The State Government should redirect 30 per cent of prison funding to preventative programs and remand accommodation instead of prison beds, the SA Council of Social Service says.

In response to yesterday’s announcement by Correctional Services Minister Tony Piccolo of a $160 million spend by 2017-18 for 270 new prison beds, SACOSS said prevention was a more effective, and cheaper, way remedy overcrowding in SA’s prisons.

SACOSS executive director Ross Womersley said the budget allocation for more beds, predominantly at Port Augusta and Mount Gambier prisons, didn’t address the real issue.

“There is enormous pressure on our jails but in the long run it isn’t going to resolve the issue that really need to be sorted which is how do we stop (prisoners) from going in to jail,” Womersley said.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine if 20 to 30 per cent of the budget we spend on prisons actually went to preventative measures?

“There’s a continuing perception that the only people who are in jail are mean and nasty and have done heinous things when we know a huge number end up in jail through inability to meet fine repayments.

“Many arrive there through poor conditions related to poverty.

“We don’t think building more prisons at this point will help in the long run.”

He commended Piccolo for his statement on ABC 891 radio this morning that acknowledged that rehabilitation was a priority to overcome long-running reoffending and stocked prisons.

However, he suggested more tangible measures were needed sooner.

“Maybe there needs to be some increase in the availability of accommodation so people who need low level supervision or support have somewhere suitable to be rather than being locked up.

“We have so many people on remand … merely for the fact that these people don’t have secure alternative accommodation where they can be on bail while their matters are pending.

“We want the Government to get on with building this bail accommodation as promised.”

As part of the announcement Piccolo said $1 million would be spent to investigate best practice and conduct a feasibility study to improve the whole corrections system.

Piccolo told ABC radio there was a need to focus on reducing the rate of reoffending, better management of lower level offenders and rehabilitation.

“What we need to ensure is that we don’t have an approach which means everybody goes to jail because there are costs to that – not only the cost of maintaining the system but the research shows that those people who spend between one and five years in jail have the highest rate of reoffending,” Piccolo said.

“We acknowledge that … most prisoners will come out of jail one day, therefore it’s in our interests to make sure that when they come out we give them new opportunities to actually be re-incubated in society.”

InDaily reported South Australia has the nation’s highest rate of unsentenced prisoners in jail with Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing 35 per cent of prisoners in 2013/14 being on remand.