Greens: Prisoners lose out under NSW government's cost-cutting measures - ABC News

The Greens Corrective Services spokesman says New South Wales Government cost cutting measures are being made at the expense of vulnerable prisoners. The government is axing its Community Offender Services Program, or halfway homes for newly released inmates, citing a review which found them to be inefficient, costly and located in the wrong areas. A proposed Riverina halfway house at Gumly Gumly in Wagga Wagga…

Read More

Closure of Unanderra halfway house stirs crime fears - Illawarra Mercury

[caption id="attachment_6120" align="alignright" width="252"] PSA's Tony Heathwood at the parolee centre to be closed. Picture: Orlando Chiodo[/caption] By EMMA SPILLETT The Public Service Association has hit out at a decision to close the Illawarra's only halfway house for parolees, labelling the decision "appalling". The Unanderra Community Offender Support Program (COSP) centre, which provides emergency housing for parolees, is set to be sold in the coming…

Read More

Community Offender Support Program centre closures

On 8 August 2013 Corrective Services announced that following a review, most of the Community Offender Support Programs centres (COSPs) would close at the end of November 2013. Of the eight COSPs, six (Emu Plains, Kempsey, Cooma, Windsor, Tomago and Wollongong) will close completely, and Campbelltown will close and re-open in 2014 as a privatised centre run by a non-government organisation (NGO). Only the COSP…

Read More

Halfway house closures a disgrace: Hay - Illawarra Mercury

[caption id="attachment_6323" align="alignright" width="252"] Wollongong MP Noreen Hay[/caption] A decision to close six out of eight Community Offender Support Program (COSP) centres, including one at Unanderra, is "a disgrace" according to Wollongong MP Noreen Hay. The Unanderra COSP centre, which provides emergency housing for parolees, is set to be sold in coming weeks, affecting its 13 staff and dozens of offenders who rely on the…

Read More

Parole job cuts put public at risk: Labor - The Sydney Morning Herald

Kirsty Needham The O'Farrell government's cuts to staff monitoring the supervision of high-risk parolees have caused 200 jobs to go, with Labor warning the removal of one in five officers was far more than expected and is risking community safety. Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin told a budget estimates hearing there was a ''net reduction'' of 200 positions when the Community Compliance and Monitoring Group…

Read More