Attending a funeral allows the mourner to openly grieve, be supported by others with shared feelings and, in turn, to provide support to other mourners. The Department of Corrective Services (the Department) allows approved adult prisoners and juvenile detainees to attend funerals. In the decade from 2003 to 2012, 6,014 prisoners and detainees were escorted …

The current policy for prisoners accessing funerals disproportionately affects Aboriginal people by ignoring the well documented importance of acknowledging kinship ties.  As such this policy does not appear to comply with whole of government substantive equality requirements. A policy change in September 2012 was met with public criticism and was therefore quickly rescinded.  The current …

The number of prisoners attending funerals per prisoner population has been substantially declining since 2008. (Read more) The Department has no discrete budget for funeral attendance, nor the capacity to determine the costs associated with attending funerals, despite making claims that substantial cost savings need to be made, or can be achieved. (Read more) There …

Develop, implement and effectively communicate a revised policy governing funeral attendance for prisoners. The revised policy is to: • Enable prisoners to attend funerals where there is a kinship or extended familial relationship, as well as when there is a direct family relationship. • Adhere to the Department’s Aboriginal Impact Statement and Guidelines for new policies. • Outline …