Misplaced Pages

Corrective Services NSW

Badge
Executive Agency overview
Formed	1 October 2024 (as an independent agency)
Preceding agencies	Department of Corrective Services Department of Communities and Justice (as a division of)
Type	Agency
Jurisdiction	Government of New South Wales
Headquarters	Henry Deane Building, 20 Lee Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Employees	11,500 (2022)
Annual budget	A$2.2 billion (2022)
Minister responsible	Anoulack Chanthivong MP, Minister for Corrections
Executive Agency executive	Leon Taylor, Acting Commissioner
Key document	https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1999-093
Website	https://correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au/

Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) is an executive agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia. CSNSW is responsible for the state's prisons and a range of programs for managing offenders in the community. The state has 36 prisons, 33 run by CSNSW and three privately operated. The agency traces its origins back to 1788, when New South Wales was founded as a penal colony.

The services provided include correctional centre custody of remand and sentenced inmates, parole, pre-sentence reports and advice to courts and releasing authorities, community service orders and other forms of community-based offender supervision. Offenders in custody and those supervised in the community are assessed for relevant interventions to reduce their risks of re-offending. Corrective Services NSW works in partnership with other government and non-government justice and human services agencies in regard to inmates in custody and offenders in the community.

The agency head office is located in the City of Sydney.

Legislation

CSNSW's operations are governed by a number of State laws, chief among them the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999. Other relevant laws include the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), Crimes Act 1900 No 40 (NSW), Crimes (Interstate Transfer of Community Based Sentences) Act 2004 (NSW), Protected Disclosures Act 1994 No 92 (NSW), Summary Offences Act 1988 No 25 (NSW), Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1982 No 104 (NSW), and Parole Orders (Transfer) Act 1983 No 190 (NSW).

Structure

CSNSW is an independent executive agency, headed by Acting Commissioner Leon Taylor, who reports directly to the Minister for Corrections, Anoulack Chanthivong. Corrective Services NSW is further divided into three branches, each headed by a deputy commissioner:

• Strategy & Governance
• Security & Custody
• Community, Industry & Capacity.

CSNSW was formally a division of the Department of Communities and Justice, under which the Commissioner would report to the Secretary of the Department, who in turn reported to the Minister.

CSNSW does not administer youth detention centres, which continue to be administered by Youth Justice NSW, as a division of the Department of Communities and Justice.

Facilities

History

NSW established gaols in Berrima (1836), Cockatoo Island (1839), Darlinghurst (1841), Parramatta (1842), Maitland (1848), and (site of the current Four Seasons hotel located) in The Rocks and later in Goulburn (1884), Bathurst (1888), Broken Hill Correctional Centre (1892) in the state's far west, Long Bay (1909) as the State Reformatory for Women, and Emu Plains (1914). In more recent years, correctional centres (as they are now known) have opened at Parklea (1983), Cessnock, Junee (1993), Lithgow, Silverwater (1997), Brewarrina (2000), John Morony Correctional Centre and Dillwynia Women's Correctional Centre in north-west Sydney, Kempsey (2004), Wellington (2007), and Nowra (2010).

Early years (1788–1874)

Great Britain started the European settlement of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788, establishing a penal colony at what is now Sydney. The incentive to establishment the colony came from the conclusion (1783) of the American War of Independence, which forced Britain to find ways of dealing with criminals other than transporting them to North America. The initial settlement at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson involved housing convicts in tents, guarded by marines. Further convict shipments followed, and a surge of convicts arrived in Sydney after the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815. Convicts worked for pay and, where good behaviour was demonstrated, could be assigned to masters. Chain gangs operated from 1826 up until transportation ended in 1840.

In the colony's early years, prisons and executions were managed first by the provost marshal, a military officer, and then, from 1824, by the sheriff.

List of provost marshals and sheriffs

Departments of Prisons (1874–1970) and Corrective Services (1970–8)

The colony established its first Department of Prisons in 1874, with Sheriff Harold Maclean appointed as the first Comptroller-General.

The Department changed its name to 'Corrective Services' in 1970, and McGeechan's title changed to Commissioner. Eight years later, the Wran Government accepted the Royal Commission's recommendation that the post of commissioner be abolished in favour of a three-person Corrective Services Commission.

List of comptrollers-general

Post-Nagle Royal Commission (1978–2009)

The Government appointed academic Tony Vinson as the chairman of the new Corrective Services Commission. Vinson implemented many of the Royal Commission recommendations, but by 1981 found himself in conflict with the officers' union, the Public Service Association. The Government backed the union in the dispute, and Vinson retired to academia. The tenure of his replacement, Vern Dalton, was memorable for a corruption scandal that saw the Minister for Corrections, Rex Jackson, sentenced to 10 years' gaol for corruption.

Labor, tarnished by this and other scandals, was swept from office in 1988: the Liberal–Nationals coalition that replaced them campaigned on a 'tough on crime' platform. Dalton was moved to a different department and the Corrective Services Commission was abolished in favour of a single director-general on 9 August 1988. The first director-general was former police officer Angus Graham.

In October 1991 the department was restructured, with its juvenile justice responsibilities being transferred to a separate agency and Graham's title changed to Commissioner.

List of commissioners and directors-general

Corrective Services New South Wales (2009–2024)

As part of a broader consolidation of government departments in 2009, the Department of Corrective Services was merged with the departments of the Attorney-General and Juvenile Justice in 2009. Corrective Services New South Wales became a division of what is now known as the Department of Justice, with Woodham retaining his role as Commissioner. Liberal Attorney-General Greg Smith replaced Woodham with Peter Severin, the head of South Australia's prison service, in 2012.

The NSW prison population has doubled in the last two decades, from 7810 inmates in 1998 to 13,722 in 2018. Females account for 8% (1040) of the prisoner population in NSW and 24.7% (3300) of inmates are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The annual expenditure on prisons in NSW in 2018 was $1.16 billion, and the average cost per prisoner per day is $188.

In terms of performance indicators, in 2018 Corrective Services NSW prisons were below average for Australian states and territories for recidivism (51% at two years), assaults (25 per 100 prisoners), deaths in custody (0.07/100 prisoners), participation in education and training (22%), time out of cells (8 hours/day) and prison capacity utilisation (129%).

In 2019, Corrective Services set a target to reduce adult prison inmate reoffending by 5 per cent by 2023. The prisoner population of NSW is estimated to rise to by 550 inmates a year to 16,402 within five years. In response to prisoner number growth, Corrective Services NSW launched a $3.8 billion program for building new prison capacity in 2016.

The Incident Response Team (IRT) is the Riot Squad of Corrective Services NSW. IRT officers are equipped with ballistic vests, helmets with visors, arm and leg guards, capsicum spray, an ASP baton, and flex-cuffs. The grenade launchers issued can fire CS gas or baton rounds.

The Security Operations Group (SOG) is the Corrective Services NSW tactical group. They were formed as the "Emergency Squad," named after the NSW Police Emergency Squad. Long Bay Gaol Emergency Squad were active in riot control at the facility. The group was then renamed the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) in 2009. HRT did not have riot control responsibilities. HRT's roles were limited hostage rescue until the NSW Police Force Tactical Operations Unit arrived. The team was renamed the Security Operations Group (SOG) The Group's responsibilities include armed escorts of high risk inmates, armed patrols of high security facilities, and responding to armed inmates. SOG are trained to rescue hostages if necessary, although procedure is to cordon and contain for the NSW Police Tactical Operations Unit. SOG operators escort high risk inmates in unmarked, armoured four wheel drives. The main rifle used is the SIG MCX assault rifle. The Heckler and Koch UMP submachinegun is utilized, with the Glock 22 as a sidearm.

List of corrective services commissioners

Corrective Services NSW (2024–present)

Following the Astill Inquiry, formed to inquire into the offending of former correctional officer Wayne Astill at the Dillwynia Women's Correctional Centre, which exposed systemic culture and organisational issues within Corrective Services New South Wales, the Labor Premier Chris Minns announced that the service would be split from the Department of Communities and Justice and become its own executive agency, responsible directly to the Minister for Corrections. The Premier's decision was motivated by desires to create a more "accountable and transparent system". The Premier stated that the move would bring CSNSW in line with frontline agencies such as Fire and Rescue New South Wales.

See also

• Alexander Maconochie Centre
• Commissioner of Corrective Services (New South Wales)
• Department of Communities and Justice
• GEO Group Australia
• Juvenile Justice NSW
• Punishment in Australia
• Serco
• Villawood Immigration Detention Centre

References

1. "Contact us". Corrective Services NSW. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
2. Administrative Arrangements (Administrative Changes—Corrective Services NSW) Order 2024 (NSW). 14 August 2024. Commenced 1 October 2024.
3. Children (Detention Centres) Act 1987 (NSW). As amended at 19 February 2024.
4. "Chronology - A History of Australian Prison Reform". Four Corners. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 November 2005. Archived from the original on 21 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
5. ^ "History of NSW Corrections". Corrective Services NSW. 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
6. Garton, Stephen (1986). "Frederick William Neitenstein (1850–1921)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 10. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943.
7. "Changes in the civil service: the new comptroller of prisons". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). 22 June 1896.
8. "Captain Neitenstein". The Inverell Times. 17 September 1909.
9. "New comptroller-general of prisons". Sunday Times (Sydney). 6 March 1910.
10. "New comptroller of prisons: Mr McCauley appointed". Tamworth Daily Observer. 29 April 1914.
11. "Comptroller of prisons dead". The Riverine Grazier. 19 December 1919.
12. "Comptroller-General of prisons". The Maitland Daily Mercury. 8 February 1922.
13. "Mr MacDougall's further rise". Cootamundra Herald. 14 May 1925.
14. "Prisons chief: Mr George Steele comptroller". Northern Star (Lismore). 24 June 1925.
15. "New prison chief: Mr WF Hinchy succeeds Mr Steele". Evening News (Sydney). 3 January 1928.
16. "Prisons head to retire". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 July 1947.
17. ^ "Corrections shake-up: plan to cut 100 administrative jobs". The Canberra Times. 10 October 1991.
18. NSW Inmate and Community Offender Census
19. Report on Government Services 2019 - Corrections
20. Reducing Reoffending
21. NSW Budget Estimates: Minister for Corrections
22. NSW Budget 2016: $3.8 billion for new jail capacity to cover surge in prison population
23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8PHudTlvqE
24. "Special Commission of Inquiry into offending by former Corrections Officer Wayne Astill at Dillwynia Correctional Centre | NSW Government". www.nsw.gov.au. Office of The Cabinet (New South Wales). 2024-02-14. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
25. ^ "NSW Corrective Services to become standalone agency". Government News. 19 August 2024. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
26. "Building a more accountable corrective services system". NSW Government Website. 16 August 2024.

External links

• Corrective Services NSW

v t e Agencies of the New South Wales Government
Departments	Cabinet Office Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Communities and Justice Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Customer Service Education Health Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Premier's Department Primary Industries and Regional Development Transport Treasury
Executive agencies	Aboriginal Affairs NSW Art Gallery Australian Museum Create NSW Crown Solicitor Destination NSW Fire & Rescue Greater Sydney Infrastructure NSW Institute of Sport Library Council Multicultural NSW Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences Property NSW Resilience NSW Rural Fire Service NSW State Emergency Service Sydney Opera House Trust Venues NSW
State-owned corporations	Essential Energy Forestry Corporation Hunter Water Port Authority Sydney Water Transport Asset Holding Entity WaterNSW
State universities	Charles Sturt Macquarie New England New South Wales Newcastle Southern Cross Sydney UTS Western Sydney Wollongong
Other	Audit Office Crime Commission Education Standards Elections Environment Protection Health Care Complaints Independent Commission Against Corruption Judicial Commission Law Enforcement Conduct Police Force Pricing & Regulatory Tribunal Public Prosecutions Revenue NSW Technical & Further Education

• Government agencies of New South Wales