A compartment in a prisoner escort vehicle:
Corrections is looking at transport conditions and
vehicle standards as part of its tranportation review.
The Corrections Prisoner Escort Project team is working on a series of initiatives to improve the secure, safe and humane escort of prisoners.
The project team is managing the implementation of the recommendations from the Inspector’s and Ombudsmen’s reports into prisoner transportation.
Below is a round-up of some of the key pieces of work currently being done by the project team.
Review of prisoner escort manual
A comprehensive review of the prisoner escorts business process has been completed. Consultation to finalise the process design is being done and planning for the deployment of the new process is underway.
The new process includes tools to help staff with decision-making about processes and procedures around escorts and the separation of prisoners. These tools will be rolled out in August.
A key part of the new process is the changes that are being made to the Department’s offender management system (IOMS) so that staff have access to the data they need to make decisions about the separation of prisoners. We expect to start rolling out the new system between October and January next year. Full training will be provided to all relevant staff.
Waist restraints
The use of waist restraints during escorts has been identified as an effective tool for improving the safety and security of prisoners. Waist restraints involve the prisoner’s hands being cuffed to a belt worn around their waist.
Regulations have been amended to enable the use of restraints and the project is identifying the types of restraints to be used, as well as developing the operational policy about when and how they will be applied in the field.
Requests for proposals were advertised in July. Restraints will be trialled in several locations to ensure they meet our requirements and to assess the effectiveness of the policy. The trials will begin in August.
Full training on the use of restraints will be provided to relevant staff.
Transport conditions
The Ombudsmen’s report included many recommendations about improving conditions for transporting prisoners. The project is focusing on effecting the recommendations about long-haul journeys and stops for food and water, toilet breaks and exercise. The project is also looking at vehicle temperatures. There is a strong overlap between this part of the project and the restraints, because waist restraints limit prisoners’ movements during stops.
Therefore, part of the trial phase will be to see how this policy works with the restraints.
Interim vehicle standards
A longer-term project is to look in detail at how our escort vehicles should be designed to meet our long-term requirements. This project will develop an interim vehicle standard that can be applied immediately to the existing fleet and plans will be put in place to transition the fleet towards that standard. Some of the interim vehicle standards will also be tested as part of the testing of restraints.
Implementation
A new project has been established to design and manage the trialling and roll out of policies and new equipment across the business.
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ISSN 1178-8453