17th November 2011.

Ramping spreads to court watchhouses under Labor

Ramping has spread to the many of the state's busiest court watchhouses under the failed prison management of the Bligh government tying up police resources and taking frontline officers off the beat.

LNP Shadow Minister for Police, Corrective Services & Emergency Services John-Paul Langbroek said the same pathetic mismanagement that the long-term Labor government had delivered to Queensland public hospitals was now afflicting court watchhouses causing chronic over-crowding and taking police off the frontline.

"Prisoners are being ramped at over-crowded court watchhouses because Labor has closed beds in many of the states jails in exactly the same way its shutdown of hospital beds is causing logjams in emergency departments and ambulances ramped for hour after hour," Mr Langbroek said.

"Labor has closed the 500-bed Borallon jail at Ipswich and moth-balled 500 beds at Woodford jail leaving police to play prison officers at over-crowded court watchhouses around the state."

Mr Langbroek said Borallon jail should never have been closed, but the broke Bligh government had shut the jail in the hope of leasing the facility to the Gillard government to use as a detention centre for illegal immigrants.

"Labor mothballed Borallon in the hope of doing a sneaky deal with Gillard Labor to take illegal immigrants for buckets of cash, but the deal backfired and now south-east Queensland has been caught desperately short of prison accommodation.

"The over-crowding situation has been made even worse because the broke Bligh government has also had 500 beds at Woodford mothballed.

"The net result is that hundreds of criminals are being left in watchhouses and jammed into already strained facilities at Wacol – police and prison officers are fed up with the risks and problems this prison accommodation crisis is causing."

Mr Langbroek said inmate and staff safety was being seriously compromised and the Bligh government and the inept Minister weren't listening.

"This incompetent 20-year-old government has a history of mismanaging our corrections system and this crisis is making it much more difficult for frontline staff to manage dangerous offenders.

"A Campbell Newman led LNP government will revitalise frontline services – and deliver better infrastructure and planning."