Ms CARNEY - 2005-08-23
Madam Speaker, it is lovely to see so many visitors in the gallery this week.
Attorney-General, as you are aware, today’s Northern Territory News carried a story about a 19-year-old man being raped by a serial rapist in the same cell as he was. The rapist, according to the report, raped his sister, a woman living in Parap, and a disabled woman. Do you think that it is good practice to house serial rapists in cells with other young inmates? How long have you known about this,? and wWhat did you do, and when, to ensure that it does not happen again?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, that was a very unfortunate incident. It was an operational decision that went seriously wrong in Alice Springs Correctional Centre. The Commissioner for Corrections, Jens Tolstrup, has openly acknowledged that there was an error of judgement in putting those two prisoners together, although, on the face of it, the reasons they made that decision, you would say, would be to seek benefit for the prisoner. The two prisoners were from the same community and related to each other. However, the fact remains, that the outcome was a very terrible one for the 19-year-old.
We will ensure, first of all, that protocols are assessed in terms of decisions about where to house prisoners within our prisons, which we do on an ongoing basis. The commissioner has assured me that they will pay very close attention to those types of factors in making these decisions into the future.
However, it is an operational matter. The member’s question is: - how long have we been aware of it? - well, tThese are daily operational decisions that are made in both of our prisons and in Don Dale. I am not aware, day-to-day, where a prisoner is housed within one of our facilities. Quite properly, I do not intrude into those decisions. They are operational decisions for our prison staff under the overall jurisdiction of the Commissioner for Corrections, Jens Tolstrup.
However, I will certainly ensure that that prisoner is fully aware of their right to seek victims of crime compensation. I will ensure the protocols specifically preclude that type of matching up with prisoners in the future. We will certainly do that through the commissioner.
Attorney-General, as you are aware, today’s Northern Territory News carried a story about a 19-year-old man being raped by a serial rapist in the same cell as he was. The rapist, according to the report, raped his sister, a woman living in Parap, and a disabled woman. Do you think that it is good practice to house serial rapists in cells with other young inmates? How long have you known about this,? and wWhat did you do, and when, to ensure that it does not happen again?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, that was a very unfortunate incident. It was an operational decision that went seriously wrong in Alice Springs Correctional Centre. The Commissioner for Corrections, Jens Tolstrup, has openly acknowledged that there was an error of judgement in putting those two prisoners together, although, on the face of it, the reasons they made that decision, you would say, would be to seek benefit for the prisoner. The two prisoners were from the same community and related to each other. However, the fact remains, that the outcome was a very terrible one for the 19-year-old.
We will ensure, first of all, that protocols are assessed in terms of decisions about where to house prisoners within our prisons, which we do on an ongoing basis. The commissioner has assured me that they will pay very close attention to those types of factors in making these decisions into the future.
However, it is an operational matter. The member’s question is: - how long have we been aware of it? - well, tThese are daily operational decisions that are made in both of our prisons and in Don Dale. I am not aware, day-to-day, where a prisoner is housed within one of our facilities. Quite properly, I do not intrude into those decisions. They are operational decisions for our prison staff under the overall jurisdiction of the Commissioner for Corrections, Jens Tolstrup.
However, I will certainly ensure that that prisoner is fully aware of their right to seek victims of crime compensation. I will ensure the protocols specifically preclude that type of matching up with prisoners in the future. We will certainly do that through the commissioner.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016