The care and management of remandees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre 2018
21 February 2019
The Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) was designed to provide separate living accommodation for remandees. However, overcrowding has meant remandees are no longer housed separately to convicted detainees. This review aimed to examine how remandees were being managed in the current circumstances at the AMC and whether there was a need to do things differently to ensure their needs as unconvicted detainees are met. At the time of the review, remandees made up 36% of the male detainee population and 59% of the female detainee population at the AMC.
The review made 39 findings. Overall, it found that there is no material difference in the way remandees are treated at the AMC compared to convicted detainees, despite ACT law requiring them to be treated as innocent. Other issues identified include that the highly restricted regimes for new reception detainees was resulting in as little as one hour out of cells per day and that there are improvements that could be made to assist detainees to maintain contact with family and friends.
The review also looked in depth at conditions for female detainees, many of whom are remandees. Due to crowding, in 2017 they were moved from their purpose-built cottages to a unit that was designed for male high security detainees. The review team concluded that this new accommodation is unsuitable for the women and is limiting their human rights.
The report notes that many of the issues identified in the review are the result of overcrowding, which is largely out of the control of ACT Corrective Services (ACTCS). It also acknowledges that there are many dedicated and competent officers within ACTCS who are currently doing an excellent job.
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