What happens after I make a complaint to the Ombudsman?

Within 10 days of receiving your complaint, the Ombudsman should let you know:

• They have received your complaint
• Which staff member is dealing with the complaint
• Their contact details

Once an Ombudsman staff member has been allocated your complaint, they must decide to do one of these things:

1. Decide not to look into the complaint (e.g. because you have not complained to the prison first, or it has been more than 12 months since the issue happened, or there is no real outcome that can be achieved)
   • If this happens, the Ombudsman will let you know, and tell you why they have made that decision
2. Deal with the complaint by:
   • Contacting the prison to see if the issue can be resolved
   • Making a recommendation to the prison about what should be done
   • Organising conciliation (scroll down for more information on what this means)
3. Ask the prison for more information before dealing with the complaint
4. Investigate more complex cases (scroll down for more information on what this means)

Important: The Ombudsman cannot force the prison to do anything.

What is conciliation?

Conciliation is a meeting between you (and a support person if you want), the prison and a conciliator. A conciliator is a person from the Ombudsman who is impartial (meaning they don’t take sides), who will listen to both sides and try to help you and the prison come up with solutions to the issue.

Conciliators are not judges – they cannot make a ruling or finding like a court, and they cannot force you or the prison to do anything. They can suggest options to help resolve the issue.

The types of outcomes that can come from conciliation are:

• The prison reversing its decision or action that led to your complaint
• The prison acknowledging their mistake and apologising
• The prison providing a better explanation for their decision or action

What is an investigation?

If the Ombudsman contacts the prison but the complaint can’t be easily resolved, they might decide to do a proper investigation. The Ombudsman investigates less than 10% of the complaints they get.

The Ombudsman is more likely to investigate complaints when:

• The complaint is serious and has wider implications or impacts for other people in prison; or
• There is a need for the Ombudsman to give a formal opinion about whether the prison did the wrong thing.

Investigations can take up to 12 months to complete. If the Ombudsman decides to investigate your complaint, they will let you know.

Source: Victorian Ombudsman website