Security Classifications

– On entering a prison, the prisoner is giver a security classification by the NSW classification Committee under the

Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Reguklation 2008 (NSW)

– There are three main classifications

High-risk categories: Present a special risk to good order and security and are confined in a max security prison with secure physical barriers and towers. About 37% of all prisoners are here

Medium-risk categories: Medium security prison, must have secure physical barriers

Low-risk categories: Open security prisons which need not have physical barriers and prisoners don’t have to be constantly supervised. In NSW 29% of prisoners are here

Implications

– Determines privileges

– Determines the way and which prison he/she serves the sentence

Protective Custody

– Prisoners who feel they are in danger from their fellow prisoner can asked to be placed in protective custody

Implications

– Protects the prisoner from harm although restricts their opportunities

Parole

– Allows prisoners to leave prison before they have completed their full sentence

– Restricted by the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 NSW

– Supervised by the parole authority

– Subject to certain restrictions

Implications

– Encourages prisoners to behave well and undertake rehabilitative activities in the hope of early release

– If parole conditions are breached also encourage parolees to remain crime free and assimilate into the community

Preventative detention and continued detention

– Can refers to; the detention without charge of a suspected terrorist. Or the detention of a serious who are at risk of reoffending if they are released into the community

Implications

– Protects the community from possible harm

Sexual offenders registration

– People who have been convicted of serious sexual offence, must register with the police station closest to their residence and provide the police with certain information including any travel plans

Implications

– Monitors offenders so their chances of reoffending are minimised, while they are given support to reassimilate into society

Deportation

– The forcible removal of a person from a country and returning that person to his/her country of origin

Implications:

– Protects Australian citizens from possible harm from such offenders reoffending

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Offenders will be classified according to factors such as the seriousness of the crime, their prospects for rehabilitation, and whether or not they have displayed good behaviour during previous sentences.

1. MAXIMUM: Offenders who committed the most serious crimes and whose escape could be highly dangerous to society.
2. MEDIUM: Inmates can move around more freely, but within high walls.
3. MINIMUM: Fewer barriers to escape and inmates are allowed more open conditions.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY

• This is provided in NSW to offenders who are vulnerable to attack from other prisoners
• Correctional facilities have a duty of care for their prisoners, and so they must protect offender from the risk of physical violence
• This condition is mainly for offenders who are police officers, politicians, child sex offenders, and prisoners with a mental illness

PAROLE

• Parole refers to the conditional release of a prisoner from custody after the completion of the minimum term of the sentence.
• It provides the offender with an incentive for rehabilitation through the prospect of early release.
• It improves the likelihood of overall reform.
• A parole officer will supervise those let go on parole – additional conditions may also be applied.

PREVENTATIVE & CONTINUED DETENTION

• Preventative detention is aimed at offenders whose history indicates that they have entrenched criminal behaviours, particularly cases with violent and sexual offences
• This involves imprisonment of a person for some type of future harm they may commit
• There are two types:
• Post-sentence preventative detention: occurs when a person has already been sentenced and has served that sentence
• Preventative detention without charge: occurs at any time
• Legislation related to this is said to be unconstitutional, for example in the High Court Case of Kable v DPP (1996) 189 CLR 51, as it oversteps the separation of powers
• New South Wales has post-sentence preventative detention under the Crimes (Serious Sex Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) that allows continued detention of offenders

SEX OFFENDERS REGISTRATION

• Serious sex offenders’ names are placed on a register with access by the police
• This was established under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 (NSW)
• These registers are justified on the basis of the protection of the community. However, the registries are sometimes contentious as they target certain offenders long beyond the period of the sentence, and deny the chance for the offender to rehabilitate

DEPORTATION

• Non-citizens who will serve a sentence of 12 months or more, and have been a resident in Australia for less than 10 years automatically fail the character test in the Migration Act 1958 (Cth)

Extract from Legal Studies Stage 6 Syllabus. © 2009 Board of Studies NSW.