Page 1134 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
equipment for use at the AMC if appropriate and when proven effective. It is important to remember, however, that there is no silver bullet for dealing with mobile phone contraband in prisons.
In light of the motion today, I am of course happy to arrange a further briefing for Mr Wall or any other member of the Assembly in regard to the steps taken to manage contraband and also about the mobile phone jamming trial, to the extent that it can be discussed. All that members need to do is simply ask me. As Mr Wall well knows from his previous experience, on any occasion when he has asked for a briefing, it has been provided; in fact quite a few have been provided without his asking, simply because issues have come up.
Turning to the amendment that I have circulated, as I have mentioned in my speech today, it touches on a number of the security measures that are in place at the AMC. It notes there are policies in place to deter and detect contraband such as mobile phones within the jail. It speaks about the trial that is taking place and notes that briefings are available to members upon request.
I conclude by saying I am certainly not of the view that Mr Wall tried to imply. My attitude is not that nothing can be done; quite to the contrary. I regularly speak with Corrective Services about issues relating to contraband. We talk about what measures might be put in place, what measures are in place and how effective they are proving to be. But these things are challenging. If we take the case that Mr Wall cited, about a fellow updating his Facebook account whilst in the AMC, what nobody knows at this point in time—and if we think about that case as a case study—is whether he was updating his own Facebook account or whether he might have been emailing updates to somebody else who accessed his Facebook account and placed them up there. I do not know. But by discussing that example and posing that set of questions, one can see that these things are not black and white; they are complicated matters and ones that all corrective services departments around the country are striving to deal with. I assure members that staff at the AMC remain dedicated to seeking to enforce the rules that apply at the AMC.
I move the following amendment that has been circulated in my name:
Omit all words after “notes”, substitute:
“(a) that the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) has a range of static and dynamic security measures in place, including but not limited to:
(i) metal detectors;
(ii) x-ray baggage scanner to scan property (every pedestrian entry and exit);
(iii) itemiser to detect traces of drugs and explosive (random basis only); and
(iv) physical searches of all vehicles prior to entering and exiting the AMC including use of mirrors to search under the vehicles and random canine searches;
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video