Jail damage bill soars

THE COST of repairing property damage caused by prisoners at Townsville’s correctional facilities has more than doubled in three years.

The damage in the Townsville Correctional Complex cost a total of $ 86,000 in the 2016- 17 financial year, according to Queensland Corrective Services data. The previous financial year the damage bill was $ 82,000, up from $ 30,000 in the 2014- 15 financial year.

The figures do not include the repair costs for scheduled maintenance or accidental damage.

Corrective Services and Police Minister Mark Ryan said he had been advised by QCS that incidents involving damage to government property and infrastructure with correctional facilities were referred to Queensland Police.

“I am further advised that prisoners who intentionally damage property can be breached by QCS officers or issued a Notice to Appear before the Courts by the Queensland Police Service,” he said.

LNP Corrective Services spokesman Trevor Watts said Queensland taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for damage caused inside overcrowded prisons.

“We have prisons that are bursting at the seams, a youth justice system that has been in crisis for three years and the constant bungling of whether 17- year- old offenders will be in adult prisons or youth detention centres,” he said.

Mr Watts said there must be consequences for any bad behaviour. “The LNP has been raising concerns about prison overcrowding since 2015 and we have seen no action from Labor for the last three years,” he said.

The Bulletin previously revealed one in five prisoners in the Townsville Correctional Complex had no fixed bed due to overcrowding as of April 19.

A spokesman for QSC said the department was undertaking a “range of activities” to alleviate the issue.

Together Union Townsville organiser Norm Jacobsen said overcrowding was having a “severe impact” on incident rates inside both the women’s and men’s facilities.

“The system is in trouble,” Mr Jacobsen said.

Earlier this month staff at the Townsville Correctional Centre went on strike, demanding protective vests fit with body- worn cameras and to be armed with teargas.