Australian Human Rights Commission Current issues and good practices in prison management, 16 November 2023 13. The Australian Capital Territory Inspector of Correctional Services has reported concern that ‘[e]xtended lock-ins and staff shortages’14 have resulted in a ‘lack of meaningful activities [at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, which] had the potential to contribute to unrest, and significantly limited rehabilitation and preparation for release’.15 In its Healthy Prison Review 2022, the Inspector noted ‘many detainees have no routine or daily responsibilities and as a result lack motivation to participate in their own rehabilitation and preparation for release. There is little incentive for people to get out of bed and participate in daily activities.’16 14. The New South Wales Inspector of Custodial Services has reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to cause significant impacts, including to the delivery of services and programs to people in custody and to staff shortages.17 Likewise, the Victorian Ombudsman has also noted ‘[s]taff shortages across the corrections sector continue to have an ongoing impact’,18 including reduced out of cell hours, family contact and affecting services such as meal options and laundry. 15. The Western Australian Inspector of Custodial Services has also noted that ‘the most common issue that [they] are seeing across all facilities that [they] visit or inspect is the impact of staffing shortages’.19 These shortages have invariably resulted in ‘reduced or cancelled activities such as: employment, recreation, education, visits and programs’.20 The Inspector notes that as of May 2023, there were 1,835 prisoners who collectively had been assessed as requiring 3,440 offending-related treatment programs. However, only 35% of these programs had been completed.21 2.3 First Nations overrepresentation 16. First Nations people continue to be significantly overrepresented in prisons in Australia. The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect & Exploitation (Disability Royal Commission) recently reported that the ‘over-representation of First Nations Australians with cognitive impairment in the criminal justice system is a national crisis’.22 17. Reasons for over-incarceration of First Nations people include both legal and policy factors, and socio-economic factors such as cultural displacement, trauma and grief, alcohol and other drug misuse, cognitive disabilities and poor health and living conditions.23 Institutional racism, and a ‘legacy of dispossession, marginalisation and exclusion have created conditions in which First Nations peoples experience serious and multiple forms’ of disadvantage and inequality.24 5