Corrective Services New South Wales (CSNSW) is a division of the

Department of Communities and Justice The New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsible for the delivery of services to some of the most disadvantaged individuals, families and communities; and the administrat ...

of the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. 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 A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

. 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 in the Henry Deane Building in

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

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 , , , , , , and .

Structure

CSNSW is a division of the Department of Communities and Justice, headed by Commissioner Kevin Corcoran PSM, who reports to the Acting Secretary of the Department, Catherine D'Elia. Corrective Services NSW is further divided into six branches, each headed by an assistant commissioner: * Custodial Corrections * Community Corrections * Offender Management & Programs * Security & Intelligence * Governance & Continuous Improvement * Corrections Strategy & Policy. Ministerial oversight of CSNSW is provided by the Minister for Corrections Dr Geoff Lee MP.

Facilities

History

NSW established gaols in Berrima (1836), Cockatoo Island (1839),

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...

(1841),

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

(1842),

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

(1848), and (site of the current Four Seasons hotel located) in The Rocks and later in

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...

(1884), Bathurst (1888),

Broken Hill Correctional Centre Broken Hill Correctional Centre, formerly Broken Hill Gaol, is an Australian punishment in Australia, minimum and medium security prison for men and women located in Broken Hill, New South Wales, around from Sydney. Opened in 1892, it is the f ...

(1892) in the state's far west, Long Bay (1909) as the State Reformatory for Women, and

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

(1914). In more recent years, correctional centres (as they are now known) have opened at

Parklea Parklea is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 35 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is a part of Greater West ...

(1983), Cessnock,

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

(1993), Lithgow,

Silverwater Silverwater is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Silverwater is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district on the southern bank of the Parramatta River within the local governme ...

(1997),

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

(2000),

John Morony Correctional Centre Francis Greenway Correctional Complex, formerly John Morony Correctional Complex is an Australian minimum security prison complex for males and females located in Berkshire Park, south of Windsor in New South Wales, Australia. The complex is ...

and

Dillwynia Women's Correctional Centre Dillwynia Correctional Centre is a prison for women located on the grounds of the Francis Greenway Correctional Complex in Berkshire Park, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. The centre is operated by the Corrective Services division of the New S ...

in north-west Sydney, Kempsey (2004),

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

(2007), and

Nowra Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated population of 22,584. Situated in th ...

(2010).

Early years (1788–1874)

Great Britain started the European settlement of the

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

in 1788, establishing a

at what is now

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. The incentive to establishment the colony came from the conclusion (1783) of the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, which forced Britain to find ways of dealing with criminals other than transporting them to North America. The initial settlement at

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

involved housing convicts in tents, guarded by

marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

. Further convict shipments followed, and a surge of

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

arrived in Sydney after the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

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 Provost marshal is a title given to a person in charge of a group of Military Police (MP). The title originated with an older term for MPs, '' provosts'', from the Old French ''prévost'' (Modern French ''prévôt''). While a provost marshal i ...

, a military officer, and then, from 1824, by the

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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 Tony Vinson (11 November 1935 – 17 February 2017) was an Australian academic, regarded as "one of Australia's leading social scientists and outspoken public intellectuals". His career spanned the disciplines of social work, social policy, ps ...

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 of the Department

Corrective Services New South Wales (2009–present)

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.

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Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Greg Smith replaced Woodham with Peter Severin, the head of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

'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.NSW Budget 2016: $3.8 billion for new jail capacity to cover surge in prison population

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List of Corrective Services Commissioners

References

External links

Corrective Services NSW
{{Authority control Corrective