tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment-15930/articlesState of Imprisonment – The Conversation2015-04-26T19:30:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/399992015-04-26T19:30:50Z2015-04-26T19:30:50ZOur $3b-a-year system is flying blind in supporting ex-prisoners<p><em>This article is one of several following up The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Nobody knows how many people get out of prison in Australia each year. This fact is so striking that it bears repetition. Despite recurring investment of more than <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/recurring/report-on-government-services/2015/justice/corrective-services">$3 billion a year in our correctional systems</a>, we simply cannot determine how many people move through those systems each year.</p>
<p>It’s not that this information is difficult to find, or that it’s not publicly available. We simply don’t know.</p>
<h2>Understanding throughput is important</h2>
<p>For other large, state-based and publicly funded systems, such as hospitals and schools, information on throughput is readily available, and rightly so. These systems are funded by the taxpayer, for the taxpayer, and routine public reporting is critical to ensuring transparency and accountability. </p>
<p>Information on throughput is also critical to service planning: if we don’t know how many people use the service, or what these people look like, how can we possibly ensure that the service is appropriate in scale and character?</p>
<p>Yet we can only estimate how many people move through our prisons each year. We don’t have even a basic demographic description of these people. This information is important because almost everyone who goes to prison comes back out again, and effective support during the transition from prison to community is critical to preventing re-offending. </p>
<p>Effective transitional support can also reduce the risk of other poor outcomes that disproportionately affect ex-prisoners, such as preventable death, the spread of infectious disease and expensive, avoidable hospitalisation. </p>
<p>Effective support for people coming out of prison is therefore critical to public safety, public health and the public purse. But we don’t know how many people in Australia need this sort of transitional support.</p>
<h2>What <em>do</em> we know?</h2>
<p>It’s not that we don’t know anything about the people we incarcerate: for well over a decade the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has produced a <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4512.0">quarterly publication</a> that reports how many people were in prison on an average day, broken down by basic demographic characteristics. For example, we know that Indigenous Australians are over-represented in our prisons by an age-adjusted factor of 13. The ABS also produces an <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4517.0">annual publication</a> reporting on the number and characteristics of people in prison on June 30 of each year.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the redundancy in these two publications, so far so good. The problem is, people being released from prison look different to those in prison, and there are a lot more of them. How can this be?</p>
<p>For the purposes of illustration, let’s consider our hospitals. According to the <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129546922">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)</a>, in 2012-13 there were about 86,300 hospital beds in Australia and for the 42% of patients who stayed in hospital overnight, the average length of stay was just 5.6 days. Because of this staggering throughput, there were almost 9.4 million hospital separations – when someone is discharged from hospital – in the 2012-13 financial year. This is more than 100 times the number of hospital beds, which is a pretty good proxy for the number of people in hospital on the average day.</p>
<p>Now let’s consider our prisons. Across the country we have almost 34,000 people in prison on the average day and we’re spending billions building more prison beds, at a rate well in excess of population growth. Prisons are, by definition, a growth industry. </p>
<p>The average expected length of stay for sentenced prisoners is 1.8 years, but for those on remand – around one in four prisoners – the average length of stay is just three months. Almost two in five of those released from prison return within two years, most of them within the first year. Those with unresolved substance use and mental health problems are more likely to return to custody.</p>
<p>So how many “prison separations” do we have each year in Australia? How many people does this represent? We don’t know.</p>
<p>In 2012, the AIHW asked the states and territories to provide this information, for inclusion in a report on the <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129543948">health of Australia’s prisoners</a>. On June 30 of that year there were 29,236 prisoners in Australia. Based on the information it received, the AIHW estimated that 33,751 individuals – 15% greater than the average daily number in prison – were released during the 2011-12 financial year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this estimate was hobbled by the fact that one jurisdiction was unable to provide a count of either receptions or releases, while another provided a count of separations rather than individuals.</p>
<h2>What did our research find?</h2>
<p>More recently, we attempted to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12346/abstract">estimate this figure</a> by extrapolating from detailed throughput data provided by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. After accounting for demographic differences between the jurisdictions, we estimated that the number of people released from prison each year in Australia is around 25% greater than the daily number in prison. Applied to the most recent ABS statistics, this equates to an estimated 42,239 persons released from prison in 2013-14 – 8,448 more than the “number of prisoners” reported by the ABS.</p>
<p>Perhaps more importantly, we found that the characteristics of people being released from prison differ meaningfully from those in prison. Those being released were disproportionately young, Indigenous and female. For every young Indigenous woman in prison on the average day, we estimated that about 3.7 young Indigenous women were being released from prison each year.</p>
<p>Is this dramatic over-representation of particularly vulnerable people taken into account in the planning and funding of transitional programs for prisoners in Australia? It seems unlikely.</p>
<h2>Fix the data to fix the system</h2>
<p>So what needs to be done? First, an appropriate national body, probably the ABS, needs to commit to annual reporting of prison throughput in Australia. This should include at least the basic demographic characteristics of those released. It’s not rocket science, and would for the first time provide a platform for considering whether transitional programs for prisoners are appropriate in scale and character. </p>
<p>Then comes the hard bit: bringing evidence-based transitional programs to scale and ensuring that they are appropriate to the target population. With a rapidly increasing incarceration rate, enormous capital and recurring expenditure on the prison system, and predictably poor health, economic and offending outcomes for those released from prison, it’s about time we stopped flying blind in service planning for ex-prisoners.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Alex Avery was a co-author of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12346/full">the research paper</a> published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, on which this article is based.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read the other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Kinner is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. He receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council, and co-convenes the Justice Health Special Interest Group in the Public Health Association of Australia.</span></em></p>We simply don’t know how many prisoners are released each year, nor their demographic characteristics. As a result, we cannot tailor services that would reduce ex-prisoners’ risks of re-offending.Stuart Kinner, Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/387092015-04-24T01:43:11Z2015-04-24T01:43:11ZOffline inmates denied education and skills that reduce re-offending<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/74576/original/image-20150312-13508-1776c01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education has been found to reduce prisoners' re-offending, but how can they gain the skills they need without the internet?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/emiliano-iko/4626758148">Flickr/I K O</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is one of several following up The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Technology has found its way into virtually every aspect of our daily lives. But for those who don’t have access to the internet and other technologies, how are they expected to keep up? One group for whom this may present a problem is prison inmates. </p>
<p>Technology in prison is <a href="http://simpsoncenter.org/projects/public-humanities-scholarship/transformative-education-behind-bars">highly restricted</a>. But, once outside prison, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_literacy">digital literacy skills</a> — the awareness of, knowledge about and ability to select and use digital tools — are necessary to function effectively in 21st-century society.</p>
<h2>Rehabilitation through education</h2>
<p>Following their release, many offenders face significant barriers to entering the workforce. Recent research suggests that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/230260/11-828-making-prisons-work-skills-for-rehabilitation.pdf">nearly half</a> (47%) of prisoners have no formal qualifications, compared to 15% among similar age groups in the general population. </p>
<p>Only <a href="http://rightnow.org.au/topics/education/can-prisoners-receive-quality-education-without-access-to-the-internet/">14% of Australian prisoners</a> have completed year 12, compared to 63% of the general population. These figures are even more dire for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners.</p>
<p>As of 2014, there were <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4517.0">33,791 prisoners in Australia</a> and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders represent 27% of the full-time adult prison population. This is a grim statistic given they make up approximately <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/indigenous-observatory/health-and-welfare/">2.5%</a> of the general population.</p>
<p>Perhaps most alarming is that <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6860179/Providing_simulated_online_and_mobile_learning_experiences_in_a_prison_education_setting_Lessons_learned_from_the_PLEIADES_pilot_project">56%</a> of prisoners will re-offend.</p>
<p>A 2008 study in the US estimated that <a href="https://ischool.uw.edu/feature-stories/linking-locked-ischool-student-investigates-digital-literacy-behind-bars">one in every 100 adults</a> is behind bars and more than 40% will return to prison following their release. Rates of recidivism are as high as 60% in the UK.</p>
<p>But for prisoners undertaking post-secondary education programs, rates of recidivism are considerably lower. In <a href="https://ischool.uw.edu/feature-stories/linking-locked-ischool-student-investigates-digital-literacy-behind-bars">Norway</a>, where internet access is permitted in inmates’ cells, recidivism rates are as low as 20%. In New Zealand, educational programs are helping to <a href="http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/Wellington12/2012/images/custom/farley,_helen_-_bridging_the_digital.pdf">reduce recidivism</a> by anywhere between 8% and 11%.</p>
<p>However, higher education institutions are moving almost exclusively to online delivery of courses and few universities will offer an education to incarcerated students because it is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-30/hope-new-tertiary-program-in-prisons-help-stop-recidivism/5634620">difficult and time-consuming</a>.</p>
<p>This raises serious issues <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6860179/Providing_simulated_online_and_mobile_learning_experiences_in_a_prison_education_setting_Lessons_learned_from_the_PLEIADES_pilot_project">in Australia</a>, as in most parts of the world, where most jurisdictions do not permit inmates to access the internet. As a result, we are faced with a situation in which prisoners could miss out entirely on the chance to study.</p>
<p>Although <a href="http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/Wellington12/2012/images/custom/farley,_helen_-_bridging_the_digital.pdf">traditional forms</a> of educational delivery using hard-copy materials have been largely successful, they do not allow incarcerated students to develop the digital literacy skills required to function in today’s society.</p>
<h2>Education initiatives</h2>
<p>Every day, thousands of inmates are released into the outside world —a hyper-connected, digital society that may be unrecognisable. Many will not have the digital skills they need to secure employment following their release from prison. This increases the likelihood that they will re-offend.</p>
<p>A number of initiatives are underway that aim to equip prisoners with skills they will need to make them attractive to future employers.</p>
<p>In the UK, the Open University is providing courses via the <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/about/offender-learning/data-and-developments/virtual-campus">Virtual Campus</a>, a secure network accessible by most prisons, with the aim of providing a whole higher education curriculum for prisoners.</p>
<p>Closer to home, the <a href="http://www.acea.org.au/Content/2009%20Papers/Koudstaal_2009.pdf">Tasmanian Prison Service</a> developed a secure network to give incarcerated students access to Moodle - the learning management system used by some institutions. </p>
<p>At the <a href="http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0000177634">Alexander Maconochie Centre</a> in the ACT, computers are available in educational centres and in most cells prisoners are allowed to access approved websites containing educational materials and legal resources. This is the only prison in Australia that permits direct access to the internet.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.usq.edu.au/news-events/News/2013/03/prison-trial">University of Southern Queensland</a> is trialing the use of e-learning technologies (tablet computers and a version of the learning management system) that are independent of the internet but still enable students to access courses electronically. </p>
<p>The aim is to give incarcerated students a comparable learning experience to non-incarcerated students and facilitate the development of digital skills that will enhance their employability. The trial is being rolled out across Australia in 2016.</p>
<h2>Beyond the prison walls</h2>
<p>The increasing reliance on mobile and digital devices for learning further excludes prisoners from access to education. But the delivery of courses via the internet also <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6860179/Providing_simulated_online_and_mobile_learning_experiences_in_a_prison_education_setting_Lessons_learned_from_the_PLEIADES_pilot_project">affects people</a> living in rural and remote communities, people from low socio-economic backgrounds and those in the developing world where internet access is simply not available. </p>
<p>This is food for thought given that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Internet_usage">61%</a> of the world’s population is unable to access the internet.</p>
<p>The technical and educational initiatives above give students without internet access, including incarcerated students, the opportunity to benefit from the advantages afforded by digital technologies in <a href="http://www.usq.edu.au/news-events/News/2013/03/prison-trial">learning and teaching</a>.</p>
<p>With prisons becoming increasingly overcrowded as a consequence of the “tough on crime” policies of many politicians, we should be looking at ways of reducing recidivism through providing quality education that adequately prepares prisoners for the outside world.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read the other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Farley receives funding from the Australian Government Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program for the Making the Connection project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Antonio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Education has been found to reduce prisoners’ re-offending, but how can they be properly educated today without internet access?Amy Antonio, Lecturer, University of Southern QueenslandHelen Farley, Associate Professor (Digital Futures), University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/400112015-04-23T20:20:53Z2015-04-23T20:20:53ZGood mental health care in prisons must begin and end in the community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79030/original/image-20150423-3083-33anbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Entry to prison presents an opportunity to identify mental illnesses and provide treatment that will continue after release.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-12694777/stock-photo-worried-man-side-view.html?src=klMkBco2rCTb5tzoA6xi4w-1-7">nando viciano/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People with mental illnesses are greatly overrepresented in our prisons. Prisoners are <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/prisoner-health/mental-health/">two to three times as likely</a> as those in the community to have a mental illness and are ten to 15 times more likely to have a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/doi/10.1111/j.1742-9544.2012.00088.x/abstract">psychotic disorder</a>. Our research <a href="http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/article/10.1007/s00127-010-0256-5">suggests</a> one in three people taken into police custody are likely to be receiving psychiatric treatment at the time. If you include those with a substance misuse disorder, the numbers increase even further. </p>
<p>Prisoners with mental illnesses often do not adapt well to prison. They are more likely to be at risk for suicide and to present management difficulties for prison staff.</p>
<p>A high percentage of prisoners are on remand awaiting sentence and most receive relatively short sentences, so we need to consider the continuity of mental health care from the community, through the period of incarceration and back in the community upon release. </p>
<p>To this end, entry into the justice system can be viewed as a public health opportunity to identify those with mental illnesses and provide treatment that will continue upon release to the community.</p>
<p>Better identifying and addressing these mental health needs not only helps those receiving care and their families, it may also reduce incarceration rates, benefiting the whole community.</p>
<h2>Better screening and identification</h2>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/E/B/4/%7BEB4E29C4-4390-41C6-8EEF-93AB042C6BFC%7Dtandi334.pdf">many entry points</a> to the justice system. At each point, a mechanism is required to identify those with a serious mental illness. </p>
<p>Most importantly, people entering police custody and prisons must be screened to identify symptoms of mental illness. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for mental illnesses to be first identified on admission to prison. For those with previously diagnosed disorders, their treatment needs must be identified to ensure they continue to receive care. </p>
<p>All states routinely undertake mental health screening on admission to prison, although the practices vary widely. Best practice in prison mental health screening requires a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14789949.2014.933862#abstract">standardised reception screening measure</a>, used by a mental health professional. </p>
<p>Less screening and identification of mental health conditions occurs at other points of entry to the justice system.</p>
<h2>Community diversion</h2>
<p>Many people entering custody have received mental health treatment in the community, raising the question of why we don’t divert more mentally ill individuals from custody to community mental health services.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/article/10.1007/s00127-010-0256-5">own research</a> shows that almost a third (32%) of detainees being taken into police custody in Victoria were receiving psychiatric treatment in the community at the time of being arrested. Of these people, half (17%) were being treated by a public mental health service.</p>
<p>Court-based mental health services offer great opportunity to intervene for people who do not go into police custody or prison.
New South Wales, for example, has been gradually expanding court and custodial diversion of mentally ill individuals. Most diversions come from the courts to community mental health services, with a smaller number of diversions coming from custody. The state is now diverting around 2,000 people per year. </p>
<p>Diversion is one of the best strategies for keeping people with mental illnesses out of the justice system. This, of course, raises concerns about the capacity of community mental health services. </p>
<p>However, not all people are suitable for diversion. Entry into such programs must be dependent on the person’s charges and behaviour.</p>
<h2>Services in prisons</h2>
<p>When it comes to mental health care, the proverbial buck stops with prisons. Medicare does not extend to prisoners, so all in-custody mental health services must be funded within state health and justice budgets. </p>
<p>The standard for prisoner mental health care should be equivalent to that which is expected in the community. But while community and inpatient services may turn away patients, the same is not true for prisons. </p>
<p>In a number of states, prison health and mental health services are funded by justice, not health. This amplifies the disconnect between community and prison-based services and represents a lost opportunity for the provision of services and for the continuity of care.</p>
<p>Services within prisons require a mix of providers, including general practitioners, mental health nurses, clinical psychologists, allied mental health staff and psychiatrists. Most prisoners with mental illnesses can be managed in mainstream settings in the prison, receiving what is termed “outpatient” services. </p>
<p>However, clear pathways and services must enable prisoners to voluntarily escalate to more specialist care. Specialist mental health units <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19296268">currently operate</a> in large reception prisons in Melbourne and Sydney, with hundreds of admissions annually. </p>
<p>Options must also be available to transfer prisoners requiring involuntary hospitalisation to forensic hospitals or other appropriate mental health units in hospitals. This is an incredibly challenging matter since it is common for prisoners to be held in prisons, certified for transfer to hospital, but unable to leave the prison due to a lack of hospital beds in the community. </p>
<p>Prisons also require so-called “step down” units that enable prisoners with mental illnesses to transition from specialist mental health units to mainstream units.</p>
<h2>Care on release from custody</h2>
<p>All too often, prisoners with mental illnesses are released without the arrangement of appropriate follow-up care and without the psychiatric medication necessary to maintain their mental health. </p>
<p>While many states offer transitional care, this is an area that requires much greater coordination and resources. When prisoners are released from custody, even if discharge care and planning is arranged, they can nonetheless be all too easily lost to contact, only to have them deteriorate and re-engage in the behaviour for which they were initially incarcerated.</p>
<h2>Mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners</h2>
<p>A common theme throughout this <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">series on the state of Australian prisons</a> is the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners. </p>
<p>The difficulties with mental illness are compounded in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. Recent <a href="http://assets.justice.vic.gov.au/corrections/resources/07c438bf-63a6-49bb-8426-d7fd073808a6/koori_prisoner_mental_health.pdf">research in Victoria</a> revealed that 72% of male Aboriginal prisoners and 92% of female Aboriginal prisoners met the criteria for a diagnosis of a major mental illness. This research parallels similar findings in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. </p>
<p>Victoria has <a href="http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/home/your+rights/aboriginal+justice+agreement/aboriginal+social+and+emotional+wellbeing+plan#breadcrumbs">recently released</a> an Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Plan to better address the mental health needs of Aboriginal prisoners. Other states have developed plans but clearly much more needs to be done in this area.</p>
<h2>Careful planning</h2>
<p>To be most effective, the delivery of mental health care in custodial settings needs to be carefully planned with a statewide approach that forms part of a comprehensive forensic mental health service. </p>
<p>Although not mentioned above, services are required for other populations, including female prisoners who have even higher rates of mental illness. The mental health needs of culturally and linguistically diverse prisoners also present challenges. </p>
<p>While the states are struggling with increasing numbers of prisoners, great promise exists to divert large numbers of people with mental illnesses out of prisons, and to provide greater care to those in custody and on release from prison.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Ogloff is a member of the executive of Forensicare, which is contracted to provide specialist mental health services in Victorian prisons; he is also a Board Member of the Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health Network in NSW, which provides health services in justice. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the policy of his employers. He receives funding from the ARC and AIC investigating the mental health of prisoners.</span></em></p>Our research suggests one in three people taken into police custody are likely to be receiving psychiatric treatment at the time.James Ogloff, University Distinguished Professor of Forensic Behavioural Science, Director of the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, Victorian Institute of Forensic Behavioural Science (Forensicare), Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/400742015-04-22T19:45:53Z2015-04-22T19:45:53ZThe evidence is in: you can’t link imprisonment to crime rates<p><em>This article is one of several following up The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of the costs and consequences of imprisonment and the alternatives.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Prison populations in Australia are increasing rapidly. This is usually said to be driven by increases in crime. Digging deeper though, in Australia and internationally, the link is far less clear. The extent of a country’s use of imprisonment seems in fact to be more a matter of policy choice than of necessity. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-imprisonment-victoria-is-leading-the-nation-backwards-38905">Victoria’s prison system</a> has experienced particularly striking overcrowding in the past two years. More people are being sentenced to prison. More people are being remanded in custody rather than being granted bail. At the same time more people are being refused parole and therefore serving their full sentence in prison.</p>
<p>Governments argue that crime rates are increasing, that communities are fearful and that more offenders must therefore be sent to prison. Some horrific high-profile crimes by people on parole have also led to the closing off of parole.</p>
<p>In fact, crime rates are not increasing in any uniform way. The <a href="http://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/home/media+centre/news/key+figures+year+to+31+december+2014">latest figures</a> for Victoria, where imprisonment rates have risen sharply, show increases in some offences (including some but not all violent offences) and decreases in some offences, while most remained stable. </p>
<p>The increased use of imprisonment was not simply a response to increased crime. And the time lag between offending and sentencing rules out the argument that recent increases in the prison population have – for example, by deterrence – led to any stabilisation of the crime rate.</p>
<p>So crime rates are not driving the increasing use of incarceration. This conclusion is borne out by looking outside Australia. </p>
<h2>The global picture of crime and imprisonment</h2>
<p>The use of <a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_population_rate?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All">imprisonment around the world</a> varies enormously. </p>
<p>For instance, the US famously imprisons more of its population than almost any other country (698 prisoners per 100,000 population). Scandinavian countries use prisons at about one-tenth of that rate (e.g. Denmark 67/100,000, Sweden 57/100,000), with the UK at 144/100,000. The <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4512.0Main%20Features1December%20Quarter%202014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4512.0&issue=December%20Quarter%202014&num=&view=">latest ABS data</a> puts Australia’s imprisonment rate at 190/100,000 but rising fast.</p>
<p>At the same time we see that crime rates vary around the world – but not really in a way that correlates with imprisonment rates. For example, crime rates increased significantly throughout the developed world from about the 1970s to the 1990s. But, in that period, <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo5417922.html">Michael Tonry shows</a> imprisonment rates increased significantly in the USA and the Netherlands, remained stable in Canada and Norway, zigzagged in France and fell sharply in Finland and Japan.</p>
<p>In fact there is no obvious relationship between imprisonment rates and crime rates. Research by <a href="http://www.rsf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/lehrstuehle/duenkel/LappiSeppala_PenalSeverity.pdf">Tapio Lappi-Seppala shows</a>, for example, that for some countries’ imprisonment rates move in line with crime rates (such as the USA, Denmark, Germany and Japan), while in other countries they move in opposite directions (such as in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand).</p>
<p>Looking just at <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-scandinavian-prisons-are-superior/279949/">Scandinavian countries</a>, much can be learnt about the politics of imprisonment from <a href="http://euc.sagepub.com/content/9/2/206.refs">Finland’s experience</a>. In the 1960s the government decided to reduce the use of imprisonment to bring Finland more into line with the other <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:526664/FULLTEXT01.pdf">Scandinavian countries</a>.</p>
<p>Between 1960 and 1990 the Finnish imprisonment rate fell from 165/100,000 to 60/100,000. This <a href="http://euc.sagepub.com/content/9/2/206.full.pdf+html">was achieved by</a>, for instance, reducing the offences for which imprisonment was an available sentence, shortening sentences, increasing early release schemes, introducing community service sentences and severely restricting the availability of prison terms for young offenders.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.oijj.org/en/interviews/dr-tapio-lappi-seppala-director-general-of-the-national-research-institute-of-legal-polic">Finnish commentator</a> argues that this was possible because of the political will to change. This was itself made possible by a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/international/europe/02FINL.html">social and political consensus</a> in a political system not driven by short electoral cycles and in which governments look for and accept expert independent advice on alternative forms of punishments.</p>
<p>But it was also achievable because at that time Finland had no tabloid press; <a href="https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&doctype=cite&docid=37+Crime+%26+Just.+313&key=1bfbc1bd36f78ba4facd854ddb148ced">crime was not a “hot button” issue</a> used to sell newspapers.</p>
<p>While Finland was cutting its prison rates enormously compared to the rest of Scandinavia, the trends and rates of recorded crime were <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4-_FBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT17&dq=%22Resisting+punitiveness+in+Europe%22+Snacken+and+Dumortier+2012&ots=RjM1CjpHut&sig=Pb9SVKXMdtbekMb-LqONeR6y1-w#v=onepage&q=%22Resisting%20punitiveness%20in%20Europe%22%20Snacken%20and%20Dumortier%202012&f=false">similar across all these countries</a>. From 1950 to 2010 crime rates in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland rose uniformly and in parallel up to about 1990 and then levelled off or declined. Prison rates in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, however, were similar and stable, while the Finnish prison rates dropped dramatically. </p>
<h2>If crime rates don’t explain it, what is happening?</h2>
<p><a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Penal_Systems.html?id=dXA7oj1L9BkC&redir_esc=y">Analyses</a> by many <a href="http://www.sagepub.com/banks/articles/01/Nelken_CH01.pdf">commentators</a> link the differential use of imprisonment to broader political frameworks and levels of social inequality. They point out that neoliberal countries – such as the USA and Australia – tend to have higher imprisonment rates, while social democracies such as Scandinavian countries have low imprisonment rates.</p>
<p>Related explanations focus on whether a country has inclusionary or exclusionary politics. <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ahlaaziwIeEC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=%22exclusionary+cultural+attitudes%22&source=bl&ots=8Pfj3mJTOH&sig=L5Aqj3oNDrzmmWakhtaKXcexhpI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=reQ2VYv8CIL3mQXXjICoDg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22exclusionary%20cultural%20attitudes%22&f=false">It is argued</a> that neoliberal societies have the highest prison rates because they have social and economic policies that lead to “exclusionary cultural attitudes” towards deviant fellow citizens. By contrast, European corporatist societies (“coordinated market economies”) and Scandinavian social democratic societies <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ahlaaziwIeEC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=%22see+offenders+as+needing+resocialisation,+which+is+the+responsibility+of+the+community+as+a+whole%22&source=bl&ots=8Pfj3mJUQI&sig=iN_yBnjWuQ1O58ljB5Ury2CYoJo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JuU2VeOUA-HPmwWuh4DQDg&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22see%20offenders%20as%20needing%20resocialisation%2C%20which%20is%20the%20responsibility%20of%20the%20community%20as%20a%20whole%22&f=false">are said to</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>see offenders as needing resocialisation, which is the responsibility of the community as a whole.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/660822?uid=3737536&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21106541823843">Links can also be made</a> between a country’s welfare system and rates of imprisonment: reduced welfare correlates with increased imprisonment. The association between increasingly punitive policies and the winding back of the welfare state in the USA and the UK is often noted. The USA has the highest <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/19/global-inequality-how-the-u-s-compares/">levels of income inequality</a> of Western countries, the Scandinavian countries the lowest. Scandinavia also ranks <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo12521631.html">highest on social expenditure</a> within Europe.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78874/original/image-20150422-23630-lnd7rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Halden Prison is a maximum-security prison in Norway with a focus on rehabilitation that is reflected in its design.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halden_Prison#/media/File:Interior_in_Halden_prison.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Norway Ministry of Justice</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Imprisonment is a political choice</h2>
<p>The form of democracy may also be important to political and community attitudes to punishment. Some commentators (see <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/Penal_Systems.html?id=dXA7oj1L9BkC&redir_esc=y">here</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ahlaaziwIeEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Comparative+Criminal+Justice+and+Globalization%22+Nelken&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uuY2VaGPPKOnmAWQ5IDYCQ&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Comparative%20Criminal%20Justice%20and%20Globalization%22%20Nelken&f=false">here</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=yJ2VQgAACAAJ&dq=%22CRIME,+PUNISHMENT,+AND+POLITICS+IN+A+COMPARATIVE+PERSPECTIVE%22+Tonry&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B-c2VZj8B6S6mAWCyIDABQ&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA">here</a> and <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/au/academic/subjects/law/criminal-law/prisoners-dilemma-political-economy-and-punishment-contemporary-democracies">here</a>) make the comparison of confrontational two-party democracies, such as the USA and Australia, with more consensus-driven democracies such as Scandinavian countries. </p>
<p>Majoritarian two-party systems, it is argued, tend to give rise to adversarial and punitive law-and-order politics. By contrast, consensus-based models of decision making are said to prioritise compromise, making oppositional correctional politics unlikely.</p>
<p>Clearly, the extent of the use of imprisonment is a policy choice by governments. Looking around the world it is now widely recognised that there is no direct relationship between crime rates and imprisonment rates. There is a clearer connection between rates of imprisonment and levels of social inequality.</p>
<p>If crime rates don’t demand increased use of imprisonment, we must immediately reconsider our headlong rush to hyper-incarceration. If we were to learn from the international comparison, we would be investing much more in schools, families and communities, and much less in prisons.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read the other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Naylor has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Some claim rising crime rates justify jailing more people, others that such policies cut crime. Evidence from around the world shows those claims are wrong and that we should be looking at inequality.Bronwyn Naylor, Associate professor, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389882015-04-22T01:30:55Z2015-04-22T01:30:55ZState of imprisonment: Tasmania escapes ‘law and order’ infection<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78180/original/image-20150416-23333-hzckiw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most of Tasmania's relatively small prison population is housed at Risdon Prison Complex</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risdon_Prison_Complex#/media/File:Risdon.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/'Risdon' by Wiki ian</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20states%20and%20territories%7E10000">Imprisonment rates in Tasmania</a> have steadily declined over the past decade – the only state or territory where this has happened. From a high of almost 150 prisoners per 100,000 adults in 2005, present rates are around 112 per 100,000. This translates to fewer than 500 people.</p>
<p>The correctional project in Tasmania is therefore quite small compared to other Australian states. </p>
<p><br></p>
<iframe src="https://d3602hfvnbc5pq.cloudfront.net/HiHjh/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="420"></iframe>
<p>This is reflected in the <a href="http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/prisonservice/home">Tasmanian Corrections infrastructure</a>: Risdon Prison Complex (which includes medium- and maximum-security units), Ron Barwick Minimum-Security Prison and Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison, all on the same general site in Hobart. Hobart Reception Prison (in the CBD) and Launceston Reception Prison also provide secure containment facilities. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, corrective services spending per prisoner per day, as measured by net recurrent and capital costs, is <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/facts/1-20/2013/7_resources.html">among the highest</a> in the country. Compared with alternatives offered by community corrections, incarceration costs a lot.</p>
<p>This high cost, in turn, raises issues of value for money (can other sanctions reduce re-offending and do so more cheaply?) and the desirability of using imprisonment more generally (does the expenditure lead to less or more crime?). </p>
<h2>What has Tasmania done to cut imprisonment rates?</h2>
<p>Partly in response to these questions, the shrinking of the prison population has been accompanied by several measures:</p>
<ul>
<li> expansion of better support services within the corrections system</li>
<li> establishment of innovative projects that engage offenders</li>
<li> use of systemic measures that encourage rehabilitation ideals. </li>
</ul>
<p>Examples of support and rehabilitation programs include:</p>
<ul>
<li>focused health programs to limit the spread of Hepatitis C</li>
<li>tailored rehabilitation programs for prisoners convicted of sex offences</li>
<li>literacy and parenting projects such as “Storybook Dads” to enable inmates to read and record stories for their children</li>
<li>a community garden.</li>
</ul>
<p>In another indication of recent enlightened penal practice, prisoners have a wide variety of opportunities to “give back” to the wider community. The Tasmanian Prison Service has consciously fostered the participation of prisoners in community-oriented activities.</p>
<p>In 2013-2014, over 18,900 leave permits were granted. This is a massive increase from the 589 permits granted in 2009-2010. </p>
<p>Some of these have involved helping local residents and farmers with bushfire recovery efforts. Other initiatives have included environmental restoration projects. Prisoners also provide a welcome and ready pool of umpires for local cricket and football games. </p>
<h2>Progressive, cost-effective policy has a context</h2>
<p>These changes in Tasmania have taken place in a particular economic, political and cultural context. </p>
<p>One aspect of this is that Tasmania has a population of around half a million people. The tax base is correspondingly small. </p>
<p>Tasmania is, not surprisingly then, a “poor” state in terms of state finances. There simply is not a lot of money to go around, so anything that constitutes a drain on the budget is problematic. </p>
<p>Nor is Tasmania a particularly punitive place. Most elections do not feature the <a href="https://theconversation.com/justice-reinvestment-saves-huge-costs-of-law-and-order-auctions-33018">“law and order auctions”</a> characteristic of mainland states. </p>
<iframe src="https://d3602hfvnbc5pq.cloudfront.net/aKcCw/4/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="520"></iframe>
<p>For most of the past decade there has been bipartisan support for progressive policy. Initiatives include better rehabilitative support for prisoners, an emphasis on diversion for offenders with drug and mental health issues and on greater opportunity for offenders to repair the harm. Whether a Green/Labor or Liberal justice minister, most of the rhetoric, most of the time, has been broadly supportive of decarceration and desistance strategies. </p>
<p>The relatively progressive approach to matters of crime and punishment has been reinforced at important institutional points.</p>
<p>The general approach of the Tasmanian Police has been measured and generally appropriate to circumstance. It has incorporated aspects such as youth diversion, respectful but authoritative responses to domestic violence, and educational campaigns to reduce harmful behaviour.</p>
<p>The Magistrates Court has adopted measures such as court-mandated drug diversion and mental health court lists. These have incorporated therapeutic responses to problems formerly perceived in solely criminal justice terms. </p>
<p>Senior bureaucrats in the Department of Justice and within the prison service have gelled in terms of broad philosophical approach. They have worked with other agencies and relevant ministers to forge pathways that offer greater promise for reducing the numbers of prisoners and helping those who remain to desist from re-offending.</p>
<p>Across the criminal justice enterprises, staff have been carefully recruited to ensure persons of integrity, capacity and the right skill sets are employed. Recruitment processes, and the quality and quantity of pre-service and in-service training and education, remain important components of the wider cultural changes in recent years. </p>
<h2>Making progress on inevitable problems</h2>
<p>Any system that is based, inherently, upon coercion and containment is always going to encounter difficulties. Prison-related issues continue to bubble away. </p>
<p>Some problems are due to the “natural” rhythms of such institutions, such as inmate-officer conflict. The key issue here is whether such conflict is particular to specific prisoner or prison officer interactions, or endemic to the institution because of the wider occupational culture. </p>
<p>More can always be done to support this or that program or project. Yet by and large Tasmania has, for the moment, got things right as far as the general trend is going. Locking up fewer people, and doing something positive with those inside, is an important achievement and ongoing mission.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78177/original/image-20150416-23340-1hvlyl5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin wants to abolish suspended sentences, but has wisely sought advice on how to avoid increasing prisoner numbers as a result.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.premier.tas.gov.au/cabinet">Tasmanian Government</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Present endeavours and tendencies are nonetheless fragile and potentially under threat. The attorney-general, for instance, has foreshadowed the abolition of suspended sentences. </p>
<p>Fortunately, she has asked the Sentencing Advisory Council for advice so that prisoner numbers do not increase as a consequence. What is legislated at the end of the day remains to be seen. </p>
<p>Furthermore, budgetary pressures at the whole-of-government level have translated into significant fiscal bumps. At the specific institutional level, the prison service has not been immune. This is hamstringing expansion of existing initiatives and curtailing other possible rehabilitative directions.</p>
<p>Even so, widespread community support for prisoner leave programs continues. Thankfully, punitive politics remains muted in the Tasmanian political landscape. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob White is a member of the Tasmanian Sentencing Advisory Council.</span></em></p>Imprisonment rates in Tasmania have steadily declined over the past decade – the only state or territory where this has happened. That is a result of progressive and effective corrections policies.Rob White, Professor of Criminology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389852015-04-21T03:54:48Z2015-04-21T03:54:48ZState of imprisonment: prisoners of NSW politics and perceptions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77459/original/image-20150409-15250-1o1t71e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Long Bay Correctional Centre was dubbed the 'Long Bay Hilton' by 'tough on crime' advocates whose campaigns helped fill prison cells to overflowing. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Long_Bay_Jail_1.JPG">Wikimedia Commons/J Bar</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The defining characteristic of the recent history of imprisonment rates in New South Wales is volatility. A 2012 NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) research report, ‘<a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_media_releases/2012/bocsar_mr_prisonpopulation.aspx">Why is the NSW prison population falling?</a>’, was followed 18 months later by ’<a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_media_releases/2014/mr_bb95.aspx">Why is the NSW prison population growing?</a>’.</p>
<p>Are rising crime rates causing such volatility in imprisonment rates? No. Crime rates for most categories of crime, especially property crime, have been declining since the early 2000s. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-17/crime-stats-show-nsw-safer-than-20-years-ago/4634600">current NSW murder rate</a> is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-crime-rate-significantly-decreases-statistics-show-%2020140213-32klj.html">half what it was</a> in 1988. </p>
<p>The simple answer to the questions about prisoner numbers is politics and perceptions. Imprisonment rates reflect the varying approaches of political parties and governments to criminal justice policy. Polices are often formulated in the lead-up to elections or in response to media and public pressure around individual cases. </p>
<h2>A short history of recent law and order politics</h2>
<p>The 1970s and early 1980s were a period of criminal justice and penal reform. That changed in the mid-1980s to an increasingly punitive political, public and media climate. NSW <a href="http://cypp.unsw.edu.au/sites/ypp.unsw.edu.au/files/APP%20-%20Imprisonment%20Rates%20Statistics%20and%20Charts.pdf">imprisonment rates</a> dropped from 126 in 100,000 in 1970 to 84 in 100,000 in 1984, then started climbing, doubling by 1999.</p>
<p>Following an increase of 34% between mid-2001 and mid-2009 – mainly under a Labor government – an 8% reduction in the imprisonment rate occurred under a Liberal National government. Between September 2012 and March 2014, under the same conservative government, the prison population increased again by 13%. After a short pause, this <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/bb95.pdf">trend has continued</a>, to a rate of 182 per 100,000 in 2014 and climbing.</p>
<h2>Criminal justice reform and falling imprisonment rates</h2>
<p>The Wran Labor government elected in 1976 embarked on a program of law reform, led by the attorney-general, Frank Walker. Walker decriminalised public drunkenness, begging, vagrancy and most prostitution offences, raised the legal threshold for common public order offences such as offensive language and behaviour, abolished imprisonment for fine default and reformed bail laws. The <a href="http://www.breakout.net.au/books/Nagle_Report.pdf">1978 report</a> of the Nagle Royal Commission into Prisons ushered in a period of prison reform under Commissioner Tony Vinson. </p>
<p>In 1982 a short-term licence release system reduced sentence lengths. But this fell into disrepute when the minister, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/time-runs-out-for-disgraced-prisons-minister-20120101-1ph9s.html">Rex Jackson</a>, was convicted and imprisoned for corruption in relation to the scheme. That delegitimised executive-based release schemes and set the scene for the later rise of “truth in sentencing”.</p>
<p>The 1983 move to take remissions (of one-third of the sentence length) off the non-parole period further reduced sentence lengths.</p>
<h2>Backlash: the punitive turn</h2>
<p>After 1986 the political, public and media climate in NSW took a markedly punitive turn, stimulated by Liberal shadow minister for corrective services Michael Yabsley in the lead-up to the 1988 state election, which his party won. Yabsley ramped up a “law and order crisis” and painted the ALP as “<a href="http://www.advertisingpens.com.au/advertising-pens-articles/1989/12/16/yabsleys-hard-cell/">soft on crime</a>”. </p>
<p>“<a href="http://www.correctiveservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/_media/dcs/related-links/research-and-statistics/research-publication/RP022.pdf">Truth in sentencing</a>” legislative changes in 1989 abolished remission altogether and increased the length of the non-parole period. The result was an increase in sentence lengths by 19% for adults and 30% for children, and a 30% increase in the prison population over the first two years of the government. </p>
<p>At this point Labor <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/26/1043533953106.html">joined the “law and order auction”</a>, with the Carr and subsequent ALP governments vowing not to be outflanked on the right on law and order. In 2003, in response to the Liberal National opposition’s election policy of “grid” (semi-mandatory) sentences, Labor introduced a scheme of “standard non-parole” periods (indicative but not mandatory minimum terms). This had the effect of significantly increasing sentencing tariffs across a range of serious offences. </p>
<p>A NSW <a href="http://www.judcom.nsw.gov.au/publications/st/st36/st36.pdf">Judicial Commission study</a> comparing sentencing outcomes in Australian jurisdictions found that NSW had the highest proportion of sentences of imprisonment across four offences. BOCSAR <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/cjb145.pdf">found that</a>, adjusted for population, nearly twice as many people were sent to prison in NSW as in Victoria. </p>
<p>Legislative hyperactivity produced 23 “punitive” changes to the Bail Act in NSW from 1992-2008. The rate of bail refusals in the District and Supreme Courts <a href="https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/84/pdf_2">nearly doubled</a> between 1995 and 2005. By 2014, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4517.0">26% of NSW prisoners</a> were in remand custody. <a href="http://www.lawreform.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/lrc/documents/pdf/r133.pdf">A 2012 report</a> by the NSW Law Reform Commission led to the passing of a reform-oriented Bail Act. </p>
<h2>From prison closures to overcrowding</h2>
<p>In February 2013, Corrective Services NSW held a seminar to discuss projections of continued falling crime rates and prison numbers after the Liberal National government had closed three prisons. Yet in 2013-14, <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/recurring/report-on-government-services/2015/justice/corrective-services/rogs-2015-volumec-chapter8.pdf">“capacity utilisation” (meaning overcrowding) hit 109.4</a>, above the national average of 104.4. </p>
<p>Currently, prison “modulars” (demountable cells) are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-08/nsw-government-considers-new-jails-prisoner-numbers-rise/6006372">being built</a> in response to the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tough-law-and-order-stance-triggers-jail-population-explosion-20140426-37asz.html">prison population boom</a>. Prisoners are being held <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-prison-population-hits-record-high-forcing-police-to-babysit-inmates-20150203-1357h9.html">in police cells</a> as the main remand prison is full.</p>
<p>The context for this reversal was the removal from office of Attorney-General Greg Smith, who had sought to reduce imprisonment rates by promoting bail reform. Smith came under constant attack from “shock jock” Ray Hadley. The 2GB radio host enjoys close links with the NSW Police Association and senior members of the NSW police hierarchy, as well as the Sydney News Corp tabloid, The Daily Telegraph. </p>
<p>Within one month of the introduction of Smith’s reformist bail legislation, three cases where notorious accused were granted bail provided a platform for Hadley to ramp up his attacks on the reform, traducing the presumption of innocence and <a href="http://theconversation.com/is-rational-law-reform-still-possible-in-a-shock-jock-tabloid-world-30416">conflating accusation, guilt and punishment</a>.</p>
<p>Former Labor attorney-general John Hatzistergos, the major architect of the constant amendments restricting access to bail, was appointed to “review” the legislation. His review trashed the <a href="http://theconversation.com/not-for-punishment-we-need-to-understand-bail-not-review-it-28651">philosophy behind bail reform</a> (the presumption of innocence and the right to liberty) and was used by the government to <a href="https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/181/pdf">sabotage the reform</a> through amendments introducing an additional “show cause” provision. From December 2014 to March 2015, the number of remands in full-time custody increased by a further 800.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77465/original/image-20150409-15244-9zkb5y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: Corrections Research, Evaluation and Statistics, Corrective Services NSW, Offender Population Report Week ending 1 March 2015</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rising punitiveness and media influence</h2>
<p>Recent BOCSAR research on public confidence in the criminal justice system found that the majority of survey respondents continue to hold marked misperceptions of crime and justice outcomes. Most people don’t recognise that there is declining property crime, overestimate the prevalence of violence in crime, and underestimate conviction and imprisonment rates. This appears to undermine confidence and exacerbate expressions of public punitiveness.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/cjb182.pdf">BOCSAR found that</a> “punitiveness had intensified since 2012”. Respondents were “more likely to report more punitive views if they imagine violence is prevalent, property crime is escalating, and conviction and imprisonment rates (for home burglary) are low”. </p>
<p>In a hint at the “Ray Hadley effect”, BOCSAR found that such views were common among 2GB listeners, in contrast to Sydney Morning Herald readers. </p>
<h2>Politics and perceptions</h2>
<p>Imprisonment rates in NSW have little connection with crime rates. Rates of crime in most categories are falling. </p>
<p>Both historical and recent fluctuations in rates are reflections of the over-determining influence of “law and order” politics and shifts in public punitiveness.</p>
<p>Such public or “popular” punitiveness is a response to the politicisation of criminal justice policy and the rise of the “public voice” in the figure of the radio shock jock, dismissive of both fundamental legal and democratic values and the role of expertise, research and evidence. </p>
<p>In NSW it seems we are all prisoners of the politics and perceptions that swirl around criminal justice issues, and which echo in the siren call of law and order.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Brown was a member of a group of academics based mainly at UNSW who received Australian Research Council funding for a project titled the Australian Prison Project.
David Brown was a part time NSW Law Reform Commissioner for the reference on bail.</span></em></p>Most crime in NSW has been declining since the early 2000s, and the state’s current murder rate is half what it was in 1988. So why is the NSW prison population growing?David Brown, Emeritus Professor Law Faculty, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/391852015-04-19T20:08:29Z2015-04-19T20:08:29ZState of imprisonment: if locking ‘em up is the goal, NT’s a success<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>If I were asked to outline a plan to ensure increasing incarceration, both generally and of vulnerable groups, I would just point to the Northern Territory of Australia. No need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/prisons-policy-is-turning-australia-into-the-second-nation-of-captives-38842">look to the United States</a>; their <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf">adult imprisonment rate</a> is only 623 per 100,000. The NT <a href="http://www.nt.gov.au/justice/policycoord/researchstats/documents/2013-14%20NTCS%20Annual%20Statistics.pdf">imprisonment rate</a> sits at 847 per 100,000 adults, nearly four times that of its nearest Australian rival, Western Australia.</p>
<p>Only <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf">36% of the US prison population is African American and 22% Hispanic</a>. Last year in the Territory, 86% of those in prison and 96% of those in juvenile detention were Indigenous. </p>
<p>The daily average number of prisoners has more than doubled in the last 20 years. By 2010 the growth in the NT prison population necessitated the construction of a 1,000-bed, <a href="http://newsroom.nt.gov.au/mediaRelease/9522">$500 million jail</a>.</p>
<p>With its opening, there is one prison bed for every 103 adults. Despite a recent report of lower-than-anticipated increases in prisoner numbers, based on growth over the last five years the new jail will reach capacity by 2018. </p>
<h2>Adopt punitive policing and sentencing policies</h2>
<p>As with many jurisdictions, “tough on crime” rhetoric dominates in the Territory. The mandatory sentencing regime introduced by the Country Liberal Party in the 1990s kick-started significant growth in prisoner numbers. Daily averages grew by <a href="http://www.nt.gov.au/justice/policycoord/researchstats/documents/2013-14%20NTCS%20Annual%20Statistics.pdf">31% over just two years</a>.</p>
<p>Despite early promise, including removing much of the mandatory sentencing regime, the decade-long Labor government also contributed significantly to these trends. Restrictive bail laws have increased numbers in custody, with 38% of those entering an adult prison and 60% of those entering youth detention unsentenced on reception. </p>
<p>The remaining mandatory sentencing provisions, for serious violence and aggravated property offences, mean that prison is the only option available in many cases. </p>
<p>And while undoubtedly more people are in prison, our community is certainly not safer. Recorded assaults <a href="http://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/Police/Community-safety/Northern-Territory-crime-statistics/Statistical-publications.aspx">increased by 24% between 2010 and 2014</a>. </p>
<p>The ineffectiveness of jail in addressing violent crime (indeed most crime) is also glaringly apparent when <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20states%20and%20territories%7E10000">71% of adult prisoners</a> have served a previous prison term.</p>
<h2>Deny Indigenous people access to appropriate services</h2>
<p>Despite attempts to Close the Gap, Indigenous people living in remote areas of the Territory do not enjoy access to the same services as non-Indigenous people living in similarly sized communities.</p>
<p>Growing up in a town of 60 in rural Queensland, my family had access to a range of government services. These included a post office, a permanently staffed police station, a local primary school and a high school a short bus ride away. I cannot think of a similarly sized Indigenous community enjoying such facilities. </p>
<p>This lack of services has direct and indirect effects on rates of Indigenous incarceration. Without identification requirements for a driver’s licence, with no licensing or vehicle registration services and no public transport, Indigenous people, far more so than non-Indigenous people, are jailed for minor driving offences. While recent reforms have reduced these numbers, a not insignificant number of Aboriginal people have a criminal record for such offences. </p>
<p>Community-based orders are often unavailable in remote areas as there are no programs or Correctional Services staff to supervise them. Due to overcrowding and poor housing, Aboriginal offenders are also unlikely to meet the suitability requirements of a Home Detention Order (HDO). Only <a href="http://www.nt.gov.au/justice/policycoord/researchstats/documents/2013-14%20NTCS%20Annual%20Statistics.pdf">six Indigenous people received a HDO</a> in 2013-14.</p>
<p>While access to in-prison programs is low overall, access to culturally appropriate programs is even lower. With a few notable exceptions, programs are developed using Western psychological models and evidence about non-Indigenous offenders. Their suitability and success for Indigenous offenders are rarely evaluated. </p>
<p>Yet it’s ironically true, as one senior Corrections official once remarked, that it’s hard to see why we have special programs for Indigenous prisoners. Indeed, Indigenous-specific programming is all that’s needed.</p>
<h2>Embrace alcohol consumption as a core social value</h2>
<p>If largely unfettered access to alcohol is to be a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-23/giles-defends-nt-drinking-culture-as-core-social-value/4708310">part of the great Territory lifestyle</a>, then Territorians must accept that high levels of violence are here to stay. The association between excessive alcohol consumption and violence is long established, At least <a href="http://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/Police/Community-safety/Northern-Territory-crime-statistics/Statistical-publications.aspx">60% of all violent assaults</a> in the Territory are alcohol-related.</p>
<p>Public health education and evidence-based programs can play important roles in reducing alcohol-related harm. While such programs should be funded appropriately, supply restrictions must also form part of our response.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=616&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/78362/original/image-20150417-27280-chul3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=774&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2014, 86% of adult prisoners and 97% of those in juvenile detention were Indigenous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/publik16/2780718220/in/photolist-5eHUDA-4Vz93E-4TBaGP-5AcJF9-4TBaQz-4QGVHa-7Tx3yN-4Vz97w-4Vz9dW-9Bv4ea-oo5EgG-5sC3yr-b4tg2F-b4tdRx-4BVdfT-aU5uzZ-ecLHtM-5hkJAK-4NVcft-6jNzK8-dYWPXh-LMun4-6FAyyN-r9cuE-dYWPZC-dYWPXY-dYR87r-dYWQ1o-5prNy6">flickr/publik16</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The 2007 NT <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-data-got-to-do-with-it-reassessing-the-nt-intervention-4993">National Emergency Response</a> introduced identification requirements for alcohol purchases above $100 but coupled this with criminalising those who consumed alcohol on Aboriginal land. The Banned Drinker Register showed early promise through a system that prevented alcohol purchases by those on certain court orders, but partisan politics brought it to an end in 2012. </p>
<h2>Ignore evidence of what works in child protection and youth justice</h2>
<p>Based on the growing body of evidence that child protection involvement, even notification to a child welfare system, is linked to involvement in the criminal justice system, there are increasingly troubled times ahead. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.childrenandfamilies.nt.gov.au/library/scripts/objectifyMedia.aspx?file=pdf/94/58.pdf&siteID=5&str_title=DCF%20Annual%20Report%202013%20-%2014.pdf">In the last year</a>, child protection notifications increased by 30% and the number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care by 26%. At the same time, the rate of completed child protection investigations decreased. </p>
<p>Youth justice fares equally badly. Diversionary programs are underfunded and exclude young people without a responsible adult. There are few programs for young people in detention or in the community, particularly in areas such as violent and sexual offending. </p>
<p>The failure of governments to meet the need for a suitable youth facility means young people are now locked up in a jail deemed unfit for adults; Correctional Services described the facility as <a href="http://www.territorystories.nt.gov.au/bitstream/10070/254131/32/NTN29NOV14PG017-MAI-COLOUR-PRIMARY.PDF">“fit only for a bulldozer”</a>.</p>
<p>Both systems are effectively driving young people’s further and deeper involvement in the criminal justice system. Young people are remanded in custody, sometimes for weeks, because no parent or family member comes to court, yet child protection maintains the young person is not in need of care. </p>
<p>Criminal charges are routinely brought against young people in residential facilities, rather than working through behavioural issues as we might in our own homes. Children in care have unpaid fines incurring interest and attracting further penalty, with no way of paying off these debts. </p>
<p>I offer no solutions here. When we decide we want different outcomes – a safer community, fewer people in jail – those solutions can be found in the thousands of words spoken and written by dozens of Aboriginal people and organisations, lawyers, academics and others, over many, many years. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the State of Imprisonment series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Pippa will be on hand for an author Q&A between 10 and 11am AEST on Tuesday April 21. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pippa Rudd has held senior positions in both corrections and child protection in the Northern Territory, as well as working as Chief of Staff and advisor to a number of Northern Territory Ministers. </span></em></p>The Northern Territory stands out for having one of the highest imprisonment rates in the world - much higher even than in the US - and it’s hard to argue that this does the community much good.Pippa Rudd, PhD Researcher, Menzies School of Health ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/391192015-04-17T00:46:43Z2015-04-17T00:46:43ZState of imprisonment: can ACT achieve a ‘human rights’ prison?<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The first prison in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the <a href="http://www.cs.act.gov.au/custodial_operations/types_of_detention/alexander_maconochie_centre">Alexander Maconochie Centre</a> (AMC), opened in March 2009. The AMC is an open-campus 300-bed facility, which accommodates all unsentenced and sentenced male and female prisoners. </p>
<p>The ACT Corrective Services <a href="http://cs.act.gov.au/custodial_operations">website</a> states: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Alexander Maconochie Centre emphasises rehabilitation, compliance with human rights principles and adherance to the Healthy Prison Concept.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to the website, a healthy prison is one in which everyone:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>is and feels safe </p></li>
<li><p>is treated with respect and as a fellow human being</p></li>
<li><p>is encouraged to improve him/herself and is given every opportunity to do so through the provision of purposeful activity</p></li>
<li><p>is enabled to maintain contact with their families and is prepared for release.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>About 40% of prisoners (including all women inmates) live in cottages with separate bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, laundry, living area and patio. Apart from a one-hour lunchtime lockdown, prisoners can move about freely. They are <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/a-view-of-pale-hills">locked in the cottages at night</a>.</p>
<p>In spite of this, recent figures indicate that the AMC <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/acts-prison-trails-other-states-in-giving-inmates-time-out-of-cells-and-work-20150129-130ucr.html">performs poorly</a> in terms of prisoners’ time out of cells and participation in employment. </p>
<p>The ACT also has the highest proportion of <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-prison-rates-hit-10year-high-abs-figures-show-20141211-124w00.html">prisoners previously imprisoned</a> (72%, compared with a national average of 59%). On the other hand, it has the <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/02/02/how-much-does-it-cost-keep-people-australian-jails">highest proportion of prisoners in education</a>, at 83%, compared with a national average of just 33%. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.hrc.act.gov.au/res/HRC%20Womens%20Audit%202014.pdf">2014 human rights audit</a> of the treatment of women at the AMC was generally positive, but made 61 recommendations for improvement. The government has <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/rattenbury/2014/government-response-to-human-rights-audit-at-amc">accepted most of these recommendations</a>. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2577558">others have suggested</a> that more needs to be done to meet the needs of female prisoners.</p>
<h2>Prison numbers skyrocket</h2>
<p>The prison rapidly <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/ct-editorial/poor-decisions-continue-to-haunt-canberras-jail-20150409-1mh77k.html">filled to capacity</a>. The AMC had 343 people in full-time custody in the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4512.0December%20Quarter%202014?OpenDocument">December 2014 quarter</a>.</p>
<p>Of these, 27% were unsentenced, 19% were Indigenous and 5% were female. The imprisonment rate was 114 per 100,000, well below the national rate of 190. </p>
<p>However, the ACT imprisonment rate has risen 25% over the last <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/88BDA5B4F259EB63CA257B880012A309?opendocument">two years</a>, compared with a national increase of 12%. Over this time, the number of ACT prisoners increased by 28%, compared with a national increase of 16%. Notably, the number of Indigenous prisoners increased by 47%, compared with 17% nationally.</p>
<p>In April 2014, the ACT government announced it would <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/54-million-jail-expansion-to-begin-soon-20140428-37ebr.html">spend $54 million</a> building a new 56-cell block with 80 beds and a 30-bed special care centre for detainees requiring intensive support. The special care centre is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-09/construction-has-started-on-an-expansion-of-canberra-jail/5731528">due to open</a> in late 2015 and the cell block in mid-2016. </p>
<p>Significantly, prisoner costs are already the <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/02/02/how-much-does-it-cost-keep-people-australian-jails">highest in the country,</a> at $394 per day, compared with a national average of $292. </p>
<h2>Key policy developments</h2>
<p><strong>Throughcare</strong></p>
<p>In December 2011, the government agreed to an extended <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/policystrategic/throughcare">Throughcare policy framework</a> to “better support offenders’ re-integration into the community”. The program was piloted in 2012-13, with a further <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/rattenbury/2014/improving-offender-rehabilitation-by-extending-throughcare">$2.2 million allocated</a> in the 2014-15 budget. According to the <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/rattenbury/2014/improving-offender-rehabilitation-by-extending-throughcare">corrections minister</a>, the program:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>identifies support needs across the areas of housing, health, income and basic life skills and then works intensively with former detainees to reintegrate back into the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There has been some initial success in keeping extended Throughcare clients from returning to custody. This is mainly due to the intensive case management. The program will be independently evaluated in 2015.</p>
<p><strong>Legislative Assembly inquiry</strong></p>
<p>On March 24 2015, the Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety released a 400-page report on its inquiry into sentencing in the ACT. The committee’s <a href="http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/707212/JACS-Ctee-report-for-Inquiry-into-Sentencing-FINAL.pdf">recommendations</a> include that the government:</p>
<ul>
<li>introduce an adequately resourced intensive correction orders regime</li>
<li>increase the alternatives to remand</li>
<li>evaluate all prisoner rehabilitation programs and ensure evaluation is part of future program planning and delivery</li>
<li>assess the resources required to adequately fund the Throughcare program and apply that level of resourcing to the program</li>
<li>institute enhanced reporting on recidivism and focus on measuring performance against those figures</li>
<li>amend legislation to require courts to consider the Indigenous status of offenders at sentencing</li>
<li>engage the ACT Indigenous community and provide diverse sentencing options to reduce rates of Indigenous imprisonment</li>
<li>legislate to allow the conditional release of detainees who are the primary carer of young children to serve their sentence away from the AMC</li>
<li>legislate to enable courts to make parole orders and set parole conditions at the time the offender is sentenced for shorter sentences.</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition, the committee recommended that services and programs available to sentenced prisoners be made available on a voluntary basis to accused persons on bail and prisoners on remand.</p>
<p><strong>Abolition of periodic detention</strong></p>
<p>In March 2014, the government announced it would <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/correction-order-shift-as-weekend-detention-phased-out-20140330-35s68.html">abolish periodic detention by 2016-17</a>. Defence lawyers <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/correction-order-shift-as-weekend-detention-phased-out-20140330-35s68.html">were not consulted</a> and criticised the decision. </p>
<p>In November 2014, the government <a href="http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/2014-58/default.asp">passed legislation</a> to prevent courts from combining periodic detention with full-time imprisonment or imposing a periodic detention order that would extend beyond June 30 2016. </p>
<p><strong>Justice Reform Strategy and Justice Reinvestment Strategy</strong></p>
<p>In May 2014, the government <a href="http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/corbell/2014/sentencing-and-justice-reform-program">announced </a> it would “pursue a new justice reform strategy focused on enhancing the legal framework for sentencing and restorative justice”. The attorney-general stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The reforms will give the ACT a state-of-the-art approach to dealing with criminal behaviour and reducing recidivism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government committed $734,000 to the initiative, including $250,000 for research and evaluation. The strategy is informed by an <a href="https://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Justice_Reform_Strategy_Advisory_Group_membership.pdf">advisory group</a>, with representatives from government agencies, the justice sector and academia. </p>
<p>The group’s <a href="https://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Justice_Reform_Strategy_-_terms_of_reference.pdf">terms of reference</a> include consideration of: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>innovations in sentencing nationally and internationally </p></li>
<li><p>the principle that imprisonment should only be used where no other penalty is appropriate </p></li>
<li><p>how restorative justice can be expanded </p></li>
<li><p>how therapeutic jurisprudence principles can be supported and </p></li>
<li><p>the over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Ministers were due to receive the first-stage report by the end of March 2015. This report is to <a href="https://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Justice_Reform_Strategy_-_terms_of_reference.pdf">provide recommendations</a> on legislative and other measures for a new community-based sentencing alternative to imprisonment.</p>
<p>The second-stage report is to be delivered by the end of July 2016. It will <a href="https://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Justice_Reform_Strategy_-_terms_of_reference.pdf">provide recommendations</a> on legislative and other options to reform sentencing laws and practice in the ACT. These include options that relate to <a href="http://www.restorativejustice.org/">restorative justice</a> and <a href="http://aija.org.au/index.php/research/australasian-therapeutic-jurisprudence-clearinghouse/the-concept-of-therapeutic-jurisprudence">therapeutic jurisprudence</a>.</p>
<p>This strategy is separate from but intersects with the <a href="http://www.justice.act.gov.au/page/view/3829/title/justice-reinvestment-strategy">Justice Reinvestment Strategy</a>. Also funded in the 2014-15 budget, this involves a four-year “whole-of-government justice reinvestment approach aimed at reducing recidivism and diverting offenders, and those at risk of becoming offenders, from the justice system”.</p>
<p>This project will identify drivers of crime and criminal justice costs. It will then develop and implement new ways of <a href="https://theconversation.com/justice-reinvestment-saves-huge-costs-of-law-and-order-auctions-33018">reinvesting scarce resources</a> – both in the community and within the prison system – to achieve a more cost-beneficial impact on public safety.</p>
<p>This initiative is likewise informed by an <a href="https://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Justice_Reinvestment_Strategy_Advisory_Group_membership.pdf">advisory group</a>. Its terms of reference are currently being developed.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>As in many other Australian jurisdictions, the use of imprisonment in the ACT has increased dramatically in recent years. The impact on Indigenous people in particular is significant. </p>
<p>The government is now taking some innovative steps. However, it remains to be seen whether these will meet the promise of delivering a “state of the art” approach to criminal justice.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Addendum:</strong> After this article was published, the ACT auditor-general released <a href="http://www.audit.act.gov.au/auditreports/reports2015/Report%20No.%202%20of%202015%20The%20Rehabilitation%20of%20male%20detainees%20at%20the%20Alexander%20Maconochie%20Centre.pdf">a report</a> on the rehabilitation of male prisoners at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. The report found that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>AMC planning for rehabilitation is ineffective as there is no rehabilitation planning framework, no evaluation framework and no finalised case management policy framework.</p></li>
<li><p>Proposed levels of rehabilitation activities and services, as anticipated in planning (prior to the opening of the AMC), were assessed and found to be inadequate. Importantly this means a “structured day” with “purposeful activity” is not being achieved for many detainees. It is therefore likely that some detainees are bored and this can compromise their rehabilitation.</p></li>
<li><p>The information management systems used at the AMC are inadequate.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The report made 10 recommendations, including that ACT Corrective Services develop a rehabilitation framework for the prison.</p>
<p>The report prompted a <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/ct-editorial/big-culture-change-needed-for-the-amc-20150420-1moozs.html">critical editorial</a> in The Canberra Times. This described the lack of rehabilitation framework as “another failure of sizeable proportion”. It also suggested: “The misfortunes surrounding the planning, construction and operation of the Alexander Maconochie Centre have become legion, and there are few signs of a let-up.”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39119/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorana Bartels gave evidence before the ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into sentencing, is a member of the Justice Reform Strategy and Justice Reinvestment Strategy Advisory Groups and has received funding from the ACT Government to undertake research informing the Justice Reform Strategy. </span></em></p>The ACT’s first prison opened in 2009 with lofty ideals, but rising prisoner numbers and high rates of re-imprisonment are presenting a severe test of the capital’s reformist corrections agenda.Lorana Bartels, Associate Professor, School of Law and Justice, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389862015-04-16T01:57:33Z2015-04-16T01:57:33ZState of imprisonment: lopsided incarceration rates blight West<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The imprisonment rate in Western Australia (WA) has historically been high, second only to the Northern Territory. While WA is Australia’s largest state, it accounts for <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3101.0Main%20Features2Sep%202014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3101.0&issue=Sep%202014&num=&view=">11% of the population</a>. Its prison population is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20states%20and%20territories%7E10000">15% of Australia’s total prison population</a>. </p>
<p>Currently, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EWestern%20Australia%7E10019">265 people per 100,000</a> adult inhabitants in WA are in prison. This is significantly higher than the national average rate of 186 per 100,000.</p>
<p>Further, while Indigenous people account for only 3% of the WA population, they make up 40% of the prison population. This is the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EImprisonment%20rates%7E10009">highest over-representation</a> of Indigenous people in Australian prisons – the imprisonment rate is 18 times that of non-Aboriginal adults. </p>
<h2>A history of Indigenous over-representation</h2>
<p>It is clear that Aboriginal over-representation in the prison population is one of the most critical concerns in the WA penal landscape. This has long historical roots, reflecting the fierce battles between first peoples and the settlers during colonisation.</p>
<p>However, the more recent problem dates from the 1950s and has been linked to the economic development of the north of WA. Many of the cattle stations where Aboriginal people worked were closed or modernised, reducing the need for their labour. </p>
<p>This development, in combination with Indigenous people getting the right to equal wages, resulted in many of them losing their work and their home, leaving their traditional land and lifestyle and moving to the cities. These shifts, together with free access to alcohol, increased Aboriginal contact with the criminal justice system. This <a href="https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/110%C2%AD">created a situation of multiple disadvantages</a>, which have been shown to be linked to increased criminal behaviour, with consequences up to now. </p>
<h2>‘Law and order’ politics</h2>
<p>Indigenous over-representation does not tell the whole story of WA’s high imprisonment rates. If all people of Aboriginal descent were removed from the calculations, the state’s imprisonment rate would be 167 per 100,000. This is still significantly above the national non-Indigenous rate of 144. So there is more to be told to explain the penal position of WA in comparison with other jurisdictions.</p>
<p>As happened in other Australian jurisdictions, throughout the 1980s WA experienced a growing “law and order” discourse. Politicians from both the left and the right advocated a “tough on crime” approach. There were further examples of such initiatives during the 1990s.</p>
<p>One of these was the introduction of <a href="http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/index.php/law-council-media/news/352-mandatory-sentencing-debate">mandatory sentences</a>. This has limited the discretionary powers of the courts by setting a mandatory minimum sentence length for certain offences. Evaluation of the impact of mandatory sentences revealed that not only didn’t they achieve their deterrent effect in a way that prevented further offending, but they were also discriminatory and primarily affected Aboriginal people. </p>
<p>Another example was the introduction of “<a href="http://blogs.watoday.com.au/theverdict/2008/06/the_truth_about.html">truth in sentencing</a>” legislation in 2003. This abolished one-third remission of sentences and made access to parole harder. While initially courts were instructed to reduce the fixed term of their sentences to compensate for the abolition of remission, this caution was later repealed to allow for tougher sentences. </p>
<p>Not all political initiatives moved into a punitive direction. On two occasions, the government tried to cut down on the use of short sentences (up to six months) to stop the “<a href="http://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Joint_Development_Day_DCS.pdf">revolving door effect</a>”. But in reality, these reforms led to an increase of prison terms imposed on offenders, as well as the actual time they served in prison. This points to the importance of politicians and the judiciary being on one line.</p>
<h2>Changes to parole policy</h2>
<p>Parole provides for release before the end of the sentence, under certain conditions of supervision, to aid the transition to the free community. </p>
<p>A very significant <a href="http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/more-wa-prisoners-denied-bail/story-e6frg143-1226091277531">change occurred in 2009</a>, with the appointment of a new chair of the Parole Board.</p>
<p>While WA used to have a very liberal parole policy, with a rate of release around 90%, this dropped to 21% in the period under the new chair. This, in combination with an increase of cancellations of parole orders, caused a <a href="https://audit.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/report2011_11.pdf">rise of nearly 24%</a> in sentenced prisoners over a period of only eight months.</p>
<h2>Is this what the public wants?</h2>
<p>One could ask, what is wrong with all of the above if the politicians and judiciary are doing what the public wants? The core question here is if this is the case. </p>
<p>Public opinion research has demonstrated, over and again, that the public is not as punitive as assumed – even less so when given <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/401-420/tandi407.html">correct and sufficient background information</a> on offending behaviour. More importantly, it has been shown that differences in the levels of confidence in sentencing and the levels of punitiveness across the various states and territories are remarkably small. These can in no way explain the differences in imprisonment rates.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77429/original/image-20150409-15231-pormay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keeping a person in prison - this one is east of Perth - costs the state an average of $345 a day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APrison_facility_east_of_Perth_western_Australia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So it is far from certain that Western Australians wants so many people behind bars, and at such cost. The cost of keeping someone in prison is <a href="http://waamh.org.au/assets/documents/systemic-advocacy/submissions-and-briefs/20140109---wacoss-waamh-wanada-joint-submission-to-era-prisons-inquiry.pdf">$345 a day</a>, compared with $43 a day to supervise them in community services. Imprisonment is an expensive way to deal with crime.</p>
<p>Further, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EWestern%20Australia%7E10019">61% of the WA prison population</a> has been in prison before, so it doesn’t seem to reduce recidivism a great deal. </p>
<p>Finally, contrary to popular belief, <a href="http://www.police.wa.gov.au/ABOUTUS/Statistics/CrimeStatistics/tabid/1219/Default.aspx">crime rates in WA</a> – as in <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4510.0%7E2013%7EMedia%20Release%7EReports%20of%20sexual%20assault%20increase,%20most%20other%20crimes%20down%20(Media%20Release)%7E1">other jurisdictions</a> – are going down, while imprisonment rates are going up. So it is timely to ask what purpose it serves to have so many people in prison.</p>
<p>This question becomes even more glaring when we know that the prison population is not representative of the general population. It mainly consists of people who come from difficult social and economic backgrounds, and are vulnerable in many ways. </p>
<p>Other solutions are possible, as exemplified by European countries. These generally have much lower imprisonment rates, particularly in Scandinavian countries, as do other Australian jurisdictions.</p>
<p>I am convinced that alternatives to imprisonment are a better use of taxpayers’ money. Imprisonment, as stated by law, should be the option of last resort.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilde Tubex receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Indigenous people are jailed at a rate 18 times that of non-Aboriginal Western Australian adults, but the overall rate is high too. The great costs of this punitive approach yield few clear benefits.Hilde Tubex, Future Fellow, Crime Research Centre , The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389892015-04-15T02:12:04Z2015-04-15T02:12:04ZState of imprisonment: out one day, back the next in Queensland<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Queensland’s rate of imprisonment has recently undergone a reversal, following several years of what appeared to be a declining trend. Contrary to other states and territories, from 2002 to 2012 the rate of imprisonment in Queensland <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/138443A6EDB15748CA257B3C000DCA24?opendocument">dropped by 6%</a> from 168 to 159 prisoners per 100,000 adults. In 2013 this trend reversed and by 2014 the rate had reached <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20states%20and%20territories%7E10000">193 prisoners per 100,000</a>, a 21% increase over the 2002 figure. </p>
<p>In addition, over this period Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) has increasingly accommodated prisoners in high-security rather than low-security prisons. In 2013, <a href="http://www.correctiveservices.qld.gov.au/Publications/Corporate_Publications/Annual_Reports/2012-2013/DCS%20Annual%20Report%202012-13%20in%20full.pdf">capacity in high-security facilities</a> was at 93% compared to 63% in low-security facilities. </p>
<p>The increase in prisoner numbers and greater use of high-security facilities might seem to indicate that Queensland has recently become more punitive, with tougher and longer sentences. However, evidence suggests at least part of the rise in prison numbers may be due to the greater proportion of offenders who return to prison either following or during a period of supervision in the community.</p>
<p>For several years, Queensland has led other states and territories in these kinds of returns to prison. For example, the <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/recurring/report-on-government-services/2014/justice/download-the-volume/rogs-2014-volumec-justice.pdf">2014 Report on Government Services</a> showed that the state’s rate of returns to prisons was 34.1% compared to the Australian average 24.8%. Queensland’s rate of return was nearly nine percentage points higher than second-placed NT. </p>
<h2>What is driving the ‘revolving door’?</h2>
<p>The recent rise in imprisonment is unlikely to be due to changes in the state’s crime rate. Long-term crime trends <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-27/fact-check-qld-crime-rates-newman/6009168">show a steady decline</a> over the past 12 years. And while some might blame recent government policies, given their open promotion of “get tough” strategies related to crime control and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/12/22/3396726.htm">correctional policy</a>, the picture is a bit more complex than this. </p>
<p>One contributing factor is the increased use of court-ordered parole in combination with decreased use of suspended sentences. The Corrective Services Act 2006 (QLD) stated that parole would be the <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/recurring/report-on-government-services/2014/justice/download-the-volume/rogs-2014-volumec-justice.pdf">only option for early release</a> from prison. As a result, other forms of gradual or conditional release from prison, including work release, temporary absences or home detention, were no longer available. </p>
<p>In traditional forms of parole, parole boards determine the date of release following a period of good behaviour. Although this form of parole continued to exist for offenders sentenced to terms of three years or more, the Act introduced court-ordered parole for offenders who have committed less serious offences and are sentenced to three years or less. In these cases, courts set the date of parole release at sentencing and parole could begin at any point. In effect, offenders could serve their entire sentence in the community on parole. </p>
<p>The aim of court-ordered parole was ostensibly to increase the level of supervision for offenders in the community. All sentenced offenders would receive at least some level of supervision – though the intensity of this supervision would vary. But court-ordered parole has also been <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-has-highest-rate-of-prisoners-reoffending-while-on-parole-in-australia/story-fnihsrf2-1226689007062">pitched as an alternative</a> to suspended sentences by providing magistrates with a supervised alternative. </p>
<p>However, evidence suggests that a large proportion of these offenders either return to prison as a result of a breach, leading to suspension or cancellation of the order, or after committing a new offence. For instance, our research indicates that about one in four court-ordered parolees return to prison on a new offence after a three-year follow-up, in contrast to about one in ten board-ordered parolees.</p>
<p>The reality is that the often minimal level of supervision may increase the amount of scrutiny without providing much of the kind of support that offenders might require for successful re-entry.</p>
<p>The increasingly constricted level of funding and resources devoted to community corrections might also contribute to this result. Funding restrictions limit the nature and extent of supervision that parole officers with growing caseloads can provide. They also reduce the availability of post-prison programs.</p>
<p>Certainly changes in the “back-end” release policies – such as court-ordered parole – may have contributed to a revolving-door situation in which offenders frequently return to prisons. It is possible that the less frequent use of suspended sentences contributed because parolees are more closely monitored, increasing the detection of breaches. However, researchers <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/bb97.pdf">Menéndez and Weatherburn</a> have found, to the contrary, that suspended sentences may actually lead to a rise in the imprisonment rate. </p>
<p>Whatever the reason, the issue is to find some way to deal with the rising trend, and especially with the high levels of offender breaches.</p>
<h2>Community reparation and rehabilitation work best</h2>
<p>Recent evidence demonstrates the importance of focusing on re-entry and reparation in two important ways. </p>
<p>First, research has demonstrated the importance of sanctions that combine punishment with programs that help re-establish the offender in the community. These emphasise punishment in the community rather than removal from society – and include a range of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/some-sex-offences-are-best-dealt-with-out-of-the-courts-20130122-2d57l.html">reparative sanctions</a> and rehabilitative <a href="http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/70216/1/70216.pdf">community sanctions</a>. </p>
<p>Second, helping offenders find and keep work has been shown to promote offender change. This contributes to successful re-entry to society. Investing in prison training and programs as well as prisoner re-entry programs reduces the risk of re-offending.</p>
<p>In Queensland, where QCS has provided vocational and educational training programs, evidence indicates very positive results. <a href="http://apo.org.au/research/vocational-education-and-training-provision-and-recidivism-queensland-correctional">Rates of re-offending</a> have fallen for prisoners who enrol in these programs.</p>
<p>Our research shows that completion of in-prison vocational and educational training <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Pages/bocsar_seminar_series/2015-Conference-slides.aspx">lowers the risk of re-imprisonment</a>. In a forthcoming publication, we show that these work programs are important starting points for offenders to change their patterns of behaviour, forging new non-offending identities.</p>
<p>These types of programs will make a difference in helping offenders reintegrate by tackling the risk factors for offending.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment series</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Fitzgerald receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Institute of Criminology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Cherney receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Institute of Criminology.</span></em></p>Queensland’s rates of imprisonment had been falling, but have undergone a sharp reversal - much of it driven by the nation’s highest rates of return by prisoners released into the community.Robin Fitzgerald, Lecturer in Criminology, The University of QueenslandAdrian Cherney, Senior Lecturer, Criminology Head of Discipline, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389062015-04-14T01:20:58Z2015-04-14T01:20:58ZState of imprisonment: South Australia’s prisoner numbers soar, with just 10% of budget for rehab<p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>South Australia’s prison system is composed of nine facilities (including one privately run prison). On June 30, 2014, the <a href="http://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/reports-and-media/annual-reports">prison population was 2501</a> – at or very near the highest in modern memory. </p>
<p>From July 2013 to the end of June 2014, the average daily number of sentenced prisoners was 1569, with another 826 on remand. During this period, the approved design capacity of all facilities was 2448 prisoners, with an average daily prison population of 2396. The City Watch House was used to deal with “overflow” when needed.</p>
<p>The prison estate was therefore running at 98% capacity during that year and continues in a similar vein. This is despite the completion and ongoing addition of new beds (and repartitioning of current space) at several facilities.</p>
<p>However, understanding the key issues facing the prison system requires a larger overview of prisoner numbers and rates of incarceration – specifically, how these have increased over time. Such increases have exacerbated long-standing problems, worsening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration rates in particular, and created new dilemmas, such as over-crowding. </p>
<p>Rising prisoner numbers have put additional pressure on opportunities for successful re-integration into the general community upon release from custody.</p>
<p>The interplay between two distinct but inextricably connected environments – the “prison community”, as <a href="http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/19/3/442.full.pdf+html">Donald Clemmer</a> called it, and the ex-prisoner community attempting, in the words of <a href="http://pun.sagepub.com/content/13/1/3">Shadd Maruna</a>, to turn themselves “back into citizens” – is central to understanding how and why “the prison problem” keeps growing.</p>
<h2>Trends in incarceration and prisoner numbers</h2>
<p>Many might accept that Australia’s general population will grow from one year to the next and that it is only natural that the prison population will grow as well. </p>
<p>But the key question hinges on the extent to which the number of people in prison has remained steady or decreased in relation to overall population growth, or, as has been the case for some years now, outstripped such growth.</p>
<p>When prison numbers grow faster than the rest of the population – as it has – it means we are putting more people in prison (irrespective, say, of improvements in policing or changes in sentencing guidelines) than might “reasonably” be expected. </p>
<p>Over the last decade, the growth in prisoner numbers (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4517.0">averaging 3.45% per annum</a>) has been slightly
more than double the rate of Australia’s net population growth (<a href="http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3101.0Main%20Features2Jun%202014?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3101.0&issue=Jun%202014&num=&view=">about 1.7% per annum</a>). South Australia has fared far worse. The prison population has on average increased by around 7% per annum since 2004, whereas growth in the general population for the state was just over 1% per annum.</p>
<p>Put differently, since 2004 the growth in prisoner numbers in South Australia was seven times that of net population growth. In that time, the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESouth%20Australia%7E10018">prison population</a> grew by 68%. Only <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EVictoria%7E10016">Victoria</a> (69%) and the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ENorthern%20Territory%7E10021">Northern Territory</a> (108%) experienced greater proportionate increases.</p>
<p>This had not always been so. In the decades leading up to the mid-2000s, South Australia could reasonably claim the label of a “mid-range” incarcerating state. From 2001 to 2006, the crude rate of incarceration – a rate that does not disaggregate the total age distribution for various groups – was about <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1C9585084E9D4326CA25795F000DB3C0?opendocument">124 prisoners per 100,000</a> relevant population. By 2014 that rate had risen to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20states%20and%20territories%7E10000">188 prisoners per 100,000</a> – in effect tipping South Australia toward the higher end of the incarceration ledger.</p>
<p>It is also essential to drill down into what is happening with different “cohorts” of prisoners and to take specific account of <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4517.0Glossary12014">age-standardised rates</a>. This is important given the sharp disparities between the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 and above (around 55%) as against non-Indigenous Australians in that category (75%).</p>
<p>In terms of non-Indigenous people, South Australia has an age-standardised
incarceration rate of <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESouth%20Australia%7E10018">165 per 100,000</a> relevant population. Only the Northern Territory (at 167) exceeds this. </p>
<p>South Australia now also has the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESex%7E10002">third-highest rate</a> (after Northern Territory and Western Australia) of male imprisonment in the nation, with 357 males per 100,000 relevant population (aged 18 and above) imprisoned. </p>
<p>The female incarceration rate – although starting from a much lower base – has increased by 60% over the last decade, from 15 to 24 persons per 100,000.</p>
<h2>Imprisonment increase hits Indigenous people hardest</h2>
<p>The story is similar for the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EImprisonment%20rates%7E10009">incarceration rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people</a>. In 2004, South Australia was positioned below New South Wales, Western Australia and Northern Territory in terms of Indigenous imprisonment rates. It now sits well ahead of New South Wales. </p>
<p>But the really important statistic is that, in just 10 years, South Australia nearly doubled the rate at which it locks up Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In 2004, the Indigenous incarceration rate was 1092 per 100,000 relevant population. By 2014, it had soared to 2016 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in prison for every 100,000 such persons in the state.</p>
<p>Nearly one in four people in South Australia’s prisons are from an Indigenous background. Adjusting for age, such people are imprisoned at <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESouth%20Australia%7E10018">12 times the rate</a> of non-Indigenous Australians.</p>
<p>As with the Northern Territory and Western Australia, South Australia has one of the highest rates of imprisonment for a particular proportion of its population anywhere in the world. Using combined Australian Bureau of Statistics data, about one in 17 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men in South Australia aged 20 to 49 are, on any day, in prison. Among Indigenous men in South Australia aged 20 to 39, roughly one in 14 are locked up. </p>
<p>Reflective at least in part of the generally turbulent conditions to which ex-prisoners return once released, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody at the end of June 2014, two-thirds reported being imprisoned previously. Less than half (44%) of non-Indigenous South Australian prisoners reported that was the case. </p>
<p>Again, at June 30, 2014, for one in five (18%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners, the most serious charge leading to their incarceration was “offences against justice procedures, government security, and operations”. In the overwhelming majority of cases this equated to breach of a community-based order (bail, parole conditions and like). A further one in four (23%) Indigenous prisoners were incarcerated for “acts intended to cause injury”. </p>
<p>These two “most serious offence” categories presently account for 40% of South Australia’s Indigenous prison population. By contrast, these offences apply to just 25% of non-Indigenous prisoners. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=971&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77318/original/image-20150408-18083-knxl5c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1220&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Running Yatala Prison, the state’s largest, and other prisons consumes 75% of the corrections budget, with rehabilitation getting only 10%.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Halsey</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Time to consider all the costs</h2>
<p>The surge in numbers raises important questions regarding who is going to prison and why, as well as at what social and economic cost. It costs around <a href="http://www.corrections.sa.gov.au/reports-and-media/annual-reports">A$180 million a year</a> to operate South Australia’s prisons. That accounts for 75% of the total correctional budget. Rehabilitation takes up just 10%.</p>
<p>Like elsewhere in Australia, the costs of imprisonment in South Australia will continue to rise: the state is scheduled to <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/john-rau-flags-review-of-sa-sentencing-system-to-keep-low-risk-offenders-out-of-jail/story-fni6uo1m-1227291275004">spend around A$170 million</a> in coming years to increase the prison estate by around 380 beds.</p>
<p>But the direct dollar cost (paying correctional staff, construction of new prison beds) is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the probable longer-term consequences of being jailed on people’s lives, such as in their parenting, employment, education and health.</p>
<p>Certainly, prisons are here to stay. But effective alternatives to incarceration, which balance public safety and meaningful opportunities for desisting from crime with pathways to reintegration, need to be a central part of the policy debate too. </p>
<p>There is some evidence that such a conversation is starting to emerge. But if the aim is to reduce prisoner numbers, then it will be important to think about which “type” of offenders are incarcerated and for how long. </p>
<p>It might also be necessary to examine the recurring geographies associated with much crime and imprisonment: that is, the degree to which particular areas or “postcodes” disproportionately “feed” into various parts of the criminal justice system, including prison. Arguably, that requires thinking about the drivers of social inclusion and exclusion in these and other locales.</p>
<p>This would mean investing for the long term – irrespective of election cycles – in upstream initiatives known to prevent crime and social disadvantage. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Halsey receives funding from the Australian Research Council and serves on the South Australian Justice Reinvestment Working Group.</span></em></p>Since 2004, the number of prisoners in South Australia has risen seven times faster than the state’s net population growth – and nearly doubled its rate of locking up Indigenous Australians.Mark Halsey, Professor, Flinders Law School, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389022015-04-12T20:32:22Z2015-04-12T20:32:22ZThe state of imprisonment in Australia: it’s time to take stock<p><em>This article introduces The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Australia has reached a decade-high rate of imprisonment. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMedia%20Release%7EAustralian%20prisoner%20numbers%20climb%20to%20ten%20year%20high%20(Media%20Release)%7E10023">announcement</a> of this last year created little impact or interest. </p>
<p>Across Australia, 33,791 persons were in adult corrective services custody at June 30 2014. That was a 10% increase from 2013. By the December quarter 2014, the average daily number of prisoners had <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4512.0">risen to 34,647</a>.</p>
<p>For both men and women in custody, the most frequent serious offence was an act intended to cause injury (21% for men, 20% for women). </p>
<p>The next most common offences differed <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESex%7E5">according to gender</a>. Men were equally likely to be in custody for a most serious offence of sexual assault, unlawful entry with intent and illicit drug offences (all 12%). For women, the next most likely reasons were illicit drug offences (17%) and offences against justice procedures, government security and operations (11%).</p>
<p>The circumstances that lead to imprisonment and the context of the crime cannot be ascertained from such data. It still raises important questions about the use of imprisonment for non-violent offences. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77447/original/image-20150409-15259-1r3a911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The number of people imprisoned in Australia continues to grow strongly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4512.0#">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Indigenous Australians suffer punitive approach</h2>
<p>An ongoing issue in Australia, which we have failed to reverse – just as we have failed to <a href="http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc-indigenous-affairs/publication/closing-gap-prime-ministers-report-2015">close the gap</a> – is the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EAboriginal%20&%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20prisoner%20characteristics%7E10007">over-representation</a> of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our prisons.</p>
<p>Nationally, the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EImprisonment%20rates%7E10009">rate of imprisonment</a> for ATSI people was 13 times higher than for non-Indigenous people at June 30, 2014. This figure covers a diverse situation across the nation. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EWestern%20Australia%7E10019">In Western Australia</a>, ATSI men and women are 18 times more times likely than non-Indigenous Australians to be imprisoned in WA, whereas <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ETasmania%7E10020">in Tasmania</a> the rate is four times higher.</p>
<p>In 2013, Chris Cunneen <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fear-and-funding-undercut-a-fair-go-for-indigenous-victorians-20644">articulated the concern</a> in The Conversation that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… too many Indigenous Australians will remain second-class citizens in their own country … remaining the object of law when it comes to criminalisation and incarceration.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The most recent statistics affirm that Cunneen’s predictions are unfolding with little sign of abating. </p>
<h2>Prisons are a poor substitute for mental health care</h2>
<p>An emerging concern is the recognition and realisation that mental illness and mental impairment are diagnosed at much higher rates within our imprisoned population than in the wider community. </p>
<p>Data on this issue is less easily accessed nationally. What we <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/prisoner-health/mental-health/">do know</a> is that there is a “higher incidence of mental health problems in the Australian prison population than in the general population” and that “almost two in five prison entrants (38%) reported having been told that they have a mental health disorder”.</p>
<p>Prison is fast becoming a significant location for individuals with <a href="https://theconversation.com/caring-for-ex-prisoners-under-the-ndis-would-save-money-and-lives-31974">high mental health needs</a> to be supported and managed. This reflects a national malaise, stemming from the responsibility we must all bear for decisions to remove so many of the support networks that were in place decades ago – and to remove them without any replacement or alternative. The result has been the criminalisation of an increasing number of people.</p>
<h2>Public debate ignores need for change</h2>
<p>This brief review of current data and trends raises several important questions: why is imprisonment being used, for what purpose, and to what ends?</p>
<p>This series aims to offer a snapshot of incarceration trends across Australia and to identify imprisonment policies and practices that we need to change. </p>
<p><br></p>
<iframe src="https://d3602hfvnbc5pq.cloudfront.net/knqXJ/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="520"></iframe>
<p>Each state and territory has different issues of most concern. These may relate to rates of imprisonment of particular marginalised populations, or legislative changes resulting in remand rates skyrocketing and/or parole being virtually unobtainable. </p>
<p>While Australian trends in imprisonment can always <a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/wppl_10.pdf">be favourably compared</a> to other nations <a href="https://theconversation.com/prisons-policy-is-turning-australia-into-the-second-nation-of-captives-38842">such as the US</a>, it is clear that current trends across the nation have significant short-and long-term consequences. Attracting public attention and engagement with these consequences is challenging in a political, <a href="https://theconversation.com/tabloid-driven-sentencing-policies-waste-public-money-and-lives-27072">social, and media environment</a> dominated by <a href="https://theconversation.com/justice-reinvestment-saves-huge-costs-of-law-and-order-auctions-33018">law-and-order politics</a>.</p>
<p>This series aims to provide a platform for public discussion via a critical mass of articles that take stock of the situation in each state and territory, and as a nation.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Segrave receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is a co-founder of the Imprisonment Observatory. </span></em></p>In a new series on imprisonment trends, issues and policies across Australia, The Conversation asks why are imprisonment rates soaring, to what purpose, and with what financial and human consequences?Marie Segrave, Senior Lecturer, Criminology, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389052015-04-12T20:32:18Z2015-04-12T20:32:18ZState of imprisonment: Victoria is leading the nation backwards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77180/original/image-20150407-26496-q46s17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In recent times, Victoria has reverted to the punitive approach that once filled the Old Melbourne Gaol, with little thought for the long-term consequences.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/easternblot/3725387711/">Flickr/Eva</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of The Conversation’s series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">State of Imprisonment</a>, which provides snapshots of imprisonment trends in each state and territory. The intention is to provide a basis for informed public discussion of imprisonment policies and of the costs and consequences for Australia of rising rates of incarceration.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Victoria was once <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/280f4a06-5927-4221-bf64-d884ba6abaf9//publications/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-investigation-into-the-rehabilita.aspx">the most progressive state</a> when it came to imprisonment. The state was characterised by low imprisonment rates and innovative corrections policy. Victoria now leads the nation with the highest rate of growth in imprisonment.</p>
<p>The Victorian imprisonment rate <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-prison-numbers-surged-under-napthine-20141211-1258jw.html">increased by 40.5%</a> between 2009 and 2014. The next highest growth, in South Australia, was 26%.</p>
<p>The impact on the state budget is huge. The <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/publications/victorias-prison-population-2002-2012">real recurrent cost</a> of prisons (in 2011-12 dollars) for every resident of Victoria has grown from A$56.47 per year in 2003/4 to A$83.95 in 2013/14. Taking into account inflation and population growth, this is a 49% increase.</p>
<p>Having more people in prison ultimately has <a href="http://www.smartjustice.org.au/cb_pages/files/SMART_MorePrisons%20Final%20Revised%202014.pdf">negative impacts on community safety</a>. The long-term <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/op10.pdf">intergenerational impacts</a> are devastating. </p>
<p>In 2014, Victoria’s prisons <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EVictoria%7E10016">held 6,112 people</a> compared to 3,624 in 2004. This rapid growth is anticipated to continue, with the prison population <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/280f4a06-5927-4221-bf64-d884ba6abaf9//publications/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-investigation-into-the-rehabilita.aspx">projected to reach 7,169</a> by June 2015.</p>
<h2>Capacity and costs are expanding</h2>
<p>The new Labor government’s minister for police and corrections, Wade Noonan, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-prison-numbers-surged-under-napthine-20141211-1258jw.html">has recognised</a> that this growth has resulted in a system “under enormous pressure”. </p>
<p>The response to this pressure under the previous Napthine government was to invest in prison capacity.</p>
<p>In the 2013-14 financial year, <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/280f4a06-5927-4221-bf64-d884ba6abaf9//publications/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-investigation-into-the-rehabilita.aspx">938 new prison beds</a> were opened. All existing prisons have expansion plans. In September 2014, the previous government signed a A$670 million contract for construction of a private medium-security men’s prison contracted for 1000 beds, but with a capacity of up to 1300. It is <a href="http://archive.premier.vic.gov.au/2014/media-centre/media-releases/10974-coalition-government-signs-contract-for-new-ravenhall-prison.html">expected to be in operation</a> by 2017. </p>
<p>This is a system that is expanding exponentially, with profound consequences for the community. What are the reasons for this increase?</p>
<h2>What is driving up imprisonment rates?</h2>
<p>The rapid growth in the imprisonment rate is not directly correlated with increased crime rates. The most recent Victoria Police <a href="http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?a=internetBridgingPage&Media_ID=72176">crime statistics</a> show that the 2013/2014 crime rate was 1.6% lower than 10 years ago. Hence, it isn’t crime but other policy and practice changes that are driving imprisonment trends.</p>
<p>The four critical changes have been:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Sentencing: imprisonment <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/publications/victorias-prison-population-2002-2012">terms have increased</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Parole: changes to parole from September 2013 resulted in many <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/publications/victorias-prison-population-2002-2012">parole applications being rejected</a> and therefore longer terms of imprisonment. Plus <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/imprisonmentobservatory/comparative-peneology/current-projects/">evidence is emerging</a> that increasingly stringent parole conditions and/or more severe punishments for breach of parole are resulting in many prisoners electing to serve their full sentence in prison instead of applying for parole.</p></li>
<li><p>Bail: the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/bill/bab2013131/">Bail Amendment Act</a> 2013 brought about significant changes, including more rigorous oversight of charged persons and the introduction of offences for contravening bail conditions or committing an indictable offence while on bail, each punishable by up to three months imprisonment, creating the potential for further charges and longer sentences. </p></li>
<li><p>Suspended sentences: Victoria <a href="http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/about-sentencing/sentencing-options-for-adults/suspended-sentence">fully abolished</a> the suspended sentence – a term of imprisonment that is fully or partially suspended for a specified period – in September 2014. The legal fraternity <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/abolition-of-suspended-sentencing-will-jail-the-wrong-people-20140814-103waz.html">has criticised</a> the abolition of this sentencing option as a “mistake” that will lead to “a more sustained increase in the prison population … in the crime rate [and possibly] … the rate of recidivism”. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Who feels the impacts?</h2>
<p>Imprisonment affects the whole community. It is expensive and <a href="http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/Does%20Imprisonment%20Deter%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20Evidence.pdf">fails to increase community safety</a> in the long run. The broader impacts are wide-reaching and long-term.</p>
<p>However, the data reveals that some key groups have been affected more significantly by the upward trend in imprisonment in Victoria. We highlight two. </p>
<p><strong>Indigenous Australians</strong></p>
<p>The rate of imprisonment for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander (ATSI) people in Victoria is 12.6 times higher than non-ATSI people. While ATSI Australians make up <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/vic-45?opendocument&navpos=620">0.7% of Victoria’s total population</a>, they represent <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EAboriginal%20&%20Torres%20Strait%20Islander%20prisoner%20characteristics%7E10007">7.7% of the prison population</a>.</p>
<p>That proportion is not as high a level of over-representation as in other parts of Australia: for example, in New South Wales, Indigenous Australians comprise <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ENew%20South%20Wales%7E10015">24% of the total prisoner population</a>, and <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ENorthern%20Territory%7E10021">in the Northern Territory it is 86%</a>. However, it still reflects a disproportionate impact of prison expansion on Victoria’s Indigenous population. Indigenous imprisonment must be connected to the broader <a href="http://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Closing_the_Gap_2015_Report_0.pdf">context of Indigenous disadvantage</a> across health, employment and education.</p>
<p><strong>Women</strong> </p>
<p>The imprisonment of women in Victoria has also grown disproportionally in the last decade, at a <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESex%7E10002">rate of 41%</a>. A quarter of the women’s prison population in Victoria is un-sentenced, meaning they are on remand.</p>
<p>Women prisoners have been found to be 1.7 times <a href="http://whv.org.au/static/files/assets/ed8eaf9a/Women_and_corrections_GIA.pdf">more likely to have a mental illness</a> than male prisoners. Non-Aboriginal women are significantly more likely than non-Aboriginal men to have attempted suicide.</p>
<p>It is well known that women are disproportionately <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/getattachment/280f4a06-5927-4221-bf64-d884ba6abaf9/">affected by post-release homelessness</a> and that the majority have dependent children. Imprisonment exacerbates <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/imprisonmentobservatory/files/2014/09/Cairnlea-Evaluation-Report_2010.pdf">multiple challenges</a> – including mental health instability, inaccessible secure long-term accommodation and a limited likelihood of post-release employment – that significantly affect women and their children. Those problems often disrupt family reunions and the return of children to their mother’s custody. The result is that imprisonment can have devastating long-term impacts on women’s lives and the lives of their family members. </p>
<h2>Where do we go from here?</h2>
<p>Two important things have happened in Victoria. </p>
<p>The first is the change of government that occurred in November 2014. Labor, under Premier Daniel Andrews and Corrections Minister Noonan, has committed to investing in <a href="http://www.smartjustice.org.au/resources/SMART_Prevention.pdf">custodial and post-release prisoner support programs</a>. But <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/jury-out-on-labor-prison-plan-20150123-12w1rn.html">concerns remain</a> about what, if any, concrete policies will be put in place to arrest the state’s fast-rising rate of imprisonment. </p>
<p>The second is the Victorian <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/News/Media-Releases/Media-Alerts/inv-into-provision-of-rehab-programs-for-offenders">Ombudsman’s investigation</a> “into the provision of rehabilitation programs and transitional services for offenders in Victoria”. Following the call for submissions (<a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/News/Media-Releases/Media-Alerts/Media-Release-Strong-response-to-prisons-discussio">29 were received</a>) and a report is due to be published in late 2015. </p>
<p>These are positive signs. What remains critical is to ensure Victorians are onside with innovation and meaningful reform at the policy and program level. These must be targeted to specific areas and informed by research in order to reduce imprisonment numbers, whilst improving our overall safety and well-being as a population.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>On Wednesday May 13, Monash Criminology is hosting a free public event, Beyond Imprisonment: innovation and reform opportunities for Victoria, which will build on issues raised in this article. Hosted by Maxine McKew, the forum will involve leading innovators in the area discussing what is possible for reform in Victoria. For more details and to register <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/criminology/beyond-imprisonment/">click here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Segrave receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is a founder of the Imprisonment Observatory.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Eriksson receives funding from the Australian Research Council and is a founder of the Imprisonment Observatory.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Russell has been involved in the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People (CHRIP) project at Flat Out as a volunteer and in community organising with the Abolition Collective in Melbourne.</span></em></p>Victoria was once characterised by low imprisonment rates and innovative corrections policy. The state now has Australia’s highest rate of growth in imprisonment.Marie Segrave, Senior Lecturer, Criminology, Monash UniversityAnna Eriksson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Monash UniversityEmma Russell, PhD candidate in Criminology, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/388422015-04-09T20:41:47Z2015-04-09T20:41:47ZPrisons policy is turning Australia into the second nation of captives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77150/original/image-20150407-26488-68yopa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The human and financial costs to Australia of following America's lead in imprisoning more and more people are huge.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-86779999/stock-photo-hands-of-the-prisoner-on-a-steel-lattice-close-up.html?src=RNMiVmX339I7FrAy75Xp6g-1-3">Shutterstock/BortN66</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes you don’t need hindsight to identify broken social and legal policy. Such is the case with Australia’s slide into following the US lead and becoming a nation of captives. A little known, but alarming, fact is that imprisonment numbers in Australia – both the number of offenders incarcerated and the growth in numbers – are now at <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMedia%20Release%7EAustralian%20prisoner%20numbers%20climb%20to%20ten%20year%20high%20(Media%20Release)%7E10023">record highs</a>, and by a considerable margin.</p>
<p>Incarceration rates have fluctuated considerably since federation. At the turn of the 20th century, the imprisonment rate per 100,000 (adult) population was relatively high: <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331">126 persons per 100,000</a> adults. This dropped to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331">52 per 100,000</a> by 1925. Following a period of moderate fluctuation, in the last two decades the prison population has <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331">more than doubled</a>: an unprecedented occurrence in Australian history.</p>
<p>The number of prisoners <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2013%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20Australia%7E4">broke through the 30,000 mark</a> for the first time on June 30 2013, at which point the rate of imprisonment was 170 prisoners per 100,000 adults. The current imprisonment rate is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7EPrisoner%20characteristics,%20Australia%7E4">186 per 100,000 people</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast to most <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate">other developed countries</a>, this rate is palpably high. The rate <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-s-prison-population-at-all-time-high-1.2440039">in Canada</a> is 118 per 100,000. The incarceration rate in Australia is nearly <a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief">three times higher</a> than in Scandinavian countries.</p>
<p>Standing apart from these trends is the world’s greatest incarcerator, the United States, which imprisons more than 700 people per 100,000 - an increase of more than 400% in three decades.</p>
<p>While the Australian incarceration rate is low compared to the US rate, we are highly inefficient at locking up prisoners. It costs every state and territory <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/02/02/how-much-does-it-cost-keep-people-australian-jails">at least A$80,000</a> to house each prisoner for a year, compared to <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/03/18/2013-06139/annual-determination-of-average-cost-of-incarceration">around A$30,000</a> in the US. Hence per capita our spending on prisons is significant in relative and absolute terms.</p>
<p>And it is to the US where we should now be looking to ascertain the fall-out from an unabated tough (and dumb) on crime policy. The extensive use of imprisonment in the US has finally <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/11/7/panel-mass-incarceration-race/">reached a tipping point</a>. The community can no longer readily absorb the cost of a <a href="http://www.usfca.edu/law/docs/criminalsentencing">US$60 billion annual prisons budget</a>.</p>
<p>Radical <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/13/wonkbook-11-facts-about-americas-prison-population/">measures are being implemented</a> to reduce prison numbers. The most recent is effectively opening the prison gates to release thousands of sentenced offenders. </p>
<p>In April 2014, the US Sentencing Commission <a href="http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/news/press-releases-and-news-advisories/press-releases/20140410_Press_Release.pdf">voted to reduce</a> the sentencing guideline level for most federal offences of drug trafficking. These changes will apply retroactively, meaning that more than 46,000 prisoners are eligible to have their cases reviewed for a penalty reduction. On average, penalties are likely to be reduced by two years and one month, resulting in savings of approximately 80,000 prison bed years.</p>
<h2>Imprisonment isn’t working</h2>
<p>Increasing prison numbers might be tolerable if this achieved a positive community outcome. However, the <a href="http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=18613">evidence is to the contrary</a> (the author analyses the Australian data in a forthcoming article for the Australian Bar Review, entitled “Jail Up, Crime Down Does Not Justify Australia Becoming an Incarceration Nation”). It does not reduce the rate of serious crime, discourage potential offenders or reduce re-offending rates.</p>
<p>In many cases, imprisonment is just the wanton infliction of gratuitous punishment by an unthinking legislature and a reflexive judiciary.</p>
<p>Sentencing is the area of law where there remains the biggest gap between what <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/06/prison-contagious">science tells us</a> can be achieved through a social institution (criminal punishment) and what we actually do. We will continue to have a runaway incarceration rate until governments and courts start making evidenced-based policy and sentencing determinations. This would mean imprisonment is essentially reserved for the offenders we have reason to fear or who have inflicted serious suffering on others, not those that we simply dislike.</p>
<p>It is repugnant that <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ESentenced%20prisoners%7E8">more than 40%</a> of prisoners in Australian prisons are serving sentences for non-violent or non-sexual offences. White-collar criminals, drug traffickers and social security cheats irritate us and inconvenience our lives, but they should only go the jail in the rarest of circumstances. The <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8390.html">pains of imprisonment</a> are normally a disproportionate response to their crimes.</p>
<h2>Time to reverse the trend to excessive punishment</h2>
<p>There is also a powerful normative basis for limiting prison numbers. Imprisoning offenders for a moment longer than is necessary to achieve a demonstrated (attainable) objective of sentencing constitutes a violation of one of the most universally held moral norms: the prohibition against punishing the innocent. The violation of this norm is so prevalent in Australia that it is in fact in our prisons where the greatest number of <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/letstalkaboutrights/downloads/HRA_prisioners.pdf">human rights infractions occur</a>.</p>
<p>And this is one problem that is not the total fault of populist politicians. Our courts have considerably contributed to the crisis by unilaterally increasing sentencing tariffs for drug and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/white-collar-crims-going-to-jail-for-longer-20130719-2q8rx.html">white-collar offenders</a> over the past decade. This is supposedly in order to deter other offenders.</p>
<p>The strategy has been a brilliant failure. To appreciate the extent of this debacle you don’t need to look out of your window to see that illicit drugs are increasingly available on every street corner. You merely need to ask criminologists, who are overwhelmingly convinced about the <a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/Does%20Imprisonment%20Deter%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20Evidence.pdf">failure of general deterrence theory</a>.</p>
<p>Australian governments need to develop a strategy to reduce incarceration numbers to about 100 per 100,000 (consistent with historical trends). Without a systematic overview, the unprecedented increase in incarceration levels has the potential to contribute to a fiscal crisis and an <a href="http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/policywork/hr-reports/2014/prisons.html">ongoing human rights tragedy</a>, devoid of a principled solution – as we are witnessing in the United States.</p>
<p>The start and endpoint to the solution is to confine jails (almost exclusively) to those we have reason to be scared of: sexual and violent offenders.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Next week The Conversation begins a series, State of Imprisonment, on the trends and policies in every state and territory. The series aims to promote an informed discussion about the costs and consequences of rising rates of imprisonment across most of the nation. You can read articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/state-of-imprisonment">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38842/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article draws on a longer article by the author and Athula Pathinayake to be published in the next edition of the Australian Bar Review.</span></em></p>The US is the great incarcerator, spending US$60 billion a year on prisons, and Australia is sliding down the same path. The solution? Confine jails almost exclusively to sexual and violent offenders.Mirko Bagaric, Dean and Head of School of Law, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.