The Attorney-General has resisted calls to release further details about a series of bungled prison releases.
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Vanessa Goodwin said the series of mistaken releases was “totally unacceptable” and committed to doing whatever was needed to address the issue.
Six inmates have been accidentally released early from Risdon Prison in the last two years, with another error meaning an inmate was kept in custody several weeks after their scheduled release.
Dr Goodwin said it was inappropriate to identify individual prisoners, but said none of the prisoners released early remained at large.
She said she had not been advised that any of the prisoners committed any criminal offences before they were returned to custody.
Two early releases involved an armed robber who was set free one year before his scheduled release, while another inmate in custody for domestic violence matters was released two weeks early.
The government has not released details about how long the other prisoners were released before they were returned to custody, or the types of crimes they had committed.
Labor Justice spokeswoman Lara Giddings said Dr Goodwin was being “deliberately secretive” and the lack of detail was simply not good enough.
Ms Giddings said Dr Goodwin had a duty to release further detail in the interests of community safety.
“It’s important that the community can have confidence that they are safe under the government,” she said.
KPMG is conducting an audit into the mistaken releases and will provide a full report by the end of September.
The government also created a centralised sentencing administration unit inside the prison system this month, with additional staff set to be recruited in coming months.
Dr Goodwin said the new unit would be responsible for overseeing sentence remission calculations.
Ms Giddings said she was happy for details of mistaken releases under the previous government to be released but said the focus should be on the recent bungles.
“My understanding is that in our time in government there may have been one a year, we’re talking about seven in the two years the Attorney-General has been in government. We’re talking about three in the last few months. This is a crisis,” Ms Giddings.