Queensland jails will be at triple capacity under new bail laws, union warns
Queensland's prison guard union says new bail laws will force jails to house three inmates in cells built for one.
Queensland's prison guard union Union Together Queensland warns that new bail laws will force prisons to triple the number of prisoners in each cell, leading to sanitation issues, shortage of staff and resources, and potential violence. The parliamentary inquiry will release a report on the proposed laws on Friday, but the government has not released any modeling of the increase in prisoner numbers.
The current jails are already among the most overcrowded in the developed world, with a prison population that has increased by 54% from 7,319 to 11,275 in the past decade. The breach bail laws would result in mandatory minimum 12-month sentences for adults and children who commit serious crimes while on bail.
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