Last updated 2 September 2019

Prisons, by their nature, are highly regulated environments. Queensland prisons are governed by a hierarchy of laws, regulations, policies, procedures and guidelines made by parliament and Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) (and a large body of common law or judge-made law (case law) and a number of guiding international treaties and covenants) such as the:

The QCS must make a copy of the Corrective Services Act available to all prisoners and must ensure that prisoners are informed about their entitlements and duties under these policies and procedures. Practically, this is usually done by placing a copy in the prison library. The general manager of each prison is obliged to ensure that people who are illiterate or from a non-English speaking background understand their duties and entitlements under all of these laws, regulations and policies (s 11 Corrective Services Act).