Rebecca Minty has been appointed as the ACT’s new Inspector of Correctional Services.
Ms Minty has served as the Deputy Inspector of Correctional Services since 2018, and begins her five-year term today. She takes over from Neil McAllister, who was appointed on 14 March 2018.
The role of Inspector was established in 2017 to independently oversee adult corrections and youth justice facilities in the ACT. In 2022, the Office of the Inspector was appointed as part of ACT’s National Preventive Mechanism to oversee places of detention under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT).
Ms Minty worked for the Geneva-based Association for the Prevention of Torture on their Asia-Pacific Program from 2012 to 2016. She also worked in Bangkok in 2016 as Human Rights Officer for the UN Office of the Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Ms Minty was a co-founder of theAustralia OPCAT Network, a group of civil society, academics, oversight entities, and individuals interested in Australia’s ratification and implementation of the OPCAT.
Ms Minty holds Masters degrees in Law and International and Area Studies from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. She also has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from the Australian National University.
She was admitted to Practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the ACT in 2007.
Mick Gentleman, ACT Minister for Corrections, welcomed Ms Minty to the role, and thanked Mr McAllister for his significant service to the ACT as the inaugural Inspector during the last five years,
“Neil has paved the way for his successors,” Mr Gentleman said. “He has contributed to the ongoing improvement of correctional centres and services in the ACT, having completed numerous reviews into incidents and issues facing our correctional centres,
“I am very pleased to welcome Rebecca Minty as the ACT’s new Inspector of Correctional Services. Ms Minty brings a wealth of experience to the role as Deputy Inspector of Correctional Services for five years. She also has a strong background in human rights law and policy and detention oversight, both in the ACT and internationally.”
