tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/indigenous-people-in-custody-13447/articlesIndigenous people in custody – The Conversation2015-06-15T01:47:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/406952015-06-15T01:47:03Z2015-06-15T01:47:03Z‘Tough on crime’ is creating a lost generation of Indigenous youth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84488/original/image-20150610-6804-1ssynj6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indigenous young people are 25 times more likely to be detained than non-Indigenous young people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Jesse Roberts</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For much of the 20th century, generations of Indigenous youth – known collectively as the Stolen Generations – were forcibly removed from their families by the force of law and placed in missions and state institutions. Today, Indigenous children are removed and placed in state institutions of another kind: juvenile detention centres. </p>
<p>Then-prime minister Kevin Rudd’s <a href="http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples">apology</a> to members of the Stolen Generation in 2008 included a promise that it would never happen again. And yet, a new generation of Indigenous youth is being separated from their families and culture – this time by the force of the criminal law.</p>
<p>The issue is now so grave that it has surpassed that of a “criminal justice” issue. It has become a “social justice” issue – one that ought to be of concern to all Australians, especially politicians and policymakers.</p>
<h2>The juvenile ‘justice’ system</h2>
<p>About half (52%) of young people in juvenile detention centres are <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129549675#page=9&zoom=auto,-120,675">Indigenous</a>. The <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/1-20/12.html">rate of imprisonment</a> among Indigenous youth is 348 per 100,000, compared with 14 non-Indigenous youth per 100,000, aged 10 to 17 years, in juvenile detention facilities across Australia.</p>
<p>In practical terms, this means that Indigenous young people are 25 times more likely to be detained than non-Indigenous young people. This is an <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/tandi_pdf/tandi416.pdf">increase</a> from 24 times more likely in 2011.</p>
<p>The reasons for this are complex and have been documented extensively, most notably in the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> in 1991. </p>
<p>Twenty-four years on from the royal commission, few of the 339 recommendations have been implemented into government policy. Indigenous incarceration rates have actually increased. Research <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=NsX7VxR8GiwC">indicates</a> that the rate of over-representation of Indigenous young people has steadily increased since 1994. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/tandi_pdf/tandi390.pdf">Research</a> reveals that Indigenous young people still receive more referrals to court and fewer police cautions when compared with non-Indigenous young people. They are more likely to have their matters to go to court, more likely to plead guilty and more likely to receive more serious and heavier penalties than non-Indigenous youth. They are significantly more likely to be held in detention on remand.</p>
<p>Yet an analysis of statistics only takes us so far. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/23/aboriginal-deaths-in-custody-spark-national-day-of-action">death</a> in custody in August 2014 of a young Yamatji woman for A$1000 in unpaid fines illustrates the human cost of playing “law and order” politics. </p>
<p>This tragic and entirely avoidable loss ought to serve as a stern reminder to government departments of the urgency in addressing the issue of Indigenous juvenile justice. Instead, Western Australian Attorney-General Michael Mischin publicly <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/minister-michael-mischin-defends-jail-time-for-fines-after-woman-dies-in-custody/story-e6frgczx-1227036579422">defended</a> the state policy of “paying down” fines with jail time.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to detention</h2>
<p>The reasons for over-representation are complex. In light of this, there are no simple or quick fixes. That said, we know a great deal about what works. </p>
<p>A good start would be to implement and ensure policy consistency with the royal commission’s 339 recommendations.</p>
<p>We know that locally designed and community-based solutions are key. Many Aboriginal community members and elders are already involved in community initiatives targeted at keeping young people safe, often for little or no remuneration. </p>
<p>Good examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>night patrols, such as the Redfern Streetbeat, the <a href="http://www.atns.net.au/agreement.asp?EntityID=3065">Bourke Community Assistance Patrol</a>, the <a href="https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1G1-202399326/funding-in-doubt-for-street-cruize">Grafton Streetcruize</a>, the <a href="http://www.dnc.org.au/SafeAboriginalYouthPatrol.html">Dubbo Community Patrol</a></p></li>
<li><p>mentoring programs, such as <a href="http://tribalwarrior.org/">Tribal Warrior</a> and the <a href="https://aimementoring.com/">Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience</a> </p></li>
<li><p>cultural centres, such as <a href="http://www.indigenousjustice.gov.au/db/projects/272404.html">Tirkandi Inaburra</a> and the <a href="http://ncie.org.au/">National Centre of Indigenous Excellence</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There is emerging evidence that <a href="http://www.justreinvest.org.au/">justice reinvestment</a> – taking money out of prisons and putting it back into the community – is effective in reducing youth crime levels. There is also a significant evidentiary basis to suggest that a “tough on crime” approach almost certainly does not work. </p>
<p>However, it does win elections.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the Beyond Prison series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/beyond-prison">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Porter 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>A new generation of Indigenous youth is being separated from their families and culture – this time by the force of criminal law that ignores the proven alternative of community-based justice.Amanda Porter, Researcher, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/428112015-06-10T03:49:45Z2015-06-10T03:49:45ZNSW ditches another protection for Indigenous people in custody<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/84304/original/image-20150609-8711-1r1fa8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For a modest amount, the Custody Notification Service provides NSW with one of the most effective strategies in curbing Indigenous deaths in police custody.`</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-03/aboriginal-custody-phone-line-under-threat/6518184">poised</a> to abolish the Custody Notification Service in New South Wales through a funding cut on July 1 – for the sake of saving A$526,000 a year. For that modest amount, the service provides NSW with one of the most effective strategies in curbing Indigenous deaths in police custody.</p>
<p>The service is a telephone hotline that provides Indigenous prisoners in police custody with personal and legal advice. It also ensures that they receive adequate health care while monitoring their treatment by police. </p>
<p>NSW Aboriginal Legal Services CEO Kane Ellis has told me that the service is a “transparency measure” that “increases the professionalism of police”. It provides Indigenous people with assistance that is often:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… as simple as getting a person essential medication that can save a life. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why the service is essential</h2>
<p>At <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/1-20/20.html">last count in 2013</a>, Indigenous deaths in custody had spiked to all-time highs in other states and territories where the service has not been implemented, as well as among Indigenous prison populations. </p>
<p>However, since the service was implemented in NSW in 2007, the state has had <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/mr/20/mr20.pdf">no Indigenous deaths</a> in its police cells, watch-houses and during transport procedures. In that time, other states and territories have recorded 11 Indigenous deaths in police custody.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> in 1991 recommended the establishment of the Custody Notification Service. The reasons why the service must continue reflect the commission’s major findings. These are reasons that state and federal governments have mostly ignored since 1991.</p>
<p>The royal commission found that Indigenous people die in custody at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people. This is primarily because they are taken into custody at much higher rates than non-Indigenous people.</p>
<p>In NSW, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4517.0%7E2014%7EMain%20Features%7ENew%20South%20Wales%7E10015">rates of Indigenous imprisonment</a> are currently 24%. However, Indigenous people make up less than 2.9% of the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001">population</a>. This is a higher per capita rate than in 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>, where 86% of inmates are Indigenous. Indigenous people comprise 29.8% of the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001">population</a>. </p>
<p>Put differently, in NSW, Indigenous people are more than eight times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous people. In the Northern Territory, they are less than three times as likely to be imprisoned.</p>
<p>The Custody Notification Service helps prevent Indigenous deaths in both police and prison custody by addressing the problem of over-representation of Indigenous offenders in prison through the provision of legal advice. Such advice usually informs an Indigenous person in custody of their right to silence. This prevents false confessions and unreliable evidence, thereby reducing unfair and unsafe convictions.</p>
<p>The right to silence for Indigenous people remains intact despite recent legislative amendments in NSW <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-you-say-nothing-at-all-nsw-and-the-right-to-silence-12962">restricting the use</a> of this legal right.</p>
<h2>Background to its abolition</h2>
<p>The Carr government implemented the Custody Notification Service as a compulsory custody right in NSW across a range of criminal legislation. Section 33 of the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/learr2005542/">Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Regulation</a> provides that when an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is detained in police custody, a custody manager must immediately notify a representative of the Aboriginal Legal Service and inform the prisoner accordingly. </p>
<p>In one <a href="https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/549fe7ad3004262463c33f26">case</a>, Justice Hidden of the NSW Supreme Court found confessional evidence from four Indigenous men was inadmissible as evidence in court because police failed to comply with the Custody Notification Service requirements under the legislation. </p>
<p>In 2013, former NSW attorney-general Greg Smith announced the O’Farrell government’s commitment to these laws. Accordingly, if the service is abolished in practice by funding cuts but remains on the statute books – as it almost certainly will – the NSW government will be faced with the absurd but very real proposition that most confessional evidence from Indigenous people in custody will be rendered inadmissible because police cannot contact an Aboriginal Legal Service representative. </p>
<p>The federal government has regularly contested funding to the Custody Notification Service since 2012. In that year, funding to the service was cut and Aboriginal Legal Service staff were forced to perform unpaid work. They continued to operate the service on a voluntary basis. In 2013, funding to the phone line resumed. </p>
<p>However, requiring the service to operate through the charitable goodwill of its already overworked skeleton staff is an unreasonable and untenable demand.</p>
<p>Rather than abolishing this successful program, governments both state and federal should be implementing and funding more like it nationwide. Without the Custody Notification Service in NSW, deaths of Indigenous people in police custody will almost certainly increase, along with their over-representation in prison.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eugene Schofield-Georgeson has worked as a Solicitor-Advocate for the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) and is affiliated with the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL).</span></em></p>Without the Custody Notification Service in NSW, deaths of Indigenous people in police custody will almost certainly increase, along with the over-representation of Indigenous people in prison.Eugene Schofield-Georgeson, PhD Candidate, Macquarie Law School, Macquarie UniversityLicensed 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/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/340152014-11-10T05:55:19Z2014-11-10T05:55:19ZExplainer: why is the UN reviewing Australia’s record on torture?<p>The Australian government <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/10/aust-face-un-anti-torture-committee">is being examined</a> on Monday evening by the United Nations Committee against Torture. Before the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cat/pages/catindex.aspx">independent committee</a> of experts, an Australian government delegation has to answer tough questions about Australia’s human rights record with a specific focus on torture.</p>
<p>The question-and-answer session is <a href="http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/">streamed live</a>. The committee’s conclusions and recommendations will be available online within weeks. </p>
<h2>What does the committee do?</h2>
<p>The committee monitors states’ implementation of the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CAT.aspx">Convention against Torture</a> and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). It does so primarily by reviewing states’ periodic progress reports, asking the government questions on areas of concern, and issuing public recommendations.</p>
<p>Australia was part of the first wave of supporters for the convention. Australia has voluntarily committed to the treaty since 1989. That does not mean Australia always <a href="http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/regarding-rights/2014/04/18/1321/#more-1321">honours its obligations</a> under the treaty, nor implements the committee’s recommendations.</p>
<p>Australian NGOs have identified issues of concern <a href="http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/AUS/INT_CAT_NGO_AUS_18634_E.pdf">in submissions</a> to the UN committee. A <a href="http://www.pwd.org.au/admin/australian-delegation-to-the-un-committee-against-torture.html">delegation</a> representing Australian NGOs travelled to Geneva last week to give an <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-08/australian-ngo-addresses-un-torture-committee-over/5876726">“informal briefing”</a> to the committee. The committee has reviewed Australia on three previous occasions, most recently <a href="http://hrlc.org.au/files/CX9F5DW2WB/Australia%20CAT%20COBs.pdf">in 2008</a>.</p>
<h2>Why has Australia agreed to this review?</h2>
<p>All states voluntarily choose to be party to international human rights treaties. In so doing, they agree to be reviewed by the relevant committee. The torture convention is very widely accepted. Almost 80% of UN member states committed to the treaty.</p>
<p>No state has a perfect human rights record, which raises the question: why would Australia, or any state, choose to be reviewed in the international arena and risk being subjected to criticism? </p>
<p>The decision to commit to, or ratify, a treaty depends on each state, their level of commitment to human rights in their own country and internationally, the extent to which they rely on international trade or development aid and view this as related to their human rights record, and their desire to be viewed as a good international citizen. The potential benefits are many and the disadvantages few, other than a public “slap on the wrist” from the UN.</p>
<h2>What will the committee discuss?</h2>
<p>The committee will primarily base its review on a <a href="http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2fC%2fAUS%2fQ%2f5&Lang=en">list of questions</a> sent to the Australian government, and the <a href="http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2fC%2fAUS%2f4-5&Lang=en">government’s responses</a> submitted in January. </p>
<p>The committee, like most other UN human rights committees, has expressed concern about the practice of immigration detention and ensuring that asylum seekers are not returned to a country where they are at risk of torture. It is also reviewing steps taken to address the over-representation of Indigenous people in custody.</p>
<p>For the first time, the committee is asking questions about Australia’s action on violence against women, including domestic violence. Although traditionally viewed as outside the scope of the torture treaty as domestic violence is not carried out by an “official” as per the definition of torture, there is growing awareness of the need for a gendered analysis of international human rights law.</p>
<p>The Australian government’s report disagrees with the committee’s inclusion of domestic violence, but provides comprehensive responses on the relevant legislation and support services for women experiencing violence.</p>
<p>The committee has also asked about progress in implementing the Optional Protocol to the CAT (<a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/optional-protocol-convention-against-torture-opcat">OPCAT</a>), which will enable international inspections of places of detention. NGOs in <a href="http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/AUS/INT_CAT_NGO_AUS_18634_E.pdf">their reports</a> have criticised the slow progress in ratifying the OPCAT.</p>
<p>Like many other UN committees, the committee has also asked about a bill of rights. Australia is the only western democratic state not to have a constitutional or legislative bill of rights.</p>
<h2>What happens after the review?</h2>
<p>The committee will issue a report with recommendations called “concluding observations”. However, enforcement mechanisms for international human rights treaties are weak. There are no sanctions and no individual criminal responsibility, only the risk of some international embarrassment.</p>
<p>It has been found that where there is a lack of follow-up on recommendations by NGOs and human rights institutions at a national level, implementation of recommendations can be poor. </p>
<p>It then falls to NGOs within Australia to garner public support for the recommendations and hold the government to account.</p>
<h2>What are the implications for Australia?</h2>
<p>Having secured a seat on the UN Security Council, Australia has indicated its intention to bid for a seat on the UN’s primary human rights body, the Human Rights Council, in 2018. Australia’s current international human rights image does not augur well for this contest.</p>
<p>For example, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, criticised Australia’s asylum policies in his high-profile <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14998&LangID=E">opening address</a> to the Human Rights Council. He singled out a number of states or regions of concern, including Israel–Palestine, Sri Lanka, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Australia was one of the very few western states highlighted.</p>
<p>A less-than-perfect human rights record does not preclude a state from membership of the Human Rights Council, but it must demonstrate willingness to <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/press/hrc/kit/QA.pdf">provide redress and make improvements</a>. Criticism by the UN Committee Against Torture is not something that any state wants, particularly not one seeking a seat on the Human Rights Council.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34015/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona McGaughey receives an Australian Postgraduate Award funding from the Department of Education, a top-up grant from the University of Western Australia, and the Leah Jane Cohen Bursary from Graduate Women WA.</span></em></p>The Australian government is being examined on Monday evening by the United Nations Committee against Torture. Before the independent committee of experts, an Australian government delegation has to answer…Fiona McGaughey, PhD Candidate in Human Rights Law, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.