Prison Fugitives Must Be Named and Shamed

The escape and whereabouts of individuals on parole truly highlights how flawed the criminal justice system has become under Labor’s watch.

The Cook Labor Government’s response has been complacent and lacklustre, failing to take decisive action and leaving the public to suffer the consequences.

It’s important to remember that parole is a mechanism the criminal justice system employs to reintegrate individuals back into society after serving a portion of their sentence.

It’s based on the idea that offenders, given appropriate support, can become law-abiding citizens.

If an individual breaches the conditions of their parole, their parole can be suspended and a return to prison warrant can be issued.

But what happens when a parolee goes missing?

Nothing quickly, it seems.

In May 2023, I asked about the whereabouts of violent sex offender Kiernan Donnelly.

Unbelievably, in answer to my question it was revealed that his whereabouts were confirmed as unknown on 6 February 2023, but it took until 13 April 2023 for the Prisoners Review Board to cancel his parole

Worse still, the Government did not know how many other dangerous offenders were on the run, claiming it would have to manually analyse each case file.

The answers to my further questions are alarming.

In the period between 1 July 2022 and 26 May 2023, 228 Parolees had their parole cancelled for breaching parole conditions.

Not satisfied that we were getting the complete answer, I asked the Police Minister how long the oldest return to prison warrant had been outstanding.

Remarkably, it was 225 days.

And despite this prison fugitive being on the run for months, the Government refused to tell our community who this person is. Presumably this is someone we should all be on the lookout for?

However, when I pursued this further I found out there were 63 fugitives on the run, some for as long as 18, 25 and 36 years!

I persistently pursued this line of questioning throughout 2024, and in November, it was revealed that the number of fugitives had decreased to 35.

However, that is still 35 prison fugitives on the run and posing a serious risk to the safety of our community.

This issue should ignite public debate and raise serious concerns about the state of our criminal justice system.

In September 2024, the identities of some of these most elusive fugitives were finally revealed to Western Australians, after repeated calls from the Liberal Opposition.

Among them is violent sex offender Kiernan Donnelly as mentioned above, who had been missing for over 570 days as of November 2024.

Another being Joshua Andrew Maxfield, an armed robber who has been on the run for eight years.

But what about the identities of the remaining prison fugitives?

I’m sure you’ll find it extraordinary that the Cook Labor Government are still protecting the identities of these prison fugitives.

One in particular, having thumbed his nose at the law for 13,501 days (as of 11 November 2024) is still being granted anonymity.

Why is that?

Well, we haven’t been given any satisfactory answers from Premier Cook or Minister Papalia.

Importantly, this reveals two things:

1. The Cook Labor Government are not managing public safety.

2. By withholding information, the Cook Labor Government has prioritised the privacy of fugitives over the safety of Western Australians.

The escape of parolees is not simply an unfortunate occurrence. It is an occurrence that demands the most urgent of responses.

Escaped parolees pose an immediate and tangible threat, so don’t we have a right to know about them?

Shouldn’t we expect that the Prisoners Review Board will immediately cancel their parole?

Shouldn’t we expect that Corrective Services will immediately issue a return-to-prison warrant?

These individuals have evaded the limited supervision they were subjected to.

With no accountability, they are free to commit further crimes and the toll on victims, their families, and entire communities cannot be overstated.

I have been calling for the following:

1. Immediately publish the identity of all fugitives who are the subject of return to prison warrants.

2. Order a review of the Prisoners Review Board to ensure decisions to grant early release are subjected to greater scrutiny.

Western Australia desperately needs a return to Responsible Government.