Page 2707 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 10 August 2016
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It is absolutely essential that more be done in our corrections system to focus on rehabilitation. Even the Auditor-General has had quite a number of critical words to say around rehabilitation opportunities. She conducted an extensive audit on the structured day and the activities of rehabilitation and recidivist behaviour within the ACT. It showed that for a human rights compliant jail that was supposed to be prisoner-centric and that would support them in rehabilitation—world’s best practice, as far as human rights compliance goes—it has failed dismally. This was a “you beaut new” prison that we had to build. Those opposite took it to an election and made a commitment. They did the right thing in the instance of the prison. They actually took it to an election, which is more than you can say about the infrastructure projects that they are putting forward today.
We have now got a prison that is overrun with drugs, that is overrun with violence and that is failing to rehabilitate the offenders that our court systems send there. We only need to look at the lack of prison industry that exists. That is before the current minister regarding efficiency in the expansion project, or an over-budgeting in the expansion project perhaps. He is funnelling some of that money into setting up a bakery and a laundry which will serve only the prison itself.
I have seen some of the great work that Corrective Services New South Wales do in their prison industries. I went down to Junee. The prison there has an “earn or learn” policy. You are either in work, contributing to the prison itself or the community around the Junee prison, or you are studying: you are learning a trade or you are doing a tertiary qualification via correspondence. They are the two options that you are given whilst you are serving your sentence.
I must say that the return to community produced by that prison down there is phenomenal. They do meals on wheels out of the jail. They have low-risk prisoners heading out into the community to pick up litter on highways and do garden maintenance around the retirement village. They are doing the sorts of things in the community which councils or local governments simply cannot afford to do on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned for the ACT in terms of having more engagement with the community for those on the inside rather than forgetting that they are there until it is time for release.
It would be remiss of me not to raise one of the most controversial issues which plagued the last election and the early part of this term—since the departure of now Senator Gallagher, it seems to have gone quiet—and that is the introduction of needles into the AMC. Let me be clear: drugs do not belong in a prison. I do not think it is the place of Corrective Services officers or health officers in the jail to be facilitating drug use whilst someone is on a custodial sentence. Drugs do not belong in a jail.
It is a clear point of difference that at this election Canberrans will be able to have a choice on a number of issues. When it comes to Corrective Services they can have a jail system that is letting contraband in, that is failing to rehabilitate offenders and that is happy to facilitate drug use on the inside. Or they can have the alternative, where we will actually invest into genuine rehabilitation options for prisoners. We will have
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