Corrective Services NSW

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	Gary McCahon PSM, 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 anexecutive agency of theGovernment ofNew 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 apenal 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 theCity of Sydney.^[1]

CSNSW's operations are governed by a number of State laws, chief among them theCrimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 (NSW). Other relevant pieces of legislation include theCrimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), theCrimes Act 1900 (NSW), theCrimes (Interstate Transfer of Community Based Sentences) Act 2004 (NSW), theProtected Disclosures Act 1994 (NSW), theSummary Offences Act 1988 (NSW), thePrisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1982 (NSW), theParole Orders (Transfer) Act 1983 (NSW), and theInternational Transfer of Prisoners Act (NSW).

Corrective Services NSW also manages the following regulations: theCrimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 (NSW), thePrisoners (Interstate Transfer) Regulation 2024 (NSW), and theCrimes (Interstate Transfer of Community Based Sentences) Regulation 2020 (NSW).

CSNSW is an independent executive agency, headed by Acting Commissioner Leon Taylor, who reports directly to theMinister for Corrections,Anoulack Chanthivong.^[2] 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 theDepartment 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.^[3]

NSW established jails inBerrima (1836),Cockatoo Island (1839),Darlinghurst (1841),Parramatta (1842),Maitland (1848),Cooma Correctional Centre (1873) and (site of the current Four Seasons hotel located) inThe Rocks and later inGoulburn (1884),Bathurst (1888),Broken Hill Correctional Centre (1892) in the state's far west,Long Bay (1909) as the State Reformatory for Women, andEmu Plains (1914).^[4] In more recent years, correctional centres (as they are now known) have opened atParklea (1983),Cessnock,Junee (1993),Lithgow,Silverwater (1997),Brewarrina (2000),John Morony Correctional Centre andDillwynia Women's Correctional Centre in north-west Sydney,Kempsey (2004),Wellington (2007), andNowra (2010).^[5]

Great Britain started the European settlement of theColony of New South Wales in 1788, establishing apenal colony at what is nowSydney. The incentive to establishment the colony came from the conclusion (1783) of theAmerican War of Independence, which forced Britain to find ways of dealing with criminals other thantransporting them to North America. The initial settlement atSydney Cove inPort Jackson involved housing convicts in tents, guarded bymarines. Further convict shipments followed, and a surge ofconvicts arrived in Sydney after theNapoleonic 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.^[5]

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

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 acceptedthe Royal Commission's recommendation that the post of commissioner be abolished in favour of a three-person Corrective Services Commission.

The Government appointed academicTony 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 Prison Officer's Vocational Branch (PVOB). The PVOB frequently opposed the Royal Commission recommendations, and a group of prison officers who called themselves the Maggot Squad intimidated and harassed the officers who were supportive of progressive reforms.^[17][18] The Government backed the union in the dispute, and Vinson resigned and went back to working in 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' jail for corruption.

Labor was defeated at the1988 New South Wales state election: 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.^[19]

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.LiberalAttorney-GeneralGreg Smith replaced Woodham with Peter Severin, the head ofSouth 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22] The prisoner population of NSW is estimated to rise to by 550 inmates a year to 16,402 within five years.^[23] In response to prisoner number growth, Corrective Services NSW launched a $3.8 billion program for building new prison capacity in 2016.^[24]

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, anASP baton, andflex-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.^[25] 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 theSIG MCX assault rifle. TheHeckler and Koch UMP submachinegun is utilized, with theGlock 22 as a sidearm.

Following theAstill Inquiry, formed to inquire into the offending of former correctional officerWayne Astill at theDillwynia Women's Correctional Centre, which exposed systemic culture and organisational issues within Corrective Services New South Wales,^[26][27] theLabor PremierChris Minns announced that the service would be split from the Department of Communities and Justice and become its own executive agency, responsible directly to theMinister for Corrections.^[27] 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 asFire and Rescue New South Wales.^[27][28]

• 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

• Corrective Services NSW

• Government agencies of New South Wales

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