Prisoners' rights

Part of the Prison topic

Understand prisoner's rights in Queensland.

In short

Prisoners in Queensland have the right to access legal help and health care, and to make complaints.

Depending on their circumstance, they may also have the right to vote, receive visitors, keep their infants with them and request a transfer or leave of absence.

What you should know

Sentenced prisoners in Queensland retain certain rights, regardless of their security classification. They may also be entitled to additional rights.

Basic rights

Prisoners retain certain basic rights, regardless of their security classification. These include the right to:

talk to a lawyer, either through Legal Aid Queensland lawyer or independently
receive medical care
submit complaints
take legal action if their rights have been violated
vote in some elections, conditions apply
apply to transfer to another prison, including interstate.

Depending on their security classification and the location of their prison, they may also be able to:

receive Centrelink payments, such as a crisis payment upon release or parenting payments if their child is with them in prison
have visitors
send and receive letters, which are subject to screening
make telephone calls, with a maximum of 10 approved numbers on their account (all calls, except legal calls, are monitored)
apply for a leave of absence for compassionate reasons,

Right to legal help

If prisoners need legal advice while in custody, Legal Aid Queensland’s prison legal advice lawyers can assist:

over the phone
via videoconference
in person at the prison.

Right to health care

Prisoners have the same rights to health care as people in the community.

They can:

request to see a nurse or doctor at the prison
request to see private doctors (conditions apply, and they must pay for this themselves).

Right to make a complaint

A prisoner can make a complaint directly to the prison’s General Manager via the ‘blue letter’ system. Complaints are investigated and a response provided to the prisoner. Prisoners can also speak directly to the prison’s officers.

If prisoners believe they’ve been discriminated against by prison management, they can submit a written complaint to the General Manager.

The complaint will be investigated and the prisoner will receive a written response, within required timeframes.

If they’re not satisfied with the response, they can submit a written complaint to the Official Visitor coordinator.

Once the Official Visitor has completed their investigation, the prisoner can escalate their complaint to the Queensland Human Rights Commission, if necessary.

Officers can provide more information about the complaints process.

Complaints about health care

If prisoners are unhappy with their health care or treatment, they can:

speak to their prisoner health team
provide feedback or lodge a complaint with their prison’s Hospital and Health Service (HHS).

If they are not satisfied with the response from the HHS, they can escalate their complaint to the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO).

Complaints can be made to the OHO on their website or by calling the OHO prisoner complaints line. Officers can provide the phone number to prisoners.

Right to request a transfer

Prisoners can request a transfer to another prison in Queensland or another state.

Consideration will be based on:

the prisoner’s welfare, especially if moving closer to family would benefit them
any outstanding offences in another state that could be addressed if they are transferred
the prisoner’s behaviour (for example, a history of poor behaviour may affect the request)
the prisoner’s safety, particularly if they are at risk due to providing evidence against other prisoners
the transfer’s potential impact on victims.

The prison service decides whether to approve transfer requests.

Right to keep an infant with them

Female prisoners have the right to keep their infant children with them, subject to an assessment process that puts the child(ren)'s best interests first.

Right to information

Under the Right to Information Act 2009 and Information Privacy Act 2009, prisoners have the right to:

apply for access to most government documents, including those held in Queensland Corrective Services files. Access to some information may be restricted.
request to remove or amend incorrect personal information on government files
access their medical records.