New report reveals serious overcrowding in Qld jails

With a new Report from Qld’s Corrections Department today revealing serious  overcrowding in Qld jails, the QCCL has called on Corrections Minister Laura Gerber  to come clean on what the effect of the new Breach Bail Go to Jail laws will be both in terms of adding to existing serious overcrowding and the Corrections budget.

QCCL Vice President Terry O’Gorman said  that a new Qld Corrections report in today’s Courier Mail outlines that Qld prison cell capacity has reached 136 per cent.

Mr.O’Gorman said the report states that there is system wide pressure  in Qld jailswith operational expenses almost $ 100m over budget. This is against a background where assault rates  for both inmates and staff are continuing to skyrocket above internal safety targets.

Mr.O’Gorman said that Minister Gerber has persistently refused to say what the further overcrowding and pressure on the already high Qld Corrections budget consequences will be once the Breach Bail Go to Jail laws with its mandatory minimum 12 months imprisonment scheme becomes law.

The Corrections Department report comes after independent economist Saul Eslake said yesterday that”……. In these cash strapped times Australian taxpayers  spend more than $7.3 billion a year on adult incarceration and over $1.1billion a year locking up children.” ( See “ Jailing children fails at every turn. Why do we persist “ by Saul Eslake Sun Herald 27/9/26 p25).

Mr.O’ Gorman said that the Explanatory Notes to the Breach Bail Go to Jail  laws currently being considered by a Parliamentary Committee under the heading “Estimated  Cost for government implementation” states that “ implementation of the Bill will have operational and financial impacts across Qld Corrective Services……(and) those impacts will be addressed through normal government processes.” ( See Explanatory Notes Breach Bail Go to Jail and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 at p6).

“This bland and useless explanation has been made worse by Minister Gerber’s constant refusal  to indicate what the extra cost of the new law will be both in dollar and overcrowding terms.  The Minister won’t even reveal  what cost modelling, if any, has been done as to the projected effect of the new law will be on the Qld prison system which the Auditor  General has found ‘ does not have an effective approach to rehabilitation and reintegration due to overcrowding and poor case management’ “(See C-M 28/9/26 “ Cell Shock in State Prisons”at p15).

Mr.O’Gorman said that in view of the current situation where Qld jails are buckling under overcrowding conditions the Corrections Minister must be forced to reveal what the Breach Bail Go to Jail laws will cost and what the further overcrowding consequences will be before the law is debated in Parliament

Note: Terry O’Gorman ph 0418787182