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Department of Justice |
The Department for Correctional Services plays an important part of the criminal justice process in South Australia.
| Our vision is: | To rebuild lives affected by crime. |
| Our aim is: | To be recognised as a leader in building a safe, just and fair society where the supervision and rehabilitation of offenders is humane and the rights of victims are respected. |
The operation of both prisons and community corrections is dedicated towards this vision.
Many people in the community feel this Department's role is about - or should be about - punishment. We have no legal power to punish any person unless they offend whilst in our care and custody such as an offence in a prison or breach of a court order being supervised at a Community Corrections Centre.
The imprisonment of a person, or the court order, is the punishment. People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment.
Why is it then prisons exist, apart from removing the offender from the community for a period of time?
Almost every person in our custody will someday be released back into the community. Even people who have been sentenced for murder will generally have a non-parole period set by the court and when this period has expired they may be released. These people will need and use all the facilities that the general community takes for granted. This release is at the discretion of the Parole Board.
It is our responsibility to place these people back into the community with better skills to survive and contribute without resorting to crime, than they had when incarcerated. Prison would serve little use to the community by releasing an offender the same if not worse than they were at the time of imprisonment.
After release, prisoners are going to live somewhere, they are going to buy food and other consumer goods, require services, travel on commuter services and conduct themselves in a whole range of situations that other people take for granted.
Many of these people may have been in prison for so long that changes in the community have happened of which they are totally unaware. By being better educated and having some work skills and ethics they are less likely to re-offend.
It is this Department’s responsibility to prepare them for that.
It costs almost $60,000 of taxpayers funds to keep one prisoner in prison each year.
There are more than 1300 staff in this Department who are employed in a wide variety of fields from custodial officers, to teachers, social workers, psychologists and supervisors of court orders working in 16 community correctional centres and nine prisons across the State plus the central administrative office of the Department.
We also have people who advise the courts on matters prior to sentencing, intensive bail supervision (sometimes referred to as Home Detention bail) or bail and our operations are assisted by a large number of volunteers who provide a wide variety of help to prisoners, their families and staff.
A close working relationship is maintained with the Minister for Correctional Services and the Minister’s staff so that the policies of the Government of the day are implemented by the Department.
It is also important for Corrections to maintain close liaison with other Departments operating within the criminal justice judicial system, including the police (SAPOL), courts, Department for Family and Youth Services, Attorney General's Department, Department of State Aboriginal Affairs and the Parole Board and various Commonwealth Aboriginal agencies.
Just like all large businesses, we have an organisational structure of responsibilities. Our direction for the next few years is outlined in our Strategic Plan and our basic corporate structure can be viewed by following these links:
Business Plan · View the DCS Organisational Chart
The Department is also committed to providing a safe workplace for its staff that will also be reflected in providing safe, secure and humane accommodation for people in our custody and those who attend these workplaces on court orders.
To meet this obligation the Department has formulated a detailed Occupational Health, Welfare and Safety Plan that was completed with consultation of all stakeholders of the Department.
To view this plan, click here.
The Department has its branches and sections with their individual responsibilities which report to senior officers.
Some functions of these branches are self explanatory, such as financial and
physical resources. However, the operational fields of the Department are divided
into two main sections Custodial Services and Community Correctional Services.
This directorship, reporting to the Chief Executive, has responsibility for all South Australian prisons - Adelaide Remand Centre, Adelaide Women's Prison, Adelaide Pre-Release Centre, Yatala Labour Prison, Port Lincoln Prison, Port Augusta Prison, Cadell Training Centre, Mobilong Prison and Mount Gambier Prison which is privately managed by Group 4.
Some 5000 people annually pass through our prison system and on any given day an average of about 1300 people are in prisons. The prison system has a total capacity of almost 1630 men and women.
There are five security ratings for prisoners - High 1 and 2 (with 1 being the highest), Medium, Low 1 and 2 (with 2 being the lowest). Of the prison population about 0.1% are classified as High 1, 15.5% as High 2, 40.3% as medium, 36.4% as low 1 and 7.7% as low 2.
In the latest financial year ( 2001/2002) there was only three escapes from a prison facility in SA. There were no escapes from secure facilities. This compares with some 35 in the mid nineties.
Despite community perception, most prisoners spend less than three months in custody. Similarly about 70% of all people remanded in custody by the courts do not receive a custodial sentence for the offence on which they are charged.
Who do our prisons deal with?
Based on studies here and elsewhere in Australia, it is assumed that of the male prisoner population of South Australia:
For women prisoners their profile is:
While these figures do not absolve prisoners from accountability and responsibility, they do suggest that underlying issues which have contributed to them coming into contact with the justice system need to be considered in our practice and planning.
Running through the profile of prisoners is the fact that many have problems associated with illicit drugs, both narcotics and prescribed medications. This general problem within the community is reflected in the prison system.
In our attempts to control the trade in drugs into prisons, the Department established the Intelligence and Investigations Unit that now operates in all prisons. Officers collect a wide range of information across the Department and from outside sources that assists in the detection and prevention or prosecution of criminal behaviour within the offender population of the Department.
A main focus of this unit is the detection and prevention of drug trafficking in prisons.
In the first two years of operation, following information gathered by this unit, almost 100 visitors to our prisoners have been charged by police with serious criminal offences regarding drug trafficking .
A further 115 have been banned from visiting prisoners, while information about criminal activity outside the prison system has also been passed to police, resulting in criminal charges.
Corrections regularly publicises these detections in the media as a warning
to people contemplating such ventures.
The Community Corrections Division, under a director reporting to the Chief Executive, ensures the overall responsibility of our Community Corrections operations that includes Probation, Parole, Bail, Home Detention and Community Service.
Community Corrections officers carry out orders issued on offenders by either the courts or Parole Board.
There are 16 community Correctional Centres scattered across the state that is divided into five regions: Southern Metropolitan, Western Metropolitan; Northern Metropolitan; Southern Country and Northern Country. All regions are managed by a Regional Manager, responsible to the Director.
Our Community Correctional Centres are located at Adelaide City, Berri, Ceduna, Coober Pedy, Elizabeth, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, Marla, Noarlunga, Holden Hill, Port Adelaide, Port Augusta, Port Lincoln, Port Pirie, Clarence Gardens and Whyalla.
Staff based at these centres supervise some 10,000 offenders annually who are subject to in excess of 20,000 orders.
Running through operations of both the Custodial and Community Corrections fields is our dedication to Restorative Justice.
This term refers to our work with offenders to initiate projects by them that will be of benefit to the community. For example the people of South Australia benefit from the work by prisoners in Mobile Outback Work Camps (MOWCamps) conducted in national parks; prisoners are sent to Troubridge and Althorpe Islands to perform valuable environmental work; community service offenders work in the Flinders Ranges improving tourist facilities and others contribute to a wide variety of community projects.
This in some way offsets the damage done to the community by offending behaviour.
We call that Restorative Justice.
The Parole Board is a statutory body in its own right but it is highly practicable for the Department to have a close liaison role with the board to assist in the day to day and long term management and development of prisoners.
Corrections is such a complex part of government that it is wise for administrators to keep a close watch on the direction the Department should take.
The Strategic Services Division is responsible for the Department’s policy development and implementation, strategic planning, co-ordination of programs, organisation development, information and performance measurement systems and its information systems.
Part of the information the Department holds is in the JUSTICE INFORMATION SYSTEM, a secure data bank that retains a vast amount of information on offenders that can be available to a variety of agencies including corrections, police, family and community services and motor vehicle registry.
The Business and Performance Services Branch is to ensure that the Department effectively identifies, implements, and monitors corporate performance and accountability through integrated strategic and business planning, contract and service agreement management, information analysis, performance evaluation and reporting, and quality management.
This is achieved by:
The Knowledge & Information Systems Branch (KISB) is responsible for:
The Department is a Registered Training Organisation and its education and training arm, Vocational Training and Education Centres of SA (VTEC-SA), is represented in all prisons and some Community Correctional Centres in South Australia. The RTO business activities relate to competency based training arising from registered training packages for which DCS holds a licence to deliver and assess.
The RTO ensures that prisoner and offender education and training are maintained to agreed measures and targets and monitors performance in the provision of competency based training and assessment to staff across the department.
Aboriginal offenders require special attention in any correctional system because of their culture and high level of representation (which is about 17% of the prisoner population in South Australia). In the South Australian system, Aboriginal offenders come from urban backgrounds and traditional lands in the far north and western areas of the State. The Aboriginal Services Unit develops and implements policies and practices applicable for managing these offenders and liasing with key advocacy groups.
The Department employs Aboriginal Liaison Officers who work in prisons and are responsible for assisting and advising Aboriginal prisoners.
In October 2001, the Department firmly established its commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal people with the signing of a Declaration of Reconciliation. This historical document is now located throughout the Department and details how we will reconcile with Aboriginal people.
The Department's Aboriginal Services Unit has published an Information Booklet that will be invaluable for people who come in contact with the South Australian justice system.
The booklet details a large number of organisations that offer services to Aboriginal people who may need assistance before, during or after coming in contact with the justice system.
The booklet is available through departmental offices, various justice agencies or by clicking here.
Policy and Legislation
The Policy and Legislation Unit is responsible for the facilitation of the Policy and Procedures Structure. This link contains policies and procedures that can be made public.
This enables the Department to express its business unit requirements or Key Result Areas (KRA’s) through a structure that delegates authority, to the appropriate operational level.
The unit is also responsible for the management of the Department’s Freedom of Information responsibilities and provides consulting advice on legislative and policy matters, to help steer strategic direction.
The Department seeks to provide positive rehabilitation outcomes for both prisoners and offenders and the community that are fair, cost effective and equitable. Therefore, in seeking to reduce the incidence of re-offending, a dynamic approach which is fully informed and based on sound theoretical knowledge is required.
Offence specific programs (Departmental prisoner and offender development programs) in conjunction with offence related programs (employment, vocational education and training, health and nutrition and life and social skills) contribute to rehabilitation and reduction in re-offending behaviour.
Case Management is a dynamic and culturally appropriate approach to the management and rehabilitation of prisoners and offenders, from their initial to final contact with the Department. It is based on the assessment, development and implementation of case plans specific to the needs of each individual.
The Department currently delivers programs based upon the principles of adult learning which reflect the most frequently identified criminogenic needs in 6 key areas:
The Prisoner & Offender Development Programs 2002 document describes these programs in more detail.
The Department recognises that victims of offenders who are sent to its care and custody, may wish to be informed of some developments the offender undergoes during his or her contact with us.
For this reason, the Department has a Victims Register maintained by the Victims Services Unit located at Central Office.
People who have been victims of crime can register to be included and then they are entitled to know certain developments in relation to the offender's custody.
The information that can be provided includes:
When a prisoner reaches a Low Security classification they become eligible for certain programs that can see them permitted to move about the community under certain strict conditions for specific purposes.
For instance, to assist with resocialization of the prisoner, it is essential they move back into the workforce, they may need extra education to do this and it is important they begin a process of fitting back into their family group again.
Low Security prisoners can be granted accompanied (with an officer) or unaccompanied leave to attend such places where they work, receive education or attend family groups for short periods.
There are occasions when prisoners are granted emergency leave to attend an event such as the funeral of a close relative. In such cases it may not always be possible for the Unit to contact victims.
This is all about preparing them for a return to society which is ordered by the courts. Remember almost all prisoners will someday be released into the community and it is our job to do that with the least risks as possible.
If a prisoner is granted leave for these programs, registered victims will be informed. Officials will also discuss with the victim any conditions or restrictions that may need to be applied. This information helps us to do the job better.
To have your name placed on the Victims Register, you can contact the Victims Support Unit of the Department on (08) 8226 9000 or write to GPO Box 1747 Adelaide 5001.
Only the Victims Support Unit and the Parole Board of SA will have access to your details.
Before a listing is made, the police will be contacted for details of the offence.
For further information you may like to contact the Attorney General's Department.
The Department recognises that the Complaint Management System is critical to providing better service. When a problem in a system, process or procedure is exposed the Department seeks to take whatever action is necessary to correct the problem.
The Department for Correctional Service’s Complaints Management System involves is a staged process of intervention, whereby it is encouraged that the complaint be dealt with initially at the local business unit level.
However, where the complaint has system wide implications or cannot be resolved at the local business unit level, the complaint is to be referred to the Customer Support Unit, Central Office.
A vast amount of intellectual property is held by the Department.
Not only is there data on offending and criminogenic patterns, but those in prison and attending community correctional facilities also present opportunities for research.
Information, whether it be hard data or simply knowledge, is available for research, under certain conditions, and this research can be highly valuable to corrections here and indeed worldwide.
Rather than to permit research within the Department on an ad hoc basis, the process has now been formalised to ensure that each project is not only ethical, genuine and conducted as scientifically as possible, but it is also of some value to Corrections.
Details of how research can be conducted are now available through this site.
If you are interested, our Research Handbook and research Agenda are both available.
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Department of Justice |
