This report is based on an inspection of all the custody centres that exist at the various courts across the state and the small number of lock-ups that currently come within the jurisdiction of the Inspector of Custodial Services. In total there are 18 court custody centres located throughout the state including: the Perth Children’s Court, the Perth’s District Court, Perth’s Central Law Courts and 15 other courts custody centres managed under the Court Security and Custodial Services contract.
Management of court custody centres is largely governed by the Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 (CS&CS Act) and the vast majority of centres are managed by private sector service providers. The main contract, the CS&CS Contract, is administered by the Department of Corrective Services. In June 2011, the Department of Corrective Services partnered with the Department of the Attorney General and the WA Police to develop new objectives, governance and service design for CS&CS contract. The contract was awarded to Serco Australia Pty Ltd for an initial period of five years, with possible extension.
Court security and custodial services at the District Court Building and Central Law Courts in Perth are managed under a separate contract called the District Court Building Services Contract. In 2005 Western Liberty Group was awarded the contract for designing, constructing, financing and operating the new District Court Building and the adjoining Central Law Courts. Western Liberty Group has sub-contracted court security, custodial services and emergency management to G4S Custodial Services.
The Perth Children’s Court operates under an entirely different arrangement. At the time of the inspection the custody centre at Perth Children’s Court was the only custody centre not contracted to the private sector. Services were being provided by Youth Custodial Officers from the Department of Corrective Services.