States pour money into prisons

State governments are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into expanding their prisons following a slight uptick in incarceration rates.

A number of state governments have acknowledged slight rises in prison populations and responded with huge funding for prison expansions, rather than efforts to reduce incarceration rates.

The recent Queensland and South Australia budgets revealed huge new spending on expanding existing prisons and the construction of new ones, with both states acknowledging an increase in their prison populations and an apparent resignation that this will continue into the future.

Queensland’s budget, handed down earlier this month, included major new funding for a growing prison population and the establishment of a new children’s prison.

In the March quarter of this year there were an average of 10,699 people in full-time custody in Queensland, a year-on-year increase of just over 6 percent.

In response, the state government has allocated $270.5 million over five years and $45.7 million in ongoing funding to address the growing prison population.

Queensland will also implement a new Prisoner Fluctuation Funding Model which will allow it to vary the funding provided to custodial services depending on the number of incarcerated people above a prison’s capacity.

The Queensland government has also allocated $30.7 million over three years to “operate increased prison capacity to sustainably manage a growing prisoner population”.

A further $11.3 million over five years will go towards the management of dangerous people in prison at the Wacol precinct in Queensland.

The Queensland government has also moved to transform its Wacol Youth Remand Centre into a children’s prison, not just for those on remand as planned. This will cost an extra $94 million over three years, and is part of an overall $149.2 million funding package for the new facility.

In total, Queensland has allocated $333.6 million over four years and $22.6 million in ongoing funding to support the “safe operation of correctional centres”, and $111.9 million over four years for the construction and operation of new prison cells and facilities.

The recent South Australia budget also included vast new funding for prisons in the state.

This encompassed $200 million over four years to construct 312 new high-security beds at the Yatala Labour Prison, and $21 million over two years to build 40 residential beds at the Adelaide’s Women’s Prison.

The prison population in South Australia has increased by just over 5 percent in the last year, with an average of 3087 people in custody in the March quarter.

A new child’s prison - the Woodford Youth Detention Centre - will be constructed at a cost of $223.8 million and $87.1 million ongoing, with $1 million annually to be provided to the Office of the Public Guardian to support those held at the facility.

The South Australia state government will also move to expand its electronic monitoring program for children, at a cost of $2.3 million in the 2024-25 financial year.

Queensland and South Australia are both outpacing the national average in prison population increases. Overall, the Australian prison population increased by 2 percent in the March quarter, with an average of 43,305 people in custody, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

New South Wales’ prison population has decreased by about 1 percent year-on-year, while Victoria’s has dropped by about 5 percent.

The overall national increase in the last year was driven largely by a more than 14 percent jump in Western Australia.