Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) says it cannot yet give a definitive answer to families who want to know when visits to the State’s prisons will begin again.
In a statement, QCS said that while the Government had released a roadmap to the easing of community restrictions, this did not mean that prison restrictions would be subject to any immediate change.
“Just as the community plan allows four weeks between each easing of restrictions to allow time to monitor the effect and to make sure there are no significant outbreaks before we go to the next stage, we need to take the same approach with our prisons,” QCS said.
“We are committed to keeping Coronavirus out of our prisons to keep prisoners and our officers safe. That means we need to see what impact the easing of community restrictions has before we ease our restrictions.”
It said that as a general rule QCS roll backs would begin after the Queensland community moved to Stage Two restrictions “which if all goes well, will be 12 June”.
“At that stage, we would look to reintroduce visits by accredited, Government, professional and religious visitors, elders, respected persons and spiritual healers while maintaining strict health screening for everyone who enters our centres,” the statement said.
“Once Queensland reaches Stage Three (planned for 10 July, subject to a successful Stage Two transition) we will be looking to reintroduce personal visits.”
QCS said each of the steps would be taken after consultation with Queensland Health and the Chief Health Officer.
