Former Junee inmates had been setting up camp at Wilks Park, but that’s not an option any more. Photo: Supplied.
CONTENT WARNING: The article refers to sexual assault.
A Wagga housing advocate says prisoners are being released from Junee Correctional Centre with nowhere to sleep, raising fresh questions about what happens when inmates walk out of jail and travel to a city already grappling with a homelessness crisis.
Housing advocate Tim Verhoef says he tried to help former Wilks Park resident John Keith Bryce find somewhere to stay after he was released from custody on Monday night, but was unable to find accommodation.
Mr Verhoef wrote to Wagga MP Joe McGirr to inform him Mr Bryce walked into Junee after his release and called him from a pay phone at about 9 pm.
He said Bryce planned to catch the overnight XPT to Wagga, despite not having a ticket, and had no phone, case manager, medication or mental health plan in place. Unable to be contacted by phone, Mr Verhoef said he was unsure if the 55-year-old found any shelter at night.
According to court records, Mr Bryce had been sentenced in Wagga Local Court on Monday to an aggregate eight-month term of imprisonment for breaking and entering to steal items worth less than $60,000, to be served by way of an intensive correction order in the community. He was released from Junee’s jail on that day.
Mr Verhoef said he was also concerned about another woman who was also let out of the correctional centre on Monday.
“John Bryce gave her his jumper as she was released with nothing other than shoes, jeans and a T-shirt and it was cold in Junee last night,” he wrote.
Mr Verhoef said the woman was previously a victim of rape and domestic violence and described releasing her to a train station alone as a “total failure in duty of care”.
“This was two people released into homelessness yesterday. There are others,” he wrote in his letter to Dr McGirr.
“On Friday night I saw a man who has been sleeping outside the tourist information centre who has been released from Junee with no phone.”
Housing advocate Vickie Burkinshaw said inmates released from Junee without somewhere to live had previously ended up at Wilks Park, where they camped rough.
However, Wagga City Council has cleared homeless camps from the park and issued fines to people sleeping there as it attempts to restore the site as a tourist area, with caravans limited to stays of no more than 72 hours.
“They can’t afford anywhere to stay in town. So where will they go now?” Ms Burkinshaw asked.
There are concerns that those released from Junee Correctional Centre don’t have housing plans. Photo: Corrective Services NSW.
Region asked Corrective Services NSW whether Mr Bryce had a pre-release plan, whether he had confirmed accommodation for the night of his release, whether accommodation must be secured before a prisoner can be released and how many people released from Junee in the past three years had accessed homelessness services within 30 days.
Corrective Services NSW did not answer the questions about Bryce, saying it was not appropriate to comment on individual inmates.
A spokeswoman said the department provided “proactive pre-release support for inmates in accordance with the person’s legal status and the circumstances of their release”.
“The level of support that can be provided prior to release depends on a number of factors including the notice available, with more comprehensive arrangements possible for planned releases than for releases that occur at short notice, such as following a back-dated court sentence,” she said.
The department refused to provide the requested figures about prisoners released from Junee who subsequently accessed homelessness services or answer a question on whether every released prisoner had shelter arranged once released.
Mr Verhoef has now asked Mr McGirr what action has been taken to address the issue, including by a government’s emergency task force examining the expansion of Junee Correctional Centre.
