The ACT Government says it is committed to reducing recidivism by providing meaningful reintegration opportunities for prison detainees to help them successfully return to the community. So why, a prisoner’s ex-partner wants to know, is it so difficult to get into the Alexander Maconochie Centre‘s Transitional Release Program?

The TRP is the AMC’s rehabilitation program, designed to train detainees, help them find a job on release, and earn income while on custody to discharge debt and save money. ‘Mary’ (not her real name) said it sounds like a fantastic program: it lets prisoners work in the community, gives them a safe place at night, routine, and somebody to check over them.

The problem is that the Transitional Release Centre has been vacant for months. “It seems to be almost impossible to be accepted into the program,” Mary said. According to her, many detainees don’t even bother applying for it anymore. “Which begs the question: How interested are we in helping prisoners to transition?”

Last year, the government said, the TRP helped 12 prisoners – nine men, three women – to reintegrate into the community, with supports and services such as establishing bank accounts and accessing Medicare cards and identification.

In the same year, more than 500 detainees were released on remand, and 336 released when their sentences ended.

Prisoners can apply for the TRP 12 months before their release. The Corrections Management (Transitional Release Program) Policy 2020 states that prisoners are eligible to apply if they have a minimum security classification, standard or enhanced privileges, have tested drugs-free for six months, and their record is clean of administrative penalties and disciplinary breaches for six months. They must also have finalised all criminal legal matters, and not being held by immigration or going to be extradited to another jurisdiction.

Mary’s friend will be released early next year; his behaviour, she said, has been outstanding, and he is on the minimum security classification. His two sponsors (neither with a criminal record) have sent in police checks, but Mary said they are still waiting for a response. The prisoner is frustrated and feeling down.

“He’s losing hope,” Mary said. “He’s afraid he will be released without being able to sort it all out beforehand and ease back into [everyday life]. He wants to do the right thing, and he doesn’t want to go back into prison.

“Why can nobody get in there when many prisoners would be eligible?”

The ACT Government told Canberra Daily it was “actively reviewing the Transitional Release Program with a view to revising practices and policies to enable more detainees to access it”.

The Government has announced it will build a Reintegration Centre at the AMC, expanding the TRC. The new building would provide accommodation for 80 low-risk detainees and support to improve living skills, re-establish connections with family and friends, and provide employment, rehabilitation, and education opportunities. $35 million was allocated in the 2019–20 Budget. Work was originally meant to begin last year, and be completed by 2022.

The ACT Government was considering a range of options related to accommodation priorities at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, a spokesperson said.

Canberra Liberals MLA Elizabeth Kikkert, Shadow Minister for Corrections, accused the Government of failing to rehabilitate detainees.

“The fact that there is a facility for transitional release sitting nearly empty, paired with unclear and incomplete policies for how to get there, is a clear example of how the ACT Government is failing to rehabilitate detainees.”

In 2019, the Inspector of Correctional Services stated that the TRC was not operating at full capacity, which the Inspector thought raised concerns about the viability of the planned Reintegration Centre. The TRC was not open to women, and women struggled to be accepted into the TRP.

The Transitional Release Procedure was restricted (not available to detainees), which the Inspector argued was a breach of the Corrections Management Act.

“Detainees and their support networks are unaware if there are timeframes around when they should have received a response to their application for transitional release and if there are criteria that they need to meet.” And again: “It is unacceptable for this procedure to be withheld from detainees, effectively preventing them from knowing about key services and programs and their eligibility for them.”

A new version of the Operating Procedure came into effect last year. The 2017 Transitional Release Procedure was part of a wider procedure framework and was repealed in 2020 when the new policy and operating procedures were notified, a government spokesperson said.

In February 2021, Mrs Kikkert noted, detainees described the TRC as a joke and said that there was no clear pathway to get there. “They are right.”

A reading of the Corrections Management (Transitional Release Program) Policy 2020, Mrs Kikkert continued, reveals that a detainee must meet a certain privilege level as detailed in the Incentives and Earned Privileges Policy. “This policy hasn’t even been published yet, despite the Government claiming they would have it implemented by 30 June 2020.”

The Incentives and Earned Privileges Policy had yet to be finalised, a government spokesperson acknowledged.

Conditions at AMC

“This is probably the worst time to be in prison,” Mary said. Due to COVID restrictions, she claimed, prisoners can only see their families at a three-metre distance (no physical contact for more than a year), and only one visitor has been allowed at a time.

“They don’t just punish the people that are in there; they also punish their family, their partners,” she said.

According to Mary, many people had stopped visiting detainees in prison; it was harder to sit three metres apart than to not go at all and talk by phone.

“I don’t want to know how many relationships that has broken up,” Mary said. “We are strong people; it broke us. I can only imagine how hard it would be for parents who see their children in there. They cannot hug their son.”

A three-metre distance was not justified by the guidelines, Mary said. (In fact, the Government states it enforces physical distancing of 1.5m, with no physical contact permitted between visitors and detainees, including children.)

Mary said it was easier for the prison if visitors had no physical contact with detainees, but this disregarded their wellbeing.

“It could be done with more compassion, which is lacking completely.”

An ACT Government spokesperson stated that social visits at the AMC resumed on 9 September 2020. From Wednesday 30 June, visits will increase from seven detainees per session to 11; and each detainee will be allowed a maximum of four visitors, with no more than three adults per visit. These visits will still be limited to immediate family only.

The AMC was also dirty, Mary alleged. “Nothing’s been cleaned.” The toilets were appalling; there was no hand sanitiser. The chairs were not wiped; Mary had found other people’s hairs on them. “Yet visitors cannot hug their loved ones.”

The Government spokesperson said that in early 2020, sanitation stations were placed at the entrance to all buildings; cleaning regimes were established in all areas, including detainee phones, visits iPads and work surfaces; and staff facilities were cleaned as they are used. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the toilets in the visits area were not in use for visitors.

Visits will remain COVID safe, and visitation access may change depending on the COVID situation to keep people safe.