Corrective Services has warned visitors to the State’s jails that tough new penalties are in place for lawbreakers now that social visits resume on Saturday (27 June).
Minister for Corrective Services, Francis Logan said the new penalties mean a visitor who tries to bring in contraband such as drugs will face a $12,000 fine and 18 months jail.
Mr Logan said this was a sixfold increase on the previous financial penalty and introduced jailing as an additional punishment.
“The penalties have not been changed for nearly 40 years,” Mr Logan said.
“Visitors who enter or have left the prison can also be fined $6,000 (up from $1,000) if they refuse a search, or they can face 12 months jail and $6,000 for loitering around a prison or concealing an article for a prisoner,” he said.
He said the face-to-face visits were resuming in line with health advice, including physical distancing, hygiene practices and individual assessments of visitors before they entered the prison, including taking their temperature.
“General security measures have also been tightened during the suspension of social visits,” Mr Logan said.
“I want to be very clear to anyone that is thinking of bringing in drugs or other contraband that you will be risking significantly increased financial penalties and serious time in jail.”
He said that with these tough new penalties in place and “more drug dogs, better drug-detecting technology and increased resourcing for our intelligence areas”, visitors would be extremely foolish to try to break the law.
