Last updated 2 September 2019

Once arrested, a person is held in police custody at a police watch-house for a short time before being transferred to prison. Usually a person is not held in the watch-house for more than 21 days.

Admission

Prisoners are allowed to make one telephone call at Queensland Corrective Service’s (QCS) expense on being admitted to prison.

Many procedures are required on entry to prison and a full list can be obtained from QCS.

After being admitted to prison, an induction program will commence, which should provide all relevant information about the prison system and also about the particular prison at which they are located. Information should be made available to non-English speaking people in their own language, and provisions should be made for people with physical or intellectual disabilities to have access to alternative formats if required.

At the induction program, the person is usually provided with a prisoner information booklet and with information about all the rules that the person is required to comply with (i.e. mail, visits, phone calls, access to legal and health services, educational facilities and the sentence management process).

Assessment

When a person arrives in prison, a number of assessments are undertaken to ensure that information supporting planning is gathered, analysed and interpreted at appropriate points throughout the period of incarceration. More information regarding assessment tools and outcomes are available from QCS.