Problems at the privately-run Parklea prison

A report has revealed “concerning” rates of incidents and a “deficit” in mental health services at the privately-run Parklea prison in New South Wales.

The multiple billion-dollar contracts the New South Wales government has with private companies to operate prisons need to be independently reviewed following “concerning” revelations about conditions within Parklea prison, the state’s independent inspector says.

The NSW Inspector of Custodial Services tabled its report on Parklea Correctional Centre (CC) last week following inspections of the facility in late 2020.

Parklea prison is run by MTC-Broadspectrum on a $1.4 billion contract running from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2026.

There have been at least three riots at Parklea prison in the last year. Numerous family members of people incarcerated in the facility have raised concerns about difficulties in obtaining basic medication, poor hygiene and a lack of care.

Parklea was also at the centre of a significant Covid-19 outbreak last year. 

‘Simply lacked services’

The Inspector said there is a “disconnect” between what MTC-Broadspectrum is contracted to do at the prison and the company’s “ultimate staff planning and implementation”, and that there is a focus on the set key performance indicators (KPIs) at the expense of service delivery for inmates not included in these measures.

It is one of three privately-run prisons in New South Wales, with the state government signing new contracts for all three in recent years.

A quarter of all inmates in the state are housed in privately run facilities which are costing $230 million annually.

The Inspector of Custodial Services urged the state government to review these contracts to see whether the private companies are performing effectively and achieving value for money.

“With three relatively new management agreements now in place with private operators, accommodating one quarter of the inmate population, we believe it is imperative that the efficiency and value for money or cost effectiveness of these new major performance frameworks be independently reviewed,” the report said.

The inspections revealed a “concerning” number of incidents at Parklea prison, significant deficits in terms of mental health services, safety risks and a lack of transparency.

“Parklea CC inmates simply lacked services, and the centre had not managed to get on top of the large and revolving population,” the Inspector said.

MTC-Broadspectrum’s contract with the NSW government to run Parklea prison includes 25 KPIs and four “charge events”, including an inmate escape and unnatural deaths, the report said.

The company incurred eight charge events from April 2019 to March 2021, with $2.4 million in fines applied. If more than $2 million is accrued in a 12-month period, this amounts to a “default termination event”, the Inspector found.

‘Severely stretched’ mental health services

The Inspector said that there is a “deficit” in mental health services and crisis support for inmates at Parklea prison. It recommended that people with acute mental health needs are not sent to Parklea prison at all as it is “ill-equipped to manage this group”.

Resourcing for mental health services should be increased at Parklea as a priority, the Inspector said.

Mental health resources in the prison are “severely stretched”, with only one onsite psychiatrist, one mental health nurse practitioner and a number of mental health nurses.

“While it is good that there is at least one mental health nurse on duty 24/7, they have no prescribing capacity and this model is likely not sustainable,” the report said. “It is also high risk.

“It does not align with the mental health resources available at other high volume reception and remand facilities.”

There is also only one full-time senior psychologist on staff at the prison.

“Numerous health staff conveyed their view that there was a critical need for more psychological support for distressed people at Parklea CC, but that it was outside the scope of their service delivery,” the Inspector said.