Canberra's prison does not have enough staff to operate adequately and the system has a poor staff culture with a lack of management skills leading to negativity, a damning review has found.
Acting Corrections Commissioner Ray Johnson said some staff may need to move on if they could not be part of an improving culture as the report's recommendations were implemented.
"People will have an opportunity to be part of the new corrective services and hopefully everyone comes on board," Commissioner Johnson said.
Detainees who have a "persistent, inflammatory impact" on the prison population should be considered for interstate relocation, the report said, and the government should acknowledge such prisoners were beyond the capacity of a single facility.
The report also found staff training and professional development was inadequate in opportunity and scope, while the security of the environment at the Alexander Maconochie Centre contributed to staff safety concerns.
The report made six findings and 15 recommendations to the ACT government, including immediately increasing funding for staffing resources and establishing a maximum capacity for the ACT's prison and exploring options to reduce overcrowding.
The ACT government released the report, A new future for custodial services, on Thursday afternoon.
Corrections Minister Mick Gentleman said the government would accept the recommendations in principle, with some changes made immediately before work begins
"[I] will work with the Commissioner and the Justice and Community Safety Directorate in addressing the issues raised. I acknowledge that this will take time and commitment, as many of the issues raised are complex and systemic," Mr Gentleman said in a statement.
"I am committed to achieving long-term and meaningful change for ACT Corrective Services."
The report was prepared by an independent oversight committee, under chair Christine Nixon, who said in the report's foreword that the issues identified were complex and driven by many intersecting points.
"As such, the solutions are also complex, layered and will require careful sequencing to achieve the greatest effect for the efforts applied. Some of the proposed recommendations require considerable planning and groundwork, including related activities to be carefully rolled out in the right order and with the right process," Ms Nixon wrote.
Based on overtime data, there was a shortage of at least 19 people across the prison and the court transport unit, the report said, while recommending the government immediately increase funding for 15 people.
The government should also introduce better staff feedback models and develop training in both tactical leadership and operational management for senior staff and emerging leaders within the organisation.
Commissioner Johnson said staff were looking at the structure of the custodial services area within Corrective Services, which the report said should be simplified and have re-aligned acccountability functions.
"Often, cultural issues that are identified aren't necessarily about individuals; it's about systems and processes and a whole lot of other things," he said.
"And the report did reflect directly we need to do a better job of training our leaders. And that goes from frontline leaders right through to people like myself."
Mr Gentleman said much of the work to implement the recommendations would take place under a new head of Corrective Services. Commissioner Johnson, a former ACT chief police officer and deputy emergency services commissioner, has been acting in the corrections role since May 2021 following the removal of Jon Peach.
Commissioner Johnson said a recommendation to allow prison staff within the Alexander Maconochie Centre access to the internet had already been implemented.
"Some of them are going to be relatively easy to implement and some have already been implemented. Others are going to take much longer. But it's certainly a journey that we're now on," he said.
Smoking should be banned in the prison this year, the report said, which Mr Gentleman acknowledged would be contentious among the prison population.
"It's a real concern. And we know detainees are innovative. If they don't have lighters, they might find some other way which is not as safe," he said.
"We need to be really careful in making this implementation, helping them, of course, in the medical way to get away from smoking. I'm a reformed smoking, I know what it's like. So we'll try everything that we can to assist them."
A smoking ban in a Victorian prison in 2015 prompted a riot, which prompted then ACT corrections minister Shane Rattenbury to reaffirm the territory's commitment to banning smoking in "the long-term".
Mr Gentleman survived a no confidence motion in the Legislative Assembly in August after the opposition sought to have him removed as Corrections Minister following a series of incidents within the portfolio, including a prison riot and prisoner's escape.
