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Hundreds of “vulnerable” and low-risk NSW prisoners may be allowed to walk free on early parole under one of a raft of unprecedented emergency measures that are being fast tracked through the NSW parliament.

The proposed release of such a large number of the state’s 14,000 prisoners would have previously been regarded as unthinkable.

But NSW attorney-general, mark Speakman said the “extraordinary measure’ was critical in helping to combat the spread of Covid-19.

In a statement on Tuesday Mr Speakman said prisons would “prioritise vulnerable offenders and others who pose a low risk to the community for consideration for conditional release”.

He said all early releases would be subject to strict parole conditions, “as well as any other requirements the (NSW Corrective Services) commissioner considers appropriate, including home detention, pre-approved schedule of movements and electronic monitoring”.

Offenders in custody for the most serious offences would not be considered for early release.

The extraordinary measure was applauded by the national Australian lawyers alliance which has called for the same early release initiatives to be rolled out “immediately” across the country.

It has also urged the commonwealth government to urgently adopt similar measures for many of the thousands asylum seekers now stranded indefinitely in infection-prone detention centres.

“It’s already happening in the UK, and we know already there has been one reported case of a virus infected detainee in a Brisbane immigration detention facility,’ Greg Barns, the alliance criminal justice spokesman, told the Australian.

He said once the covid virus took hold in prisons and detention centres the only way of containing the spread was locking people in the cells and rooms “24/7” which was “grossly inhumane”.

All prisoner visits at NSW’s 38 prisons were suspended until further notice last week.

NSW Corrective Services Commissioner, Peter Severin, told the Australian while the prison had sourced 600 new laptops to allow prisoners to start conducting “virtual” visits with family and friends, he had staff “feverishly” searching for the hundreds more that would be needed in the months to come.

Mr Severin said prisoners had already begun to manufacture their own face masks in prison run textile factories across the state. He said while the face masks would not meet the required standards for medical use, it was necessary to take whatever steps possible to reduce infection NSW spread.

The  Corrective Services Commissioner already has broad discretionary powers to release prisoners early if they aged and frail or suffering from a terminal illness.

But Mr Speakman said the new amendments to the crimes (administration of sentences) act would also “create a power for the governor to make regulations determining a class of offenders for potential conditional release on parole”.

“These extraordinary measures are only to be used to respond to the threat of covid-19 and would allow the commissioner of corrective services to prioritise vulnerable offenders,’ Mr Speakman said.

The NSW Bar Association, however, has flagged “great concern” over some of the unprecedented measures under the NSW legislation amendment (emergency measures) bill.

Association President, Tim Game SC, the proposed use of pre-recorded evidence in criminal trials was “inconsistent with the fundamental concept of a criminal trial where evidence is led in support of a prosecution case and is tested on that basis’.

“There are no safeguards to ensure the integrity of the process by which evidence is taken remotely,’ Mr game said in a statement.

He said while it was “justifiable” to adopt this approach where a witness was at “significantly greater risk than others in the community from the virus”, it still posed a “substantial risk of unfair outcomes.”

Source : https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nsw-prisoners-to-be-released-early-over-coronavirus-fears/news-story/b073804683ced5044032b18b991a343e