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  • 6 months ago
A motion brought by the government in the Senate to have the detention facilities at Tetron Barracks and Staubles Bay re-classified as 'prisons' instead of 'district prisons,' has been carried.

However, it wasn't without serious concerns from the Opposition and Independent benches.

Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00The prison's No. 2 order of 2025 came about due to the formation of a criminal syndicate
00:05which was seeking to make attempts on the lives of public officials,
00:09including members of the judiciary and law enforcement, triggering a state of emergency.
00:14The order designated detention facilities at Tetran Barracks in Stobles Bay District Prisons
00:20to allow for what Attorney General John Jeremy refers to as the preventative detention of
00:25rimandis who were transferred from the maximum security prison in Uruka to those facilities.
00:32While the legality of having rimandis detained at district prisons has been challenged by a rimandi,
00:37the AG says the prison's commissioner has the power to transfer any prisoner from one prison to another
00:43listed in Section 3 of the Prisons Act.
00:46According to Jeremy, it includes district prisons which, under the state of emergency,
00:52Tetran and Stobles Bay are also classified.
00:54But to avoid litigation, the government has taken further action through the motion brought to the Senate
01:00in the name of Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander.
01:04And out of an abundance of caution, the government proposes that the prison's order 2025 be revoked
01:14and that the premises designated as district prisons under the prison's order 2025
01:21be re-designated as prisons under Section 4 of the prison's act with effect from 18 July 2025.
01:32However, concerns have been raised by Opposition Senator Farris Al-Rawi,
01:36who says prisons under the act, especially those that are shared with another space,
01:42must be specified in terms of their exact geographical outline.
01:47According to Al-Rawi, this is important because prisons have specific rules
01:51that allow for things like the interception of communication for the purpose of evidence in court
01:56and where items such as cell phones are prohibited.
01:59Now, I accept that one may say during a state of emergency that we don't wish the public to know
02:07where the prison is, but that's not the law.
02:12We are here to declare a prison, and a prison is something which must be known with specificity in law.
02:19In this case here at Stobles Bay and at Tetran Barracks, what is the prison and what is the barracks?
02:26In response to that, Jeremy states that the decision to conceal certain facts was not done in silo.
02:33I'm prepared to stand behind the advice of the security forces.
02:43And those forces have asked us to designate premises in a particular way.
02:52The premises have been designated in that way.
02:58Jeremy says the Rimandis are secure in those premises.
03:03But Independent Senator Anthony Vieira, while in support of the motion, which he states must be temporary,
03:09believes it is important to keep the country's military separate and apart from the penal prison system
03:15and notes the possibility of corruption infiltrating the military.
03:20Are we even inadvertently creating a conduit through which high-risk criminals might gain exposure
03:29to military structures, personnel or tactics?
03:34The vote was put to the floor.
03:36Twenty-three members, senators, voted in favor of the motion.
03:48No member voted against the motion.
03:55Seven members abstained on the said motion.
04:01The motion is carried.
04:02The abstentions came from the opposition bench and Independent Senator Dr. Desiree Murray.
04:10Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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