Adelaide Remand Centre delivers positive outcomes for South Australia

This month marks 12 months since Serco Australia commenced operational management of the Adelaide Remand Centre, creating more than 138 local jobs and delivering cost-savings of $8 million each year to the State.

Serco AsPac CEO Peter Welling said this was an important milestone for the contract and that Serco’s success so far was the result of a strong, collaborative partnership with the Department for Correctional Services.

“Serco is proud to play an important role in reducing reoffending and delivering positive outcomes for South Australia,” Mr Welling said.

Minister for Correctional Services Vincent Tarzia said Serco’s operation of the Adelaide Remand Centre was helping to reduce reoffending while also delivering cost savings to the state.

“In the September 2018 State Budget, the Marshall Government made a commitment to build a better prison system in South Australia,” Mr Tarzia said.

“Serco's successful management of the Adelaide Remand Centre over the past 12 months has helped us towards our goal of reducing reoffending by 10% by 2020, while saving the taxpayer millions of dollars in the process.”

Within the first four months of operation, Serco oversaw the construction and completion of a $3.2 million major cell upgrade to bring 160 cells up to Safe Cell compliant standards. South Australian family construction business Mossop Group Pty Ltd was proudly awarded as head contractor to Serco for this project.

Adelaide Remand Centre has now become the primary admission centre for all metropolitan courts in Adelaide.

“The upgrade was completed on time and on budget without the need to relocate prisoners. We now operate the Adelaide Remand Centre safely and securely at full capacity,” Mr Welling said.

“Since Serco commenced operation of the Adelaide Remand Centre, our team has managed more than 6000 prisoner movements safely and securely. We also facilitate around 350 audio-visual court appearances each month, which positively supports the court process and ensures there are no late or missed appearances.”

Serco’s robust admissions processes have meant the Adelaide Remand Centre has become the first line of defence in preventing the introduction of COVID-19 into the State’s prison system. Serco’s enhanced screening measures also extend to the testing of all prisoners upon arrival.

“Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, our team has met 100% of all KPIs. We are incredibly proud of this achievement as it shows our people remain committed to making a positive difference and delivering an outstanding level of service,” Mr Welling said.

ENDS

Media contact: Tim Evans, +61 409 389 358
General media enquiries: Serco media line +61 (0) 2 9409 8700 or [email protected]