Visits to sex offenders at Bunbury Prison to be restricted

10/8/95

All visits to imprisoned incest and paedophile sex offenders will be restricted following a recent incident at the Bunbury Regional Prison.

Assisting Justice Minister Kevin Minson said today a new policy introduced by the Ministry of Justice meant incest and paedophile sex offenders would only receive special, supervised visits.

These visits would be separate from general prison visits.

The Minister said children would only be allowed visits after advice had been given by the Sex Offender Treatment Program and a recommendation made.

"The Ministry's Victim Offender Mediation Unit and the Department of Family and Community Services will also be consulted, when appropriate, before any approval is given by a prison superintendent for a child to visit an incest or paedophile sex offender," he said.

"Without this approval, no child will be allowed to visit an incest or paedophile sex offender.

"These new procedures will ensure children are not vulnerable to this type of offender and that every precaution is taken in the management of such visits."

Mr Minson said he was pleased with the speed with which the Ministry of Justice had developed and implemented the policy following the Bunbury incident.

"There has been a huge increase in the number of sex offenders going through the prison system as a result of awareness programs implemented by the Western Australian Police Department," he said.

"This does not mean sex offences are becoming more prevalent.  Society today takes a far more pro-active role in pursuing, punishing and treating offenders than in the past.

"As a result, the number of sex offenders in the WA prison system has increased by about 45 per cent over the past four years.

"Obviously, this enormous increase places a heavy burden on existing facilities for sex offender rehabilitation programs in prisons.

"This situation is being addressed and it is intended to double the number of places available in the intensive Sex OffenderTreatment program at Casuarina, as well as the steps now being taken to address the need for a program in the Bunbury Regional Prison."

Mr Minson said it was worth remembering that sex offenders in WA prisons had access to the most advanced treatment programs in the nation.

"It has gained international recognition and Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales are currently looking at following our model," he said.

"The primary concern of the program team is the safety of the community.  Prisoners on the program can be refused parole if the team considers they still pose a danger to others.

"In fact, a number of serious sex offenders have not been granted parole because they either refused to do the course or did not complete it satisfactorily."

Media contact: Caroline Lacy  222 9595