole; Extra Jail Time for Rioting in Jail; and other updates to Prison and Parole Laws

Correctional Services (Accountability and Other Measures) Amendment Bill 2020

1st House

2nd House

Law



Effects of Bill:

This bill being passed means that:

Staff can be compelled to participate in post-incident reviews, sacked, reassigned as the CE sees fit

South Australian Jails will be compliant with UN Convention Against Torture etc rules 1984, which specify inspection requirements, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) which the Australian Government agreed to abide by in 2017

an Official Visitors Scheme will be put in place for aboriginal, mental health etc workers to be visiting prisons and reporting to various groups, or government ministers on conditions etc

from 2nd reading speech: The Parole Board must consider imposing a condition of community service on a prisoner who does not have any employment or study obligations upon the commencement of the parole period.

prisoner mail will be limited in some circumstances so they cannot contact victims, enablers or partners in crime, to protect victims; it will be harder for victim details to be released to prisoners in future

if a prisoner is awarded damages or financial compensation, this will be quarantined so that victims of their own offending may make claims against these funds. If no victims make claims, half of the funds will be credited to the Victims of Crime Fund, with the rest to go towards rehab and reintegration at the end of their jail term.

wiretapped, hacked and monitored communications (email, sms) can now be used in court as evidence etc. This is to bring the laws up to date with current technology

footage from corrections officers' body-worn cameras can now be used as evidence in court cases

Prison Buffer Zones will now be a Thing.This means if you are near a prison, in a Buffer Zone (declared by a government minister and published in the government gazette) and have an Unauthorised phone, or any drugs, on you anywhere... you are in deep trouble.

Prison Buffer Zones will now be a Thing.This means if you are near a prison, in a Buffer Zone (declared by a government minister and published in the government gazette) and have a spare phone, or any drugs, on you anywhere... you are in deep trouble.

prisoners who were convicted of dealing or trafficking drugs no longer automatically get parole, they need to appear before the Parole Board who can consider community safety and whether they participated in programs while they were in prison

Serious offenders who do things like help hide bodies will also no longer get automatic parole, without the Parole Board reviewing their case first

Police, the Commissioner for Victims Rights and the Attorney General all get a say in whether a prisoner who has violated parole and been re-arrested, will get re-released again

The Parole Board will go from 9 people to 11 people

other than the president or deputy president of the parole board, a stand-in can be appointed to be a member of the board temporarily when another member is unable to be there and fill their role

Prisoners can appear before the parole board by video link if appropriate

technical breaches in parole can now mean getting put back in prison for up to 6 months, or being required to stay at a parole hostel if such a thing was set up in future

Flying a drone within 100m of a prison can now carry a $10k fine or 2 years jail time

Cops can confiscate drones that were caught flying near prisons, and sell them, destroy them or do what they like with them

if a court has not authorised the drone to be confiscated, then the person who it was confiscated from can go to court to ask for it back. The court may still decide it was correct that it was confiscated, and tough bickies.

leaking biometric data related to prisoners, visitors or staff (including fingerprints, iris scans, or anything else like that) now carries a $10k fine or 2 years' jail

During prison transfers, or while a prisoner is on leave of absence (such as attending a funeral) under prison officer supervision, staff can use (unspecified) restraints on them, such as handcuffs

prisoners who get together in Unlawful Assembly can get an extra 3 years jail; Prisoners rioting and damaging the prison/ prison property can get up to 15 years; Prisoners escaping or helping others escape get an extra 10 years; prisoners damaging non-jail property can get up to 7 years; just rioting without damaging property gets a 4 year jail extension


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