The South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) raised concerns earlier this week that a new arrangement would mean all South Australian correctional facilities, including the planned facilities at Mobilong, would be privatised and would negatively impact on the welfare of prisoners.

Deputy Premier Kevin Foley said the government had previously made it clear that all custodial services in the new prisons would be provided by the public sector and this remained the case.

This is under the Public Private Partnership arrangement introduced by the State Government since the 2006-07 Budget.

He said services such as building maintenance, provision of furniture, waste management and many other services were, in many cases, already provided by the private sector and this would continue.

SACOSS executive director Karen Grogan said the other concern with the planned prison precinct at Mobilong would be geographical isolation impacting on families.

“This will have the potential to further isolate individuals from family, friends and support networks as travelling time and costs will become untenable,” Ms Grogan said. She said the private sector operating the prisons was incompatible with justice delivery and would impact negatively on service delivery and welfare of prisoners.

Mr Foley said to combat transport and accessibility issues for families of prisoners at the new Mobilong prison precinct, a Cross Government Services Group had been established to ensure issues such as transport were effectively addressed.