A new organisational structure that will allow Prisons Services to better meet its aim of securely and humanely incarcerating prisoners, as well as reducing re-offending and improving reintegration, has now been released following an extensive review.
Prison Services General Manager Harry Hawthorn says the new structure is an important milestone and will ensure there is better management capacity and capability to provide greater support to frontline staff.
“The key changes to the structure are the reduction from five regions to three, additional management support through the establishment of nine Assistant Regional Manager positions (three for each region), the centralisation of health, crime prevention and quality assurance services, and combining service development, service delivery and service support under a single senior manager,” says Harry.
“The reorganisation complements Corrections’ recent head office review and also aligns Prison Services structure with Community Probation and Psychological Services.
“By aligning our structures, we can ensure that staff in both services are in a position to further develop strong and cohesive working relationships and focus on the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders to reduce re-offending.”
Harry says the reorganisation was important because Prison Services found itself working in a markedly different environment than it was ten years ago.
“Prison numbers have grown by 30 per cent and staff numbers have increased by 25 per cent. We have increased capacity on existing sites and built four new prisons, which, combined, have given us an additional 2,700 beds,” explains Mr Hawthorn.
“It was becoming clear that these changes were putting pressure on our existing structure and the finalisation of the head office review was an appropriate time to see where we could make improvements.”
Mr Hawthorn says there was wide consultation, both with unions and staff, prior to the finalisation of the structure.
“Most of the feedback received was broadly positive and endorsed the direction we were moving in.”
“Our focus is now on implementing the new structure, which we hope to have completed by July 2008.”
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ISSN 1178-8453