The Southern Queensland Correctional Centre (SQCC) has been successfully transitioned from private to public operations.
The move follows a recommendation of the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Taskforce Flaxton in 2018, after which the Government announced the transition of Queensland’s two privately-operated prisons to public operation.
Minister for Corrective Services, Mark Ryan said the transition of Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre and now the SQCC was part of a range of key reforms aimed at modernising the correctional system.
“The transition of the SQCC means that every prison in Queensland is now under the management of Queensland Corrective Services,” Mr Ryan said.
Commissioner of Queensland Corrective Services (QCS), Paul Stewart said the transition had been one of the most complex in the Department’s 170-year history.
“The program of work to transition was of critical importance to QCS,” Commissioner Stewart said.
“Consolidating our correctional environments across the State will increase the safety of our officers, prisoners and the community,” he said.
“The amount of work undertaken to do this is incredibly significant and covers areas from physical infrastructure, process, technology and training, touching all areas of the correctional system.”
Commissioner Stewart said he was proud of what QCS had been able to achieve and was “confident in the future state of corrective services in Queensland as a result of this significant undertaking”.
