Last week St William’s Social Justice Group hosted a seminar on the Queensland Prisons system. Copies of the 2010 Report on Queensland Prisons were handed out.
Peter Arndt was one speaker. The other was Dave Martin Coordinator of the Catholic Prison Ministry based in South Brisbane. The Catholic Prison Ministry provides family support for those in prison assists with partial release programs meets with Prison Advisory committees without staff present and shares an office with the Prisoners’ Legal Service.
There are 5600 prisoners in Queensland including 300 women. Although QLD’s crime rate has dropped 10-15% in the last 10 years the imprisonment rate is static however the proportion of prisoners who are indigenous is trending steadily upwards and is now 30% up from 22% a decade ago.
Queensland has now removed all but one of the gradual release options for prisoners in the last 10 years. Parole is the only gradual release option left. It is notoriously difficult to get and is dependent on getting suitable accommodation outside which is hard to do.
To get parole you have to do programs. There are not enough programs for people to do so prisoners go past parole dates without having access to programs to make them eligible for parole.
The return to custody is very very high. In some areas there is 100% return to custody for minor parole breaches. The recidivism rate is 65% over a life-time (30% over the last two years).
The majority of prisoners are doing 2 years or less sentences.
If you are doing 2 years or less you are not eligible to do any programs or interventions except basic literacy. They’re basically just thrown into cells.
If you have a father in prison you’re 50% more likely to end up in prison.
There’s a lot of family break-up in families with a member in prison.
44% of people in prison across Australia are diagnosed with a mental illness. The figure could actually be up to 60% who have a mental illness.
Prisons are crammed full with people being doubled up in cells designed for one.
There are very low literacy rates among prisoners.
We spend $10 billion on justice systems and $2.5 billion on corrective services.
About 80% of young people in youth detention centres are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island descent.
There are a lot of people under child safety orders and they have a lot of intervention into their lives.
The pathways to crime and prison are well understood – unemployment unemployed families low education.
It is normalized for Aboriginal youth to go to gaol. Not seen as a big deal. Father uncle brother likely to be in there too. Accepted as a rite of passage. Have heard it expressed as “You don’t be a man until you’ve been to gaol.”
Many of the people going to prison are there because of drug problems. Drug Courts are helping with this.
Lack of health care is continually raised as an issue by prisoners. There is generally one doctor for 2 days a week for the whole prison population. There is no preventative healthcare and dental care is primitive. It comes up time and time again.
Prisons are appalling massive steel & concrete structures that are not facilitative of rehabilitation.
While there is capacity for prison farms those that exist are being under-utilized.
Nearly everyone in the prison system is in maximum security.
The Government and Corrective Services are very aware of the risk of something coming back on them if they release prisoners early. A lot of attention is given to managing the risk to the Government and Corrective Services so prisoners are held as long as possible in maximum security.
Q. Is there any difference between government and privately-managed prisons?
A. Yes. Arthur Gorey and Borallan are privately-managed. Borallan is one of the best-run prisons in QLD. Serco who runs Borallan runs prisons all around the world. Lower recidivism rates. After 6 years none of the other prisons are following their lead in spite of the excellent outcomes.
QLD is the only state that puts 17 year-olds into prisons with adults. There had been about 160 16 year-olds in prison for being extra violent.
The Catholic Bishops have identified 5 issues:
[ul]challenging the tough on crime fear campaigns
seeking to address the social factors
maintaining the dignity of people in prisons
support on release
ensuring alternatives to prison[/ul]
The Church sees a need for prisons to exist and to be a form of punishment but also to provide rehabilitation
[ul]not harsh barbaric punishment at the hands of other prisoners or prison officers
the lack of freedom is enough punishment
not seeing your family every day is a punishment[right][right][/right][/right][/ul]