Overcrowding at Canberra's only adult jail, home to almost a dozen organised criminal gangs, is putting pressure on staff and detainees, a top prison official has said.
ACT Corrective Services commissioner Leanne Close said the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) had been "very strained" and accommodation proved to be a daily challenge.
The commissioner and other senior officials appeared alongside former corrections minister Dr Marisa Paterson in a budget estimates hearing this week, where they spoke of population pressures, prison gangs, and new security measures.
