Canberra’s strained prison will be bolstered with more guards, while the stretched public prosecutions office also gets extra staff in a desperately needed budget boost.
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Budget plans for the justice portfolio unveiled on Tuesday also included a dedicated forensic pathologist to strengthen ACT Coronial Services.
Between 2010 and 2016, Canberra's prison population grew 95 per cent, reaching an all-time high of 470 prisoners locked-up in May last year.
The Alexander Maconochie Centre has been plagued by a series of scandals, including a spate of drug overdoses and the death of Steven Freeman in custody.
To cope with the growing muster, the government has set aside $13 million over the next four years to pay for 23 more staff, as well as to replace the prison’s mobile alarm system.
In line with growing detainee numbers, funding has also been set aside to pay for more frontline health services at the prison.
The Intensive Corrections Order Scheme will be continued for at least the next three years, helping to unclog the prison system by keeping low-risk offenders out of jail.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has been beset by chronic staff shortages over the past year.
ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Jon White has said he could only spare two prosecutors, part-time, to deal with the rising number of criminal seizures.
An additional $6.9 million will be given to the DPP over the next four years, primarily to pay for more staff to help with complex criminal trials.
This money will initially pay for six additional staff, increasing to 12 staff in out years, helping the prosecutor’s office cope with a growing workload.
The re-trial of David Harold Eastman for the alleged murder of police boss Colin Winchester is expected to cost an additional $1.9 million this year.
Mr Eastman was arraigned before nearly 500 potential jurors at Albert Hall on Monday morning.
A notable absence within the justice portfolio was the lack of continued funding for a long-awaited Drug and Alcohol Court.
The court forms part of a pledge to slash recidivist offending in the ACT, and is one of the promises secured by the ACT Greens in their power sharing deal with Labor.
The government has budgeted $500,000 this year to develop options for the drug court, but there is no funding set aside to run the court in future years.
Officials said this funding would be budgeted once an operating model for the drug court was developed.
The government has already announced plans to fund an additional six officers for ACT policing, and to train an extra 18 fire fighters for the Emergency Services Agency.
