tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/prisons-889/articlesPrisons – The Conversation2024-03-27T13:27:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2260442024-03-27T13:27:05Z2024-03-27T13:27:05ZBritain’s forgotten prison island: remembering the thousands of convicts who died working in Bermuda’s dockyards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584033/original/file-20240325-25-ejtemv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C10%2C1016%2C466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An 1862 photo of a prison hulk docked in Ireland Island, Bermuda.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_America_%26_West_Indies_Station%27s_Grassy_Bay_anchorage_from_HMD_Bermuda_1865.jpg">Royal Navy</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We think of Bermuda as a tiny paradise in the North Atlantic. But long before cruise ships moored up, prison ships carried hundreds of convicts to the island, first docking in 1824 and remaining there for decades. </p>
<p>Islands have long been places to deport, exile and banish criminals. Think of Alcatraz, the infamous penitentiary in San Francisco, or Robben Island in South Africa, which held Nelson Mandela. The French penal colony Devil’s Island was immortalised in the Steve McQueen film Papillon, while Saint Helena in the Atlantic is still remembered for Napoleon’s exile. </p>
<p>You may be familiar with the story of British convict transportation to Australia between 1788 and 1868, but the use of Bermuda as a prison destination is less well known. For 40 years, British prisoners worked backbreaking days labouring in Bermuda’s dockyards and died in their thousands.</p>
<p>I research the lives of prisoners across the British Empire, and have a particular interest in notorious floating prisons known as hulks. I was surprised to discover that in addition to locations across the Thames Estuary, Portsmouth and Plymouth, the British government used these ships as emergency detention centres in colonial outposts across the 19th century, detaining convicts in Bermuda between 1824 and 1863 and Gibraltar between 1842 and 1875.</p>
<p>England has a long history of banishing its criminal population. In the 18th century, criminals were typically sentenced to seven years overseas in America. Many worked as plantation labourers in Maryland and Virginia, but the start of the American Revolution brought this practice to a halt. </p>
<p>Britain believed that the war with America would end quickly and in its favour, but as the war continued, prisons filled with people who had nowhere to go. There was no emphasis on reforming prisoners and releasing them back into society. </p>
<p>Britain found itself with a prison housing crisis, and turned to hulks to cope with rising numbers. Each could hold between 300 and 500 men, and they were nicknamed “floating hells” for their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2021.1893917">unsanitary and dangerous conditions</a>.</p>
<p>Officials proposed several locations to send convicts, and ultimately settled on Australia. But the government felt that convict labour could be put to use in other colonies, and so began an experiment in 1824 to send men to Bermuda.</p>
<h2>Convict workers</h2>
<p>Bermuda had been colonised by British settlers since the 17th century, and was governed by various trading companies until 1684 when the Crown took over. Though only 20 miles long, the island was already extremely important to naval strategy. It was used as a refuelling station for British ships travelling to colonial outposts such as Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Caribbean. </p>
<p>But the naval dockyard needed modernisation, and rather than employ local workers, convicts – a cheap and easily mobilised workforce – filled the labour gap.</p>
<p>Bermuda didn’t have a large prison, so men lived on board the ships they had sailed on (seven in total). Local traders, shipbuilders and whalers objected, complaining in newspapers that the government was sending a “swarm of felons” to the island. The government offered a compromise: no convicts would remain on the island at the end of their sentences. Instead, they had to return home, or travel on to Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of convicts with two guards, the convicts are wearing white uniforms that say Medway, and flat, straw hats, very unlike the prisoners of today." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/583505/original/file-20240321-24-fejj4q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sketches from 1860 show British convicts at work in Bermuda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/Yezd7RM9/xeLdbzDz4KJ7e">Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Work on the island wasn’t without risk. Many were injured in the dockyards, others went blind from the reflected glare of the sun as they quarried white limestone. </p>
<p>Convicts were at the mercy of hurricanes which battered the ships and caused injuries. They were burnt by scorching temperatures and suffered sunstroke, and the island’s humidity caused respiratory problems and spread deadly fevers on board. </p>
<p>Rising tensions over work, religion and alcohol consumption led to fights between prisoners, their overseers and the militias that guarded them. Some attempted escapes by stealing boats and trying to board ships bound for America.</p>
<p>Bermuda also received people convicted in other British colonies, including Canada and the Caribbean. During the years of the great famine in Ireland (1845 to 1852), thousands of Irish convicts arrived on the island, many suffering from malnourishment. This diversity was striking when compared to prisons in England.</p>
<p>The experiment ended after 40 years, in 1863, when dockyard repairs were completed. The remaining hulks were scuttled or broken up for scrap, and convicts were transported to Australia and Tasmania, or home to England with their meagre pay in their pockets.</p>
<h2>Prison islands today</h2>
<p>Prison islands are naturally isolated and cut off from land – escape is virtually impossible. Then and now, they enable states to lay claim to land, facilitate trade and secure commercial ambitions. Islands have many strategic advantages and are frequently used as military bases. Now, many former prison islands are Unesco world heritage sites, and tourist destinations.</p>
<p>Bermuda’s history as a prison island has been largely forgotten, but this story shares parallels with today. Prisons are suffering <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/11/prisoners-could-be-let-out-60-days-early-to-relieve-crowded-jails-in-england-and-wales">from overcrowding</a>, and governments still detain prisoners and others on islands and modified ships. </p>
<p>In Dorset, the Bibby Stockholm ship is housing asylum seekers, while the island of Diego Garcia, used as a UK-US military base is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-68326365">detaining Tamil refugees</a> in the Indian Ocean. </p>
<p>The convicts who lived, worked and died in Bermuda are part of a larger global story of coercion and empire. The product of their labour was imperial strength, but for those sent thousands of miles from home and buried in unmarked graves, the brutalities of their experience should also be remembered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna McKay currently receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust, and has previously received funding from the Irish Research Council and Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Convicts worked in the dockyards in Bermuda for 40 years.Anna McKay, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow in History, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2238412024-02-19T21:08:32Z2024-02-19T21:08:32ZWho was Robert Badinter, the most important Frenchman of whom you never heard?<p>At the end of a class on the fundamental principles of law that I was teaching to first-year law students, a group of students approached me and asked: “But who is this Robert Badinter you speak of so often?”</p>
<p>Every time I bring up Badinter, I know I am about to teach them about values such as the right to life, respect for individuals, human dignity, equality, and individual freedom. As a legal historian, such moments are a chance for me to introduce the younger generation of the early 21st century to a rare man who, throughout his life, fought against injustice. On 9 February, he died in Paris, aged 95.</p>
<h2>A national homage</h2>
<p>To say that Badinter’s death marked the end of an era for France is not an overstatement. The next day, not a single national daily failed to dedicate its front page to Badinter. <em>Le Monde</em> printed a black and white picture of him, striding confidently out of the council of ministers in 1981, his head seemingly crowned with a chandelier. <em>Libération</em> opted for a portrait in his later years, titled “Peine absolue” – a pun on a French phrase that means at once “capital punishment”, but also “Absolute sadness”. Others hailed “Un homme juste” (“A man of justice”). Even the conservative <em>Le Figaro</em>, a staunch opponent for most of his life, bowed to his “passion for justice”.</p>
<p>On Wednesday 14 February, the government held a ceremony of national homage Place Vendôme, Paris, where the Justice Ministry is located. His widow, the French feminist and Enlightenment historian Elisabeth Badinter, sat at the front row close to their three children. Hundreds of people stood under the drizzle to watch the coffin draped with the French flag, as French president Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2024/02/14/hommage-national-a-robert-badinter">announced</a> his entry to the Pantheon, in which the remains of distinguished French citizens lay.</p>
<h2>A very French upbringing</h2>
<p>The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Badinter was born on 30 March 1928 in Paris. In 1989, <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/radioscopie-par-jacques-chancel/robert-badinter-du-15-06-89-4783850">he described his father</a>, who died following deportation during the Second World War, as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“one of those young intellectual Russian students of before 1914, who loved France with an intensity that we find difficult to conceive. When I was a boy, he would tell me how poor students in Moscow, each possessed by the revolutionary ideal, would head to the French embassy, which was the only place where one could protest because it was an ally country. There, they would sing the <em>Marseillaise</em> [the French national hymn] and cry out ‘Long live France, long live the Republic’. Around the embassy there were Cossacks, whip in hand.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Badinter would grow up in a household steeped in the ideals of the French Republic, in which it was forbidden to speak any other language than French. Reading of 19th-century French writers such as Emile Zola or Stendhal was mandatory. Such ideals would also form the backbone of his relationship to his wife, Elisabeth. Fiercely reserved about their relationship and reluctant to appear in the media as a couple, they would go on to write one book together on French revolutionary philosopher, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas-de-Caritat-marquis-de-Condorcet">Nicolas de Condorcet</a>.</p>
<p>Following a doctorate in law in 1952, Badinter worked first as an attorney, then a professor, and finally in politics.</p>
<h2>Consigning the guillotine to museums</h2>
<p>In France and abroad, Badinter is first and foremost known as the man who abolished the death penalty in 1981.</p>
<p>There had been talk of abolishing the capital punishment <a href="https://enseignants.lumni.fr/fiche-media/00000005058/une-revolution-dans-la-justice-partie-2-la-peine-capitale-depuis-la-revolution-francaise.html">since the French Revolution</a>. Already in 1791, deputies had debated on whether to include it in the country’s first criminal code. Politician and jurist Louis-Michel le Peletier, Marquis of Saint-Fargeau (1760-1793), believed its gruesome spectacles perverted society, accustoming it to the sight of violence and blood, while French lawyer and revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) sought to refute the very principle of the death penalty.</p>
<p>In the following century, French novelist Victor Hugo would take up the baton, devoting two novels to the subject, <em>The Last Day of a Condemned Man</em> (1829) and <em>Claude Gueux</em> (1834). Badinter, who called him the “great” Hugo, would go on to adapt the second <a href="https://www.opera-lyon.com/fr/programmation/2012-2013/opera/claude">as an opera, <em>Claude</em></a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1UxrY2iA5sA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Robert Badinter filmed at his home in October, 2021.</span></figcaption>
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<p>True to that intellectual heritage, Badinter always stood against the death penalty. Despite this, in 1972 he was unable to save a client, Roger Bontems. While Bontems did not have any blood on his hands, he was found guilty for complicity in the murder of a nurse and porter, and went to the guillotine. As Dominique Missika and Maurice Szafran recount in their biography, Bontems’ death transformed Badinter from a “partisan against the death penalty” into an “activist”.</p>
<p>In 1977, his defence of Patrick Henry, who is convicted for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Philippe Bertrand, is seen as a turning point in the history of the abolition of the death penalty. Haunted by Bontems’ death, for 90 minutes Badinter weighed in with all his might on the conscience of the juries. “You are alone, and there will not be any presidential pardon,” <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2024/02/09/la-plaidoirie-de-robert-badinter-au-proces-de-patrick-henry-en-1977-moi-je-vous-dis-si-vous-le-coupez-en-deux-cela-ne-dissuadera-personne_6215669_1819218.html">he said</a>, appealing to every one of them “You, you, and you”. </p>
<p>On 14 February, Emmanual Macron <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2024/02/14/hommage-national-a-robert-badinter">described him as</a> “a soul crying out, a force wrenching life from the clutch of death.” Badinter saved Henry’s life, and would go on to save five more until becoming Justice Minister under President François Mittérand in 1981.</p>
<p>The abolition would represent one of his first tasks in government. On 18 September of that year, the French parliament ended capital punishment, with 363 votes against 117. It took Badinter courage to advocate for such a cause: during the 1981 presidential campaign, <a href="https://www.liberation.fr/societe/police-justice/robert-badinter-lepris-de-justice-20240209_7L4W23X6PBCMBFISMYCPEWKTFU/">a survey</a> revealed 63% of French people opposed its abolition.</p>
<h2>Making prison conditions more humane</h2>
<p>It was also Badinter who decriminalised homosexuality in August 1982. He would go on to repeal a set of other repressive legislations, including the “Anti-troublemakers” law (December 23, 1981), which held protest organisers responsible for any damage caused and was widely perceived as targeting trade unions. Also dismantled was the “Security and Freedom” law (June 10, 1983), which extended police powers to demand IDs and restricted the scope of convicts’ defence.</p>
<p>To Badinter, prison was not meant to replace the death penalty. Every individual, regardless of his or her actions, was redeemable, and hope for release should never be taken away. As minister of justice, Badinter introduced several reforms to humanise inmates’ living conditions, such as TVs in cells and the end of screens in visitation booths. To combat delinquency, relieve overcrowded prisons, provide alternatives to imprisonment for minor offences, he proposed non-custodial sentences such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-fine">day fines</a> or community service.</p>
<p>One of his other great accomplishments was improving citizens’ access to justice. He expanded the right for associations to become civil parties in cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes (June 10, 1983), and racially motivated crimes. He paved the way for greater recognition of victims, long neglected by the justice system, by creating the first victim-support service within his ministry, providing them with a more prominent role during trials. He also worked toward France’s recognising the right for any litigant to appeal to the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.</p>
<h2>The duty of remembrance</h2>
<p>As the son of Holocaust victims, Badnter cared intensely about history. As minister of justice, he once requested the file of notorious criminal <a href="https://www.histoire-et-civilisations.com/thematiques/epoque-contemporaine/landru-lassassin-aux-petites-annonces-90418.php">Henri Désiré Landru</a>, who was sentenced to death in 1921 for the murder of 10 women, only to find that the file had not been archived. In a ministry that showed little concern for its memory and heritage, he established the French Association for the History of Justice. The two were thus linked, and with this objective in mind, in 1985 he authorised the audiovisual recording of certain trials.</p>
<p>In 1983, Bolivia extradited to France the head of the Lyon Gestapo, Klaus Barbie, who in 1943 arrested and tortured French resistant Jean Moulin. The preamble of the law indicates that trials with “eventful, political, or sociological dimensions deserving preservation for history” should be recorded. Preserving filmed records of major trials for history has filled in, through images, what procedural archives do not reveal. These images enrich written accounts and provide new dimensions for research, capturing not only pleadings but also what only images can convey: gazes, gestures, silences, emotions.</p>
<p>Human dignity knows no borders or limits. It is one of the most important fundamental rights, which continues uninterrupted even after the death of individuals. Robert Badinter knew that humanity’s march toward human rights would never be complete. This is what he leaves to future generations because he never ceased to believe in the universality and indivisibility of human rights. This is his accomplished work of justice; it is up to us to ensure its continuation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223841/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvie Humbert ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The death in February of the man who abolished the death penalty inspired a national homage in France. Yet, Robert Badinter remains little known outside of the country.Sylvie Humbert, Historian of justice and law , Institut catholique de Lille (ICL)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221572024-01-31T23:19:39Z2024-01-31T23:19:39ZMost prisoners never receive visitors, and this puts them at a higher risk of reoffending<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572078/original/file-20240130-17-whpdmt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C22%2C5026%2C3684&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-woman-looking-forward-meeting-1436726906">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>It was like walking through the gates of hell. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>That’s what one visitor to a prison told us about their experience. It can be a traumatic and stressful event. Family members of first-time prisoners are most often left in a state of uncertainty about what happens next. This is coupled with the feelings of loss, devastation, and disbelief, as explained by one participant in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2272910">our research</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was a smack in the face. I was not expecting it at all […] I was pretty devastated and felt pretty alone and vulnerable. I had no idea what went wrong.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We found misinformation and limited information of visitation rules and processes help create such negative experiences for visitors. Some stopped going altogether.</p>
<p>This is important to address because visitation is a crucial factor in helping prevent reoffending, but also to maintaining good mental health for those behind bars. </p>
<h2>Visits crucial for prisoners</h2>
<p>In 2021 and 2022, our research team conducted in-depth interviews with 21 participants from across Australia about the barriers to prison visitation and what their visiting experiences were like.</p>
<p>We wanted to investigate this because of the high rates of recidivism among Australian prisoners. Visitation has been shown to help with this.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sentencing-statistics/released-prisoners-returning-to-prison">42.7% of prisoners</a> in Australia are reincarcerated within two years.</p>
<p>We also know that prison visitation has been found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2016.07.006">reduce prisoners’ risk</a> of reincarceration by 26%. Despite this, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2272910">most prisoners</a> never get any visitors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A phone on a metal cord on one side of a glass visitor booth in a prison" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572088/original/file-20240130-16-cofmi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Many prisoners never get visitors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/visiting-boothspenitentiary-area-maximum-security-detainees-1095129356">Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Having visitors while in jail has other benefits too. For one, it helps prisoners to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2010.498383">conform to prison life</a>. </p>
<p>It also reduces <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/%2007418825.2018.1508606">prison violence</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/107834580301000310">mental health problems</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/449299">suicidal tendencies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427808317574">misbehaviour</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, visitation helps prisoners <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.05.001">maintain prosocial roles</a> (like being a parent) and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.06.007">build optimism</a> for life once they’re released. </p>
<p>We wanted to understand why prison visits might be prevented or delayed. As such, we looked at how people new to prison visitation learn to navigate the system. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-report-reveals-shocking-state-of-prisoner-health-heres-what-needs-to-be-done-217558">New report reveals shocking state of prisoner health. Here's what needs to be done</a>
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<h2>Information confusing and hard to find</h2>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2272910">We found</a> visitation rules and procedures can differ between jurisdictions and within jurisdictions. They can also be different between low, medium, and maximum prisons, and even between public and private prisons. </p>
<p>Furthermore, prisoners are transferred between prisons an average of three times during their sentence. Therefore, visitors may need to learn new rules each transfer. </p>
<p>Being new to the visitation process, most participants expressed feeling lost, overwhelmed, mentally fatigued, helpless and alone, desperate for any information. One participant told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve never had anything to do with any of this before [he] went to prison. I knew nothing about police, courts, prisons or anything. When [he] went in I was a mess because no one told me anything […] I think it was maybe day three or four of him being in there and I had the worst nightmare I’ve ever had about stuff, you know, happening to him in there and him being killed. Yeah, after that it was a downward spiral for me pretty fast […]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even before visitors needed to learn the rules and procedures, participants suffered stress from social isolation, financial hardship, the loss of their loved one and media coverage due to the court case. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-werent-there-when-i-needed-them-we-asked-former-prisoners-what-happens-when-support-services-fail-208949">‘They weren’t there when I needed them’: we asked former prisoners what happens when support services fail</a>
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<p>Chronic stress can lead to structural changes in the part of the brain responsible for memory and decision making. Additionally, chronic stress can impair a person’s cognitive flexibility, hindering their ability to adapt to change and find information. This is a normal response when people find themselves in uncertain situations.</p>
<p>Furthermore, chronic stress can precipitate or exacerbate <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2023.2272910">mental health problems</a>, as well as increase feelings of helplessness and/or hopelessness. This can negatively impact a person’s ability to concentrate and learn new information.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A hallway of barred prison cells in a prison" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572090/original/file-20240130-27-s97h2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A large portion of prisoners in Australia reoffend after being released.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/san-francisco-california-united-states-august-630056831">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Most participants described their efforts to get the right information as confusing. Important details that had a direct impact on whether their visit was approved, cancellations, or traumatic visitation experience were omitted from the website or the phone conversations they had with corrections officers. A participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was no information about him needing to put me on the approved visitor list and that I would not be approved until he did this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another was deterred from visiting altogether:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I quickly learned not to bother […] you get in trouble when you go visit because you don’t have something you need, or you have worn inappropriate clothing because you got wrong information from them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost all participants expressed distrust in the available information from prisons due to their negative experiences. Instead, they rely on advice provided by strangers on social media support groups specifically set-up for families of prisoners. </p>
<h2>Small changes for a big difference</h2>
<p>To improve prison visitors’ access to reliable and correct information, and ensure they are adequately supported during this stressful period, our participants made these recommendations:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a visitation liaison person in the court to provide advice and support after sentencing</p></li>
<li><p>a visitation information support pack that can be provided to family members immediately after sentencing (if in court) or by post</p></li>
<li><p>a short demonstration video of the visitation procedure online</p></li>
<li><p>corrections/prisons to share information with the online support groups to allow them to quickly communicate changes to visitation rules and procedures, as well as any unplanned changes to visitation hours. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These recommendations have merit and could help to increase the number and frequency of prisoners being visited, as well as help to reduce stress among visitors. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-ex-prisoners-public-housing-cuts-crime-and-re-incarceration-and-saves-money-180027">Giving ex-prisoners public housing cuts crime and re-incarceration – and saves money</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Receiving visitors while behind bars was a raft of benefits, but people have reported many barriers. It must be made easier to help drive down recidivism rates.Nicole Ryan, Associate Lecturer of Criminology, La Trobe UniversityNathan Ryan, Doctor of Criminology, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2218522024-01-31T22:33:11Z2024-01-31T22:33:11ZUse of lockdowns in Canadian prisons could amount to torture<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/use-of-lockdowns-in-canadian-prisons-could-amount-to-torture" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/judge-rules-lockdowns-due-to-staff-shortages-at-nova-scotia-jails-are-unlawful-1.7084269">recently ruled</a> in a pair of decisions that it is unlawful to lock down imprisoned people due to staff shortages. Lockdowns are a practice of restrictive confinement that has become <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/east-coast-prison-justice-lockdowns-jails-prisoners-1.6117836">increasingly common</a>. This is despite the fact that, under the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/nelson-mandela-rules-protecting-rights-persons-deprived-liberty">United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules</a>, those lockdowns meet the criteria for torture. </p>
<p>In November 2023, the East Coast Prison Justice Society raised alarm over institutional lockdowns at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. One of the prisoners the society spoke with said, “<a href="https://www.eastcoastprisonjustice.ca/press-releases.html">things are worse than they have ever been</a>.”</p>
<p>Lockdowns are common not just in Nova Scotia, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/lockdowns-soaring-in-ontario-jails-due-to-staff-shortages/article_4012038e-c280-5697-b94a-08b7c3a00276.html">but across Canada</a>. Perhaps most notoriously, the Toronto South Detention Centre has been subject to <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/report-conditions-confinement-toronto-south-detention-centre">numerous investigations</a> surrounding its abuse of restrictive confinement. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/2022-data-release-inmates-ontario/human-rights-based-data-collection-inmates-restrictive-confinement">Recent data</a> collected by Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General further demonstrates the extent of the problem in provincial institutions (no data is available on Nova Scotia). Between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, 15,929 individuals, out of a total of 29,693 people in custody, spent at least one day in a unit that was regularly locked down for 17 hours or more per day. These trends are relatively stable and consistent across provinces. </p>
<p>The East Coast Prison Justice Society said they were increasingly concerned by the impact these conditions have on the physical and mental health and well-being of prisoners. Given the ongoing problem of lockdowns across prisons in Canada, what is the significance of the court’s rulings, and do they go far enough?</p>
<h2>Loss of liberty and habeas corpus</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2024/2024nssc11/2024nssc11.html">The pair</a> of <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2024/2024nssc12/2024nssc12.html">rulings</a> from the Nova Scotia Supreme Court found that the routine use of institutional lockdowns in the province’s jails to address staffing shortages is unlawful. </p>
<p>Two <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art10c.html">habeas corpus</a> petitions were filed by Durrell Diggs and Ryan Wilband, both low-risk prisoners, who were subjected to cell confinement for 51 and 29 days respectively, often with no time out of their cells. These petitions argued the use of lockdowns was a violation of their <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/">Charter rights</a>.</p>
<p>In Diggs’s case the court ruled: “It is not a ‘privilege’ to be out of one’s cell,” it is something imprisoned people are entitled to. The court ruled that the near-daily decision to put the jail on partial or total lockdown is unlawful and unreasonable.</p>
<p>The Mandela Rules state that being held in confinement for more than 15 days without at least four hours per day out of cell, two of which must include meaningful human contact, is prolonged solitary confinement and constitutes torture. </p>
<p>Nova Scotia’s correctional regulations state prisoners are entitled to fresh air for a minimum of <a href="https://novascotia.ca/just/regulations/regs/CORserv.htm">just 30 minutes every day</a>, which falls below the Mandela Rules threshold. According to the recent court ruling, Wilband likely received that minimum on only five occasions over 28 days.</p>
<p><a href="https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=reports">Another man imprisoned at the facility told researchers</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We are locked down every second day because of staff shortages. They let us out of cells in groups, sometimes two or three, sometimes eight. One time the whole range at once was let out, but not usually. Some days no one gets out of their cell at all. The guards say how many people will be let out, but it is up to the prisoners as to who it is who gets out. The younger weaker guys do not even ask to get out because they know they will get beaten up if they take a spot from someone higher in the pecking order.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Impacts of lockdowns</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/62/2/279/6309329">Research finds</a> these kinds of lockdowns can have severe impacts on an inmate’s mental and physical health and well-being. Lockdowns disrupt communication with lawyers, contact with loved ones, access to programs, spiritual and cultural practice, hygiene and medical treatment. Inadequate time out of their cell is associated with <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPH-06-2020-0037/full/html">worse mental health and higher suicide risk</a>. </p>
<p>In another recent decision, <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2023/2023nssc204/2023nssc204.html">Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court stated</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Confining persons in custody — many of whom may have pre-existing mental health issues — to their cells for exorbitant periods of time does nothing to assist and support their rehabilitation…Even a person with robust mental health would find it challenging to be regularly confined to a cell, often for more than 20 hours per day, with little notice and no ability to earn more time out. This practice is dehumanizing, and it is setting these individuals up to fail. They deserve better.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why this ruling is important</h2>
<p>Lockdowns are not new, although reliance on lockdowns in response to institutional issues including staffing and maintenance problems, has <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9894823/burnside-jail-staffing-shortage-critical/">increased substantially</a> since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/122/article/908261">In our research</a> we examine these practices and caution that without adequate oversight, they are likely to become a new normal. </p>
<p>Importantly, our research finds that lockdowns often replicate the torturous conditions of solitary confinement, a practice which was <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-solitary-confinement-in-canada-not-exactly-124679">ended federally</a> through Bill C-83, an amendment to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which received royal assent in 2019.</p>
<p>The recent Nova Scotia rulings are significant in that they state operational problems at the institutional level are not sufficient to justify lockdowns. Because a majority of lockdowns are caused by institutional operational issues, not prisoners’ behaviour, lockdowns constitute a “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691130644/the-society-of-captives">pain of imprisonment</a>” which exceeds the conditions and objectives of custodial sentences. </p>
<p>Lockdowns compound the pains associated with imprisonment, including poor mental and physical health, which impacts community release, reintegration and recidivism.</p>
<p>More lockdowns mean people are subject to practices that amount to torture. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510001401&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.4&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2021+%2F+2022&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2021+%2F+2022&referencePeriods=20210101%2C20210101">Almost 80 per cent</a> of the provincial prisoner population in Nova Scotia are in jail awaiting trial, presumed innocent of charges and denied pre-trial release for reasons as simple as a lack of community housing and other supports. </p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>Many of the recommendations in the court’s ruling are about ensuring adequate staffing to avoid lockdowns. However, this does not address other operational issues that can trigger lockdowns. An alternative is decreasing prison numbers rather than increasing prison staff, and abolishing solitary confinement altogether.</p>
<p>In 2020, prison numbers were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/jail-population-cut-in-half-new-covid-19-measures-1.5541732">significantly decreased</a> in Nova Scotia. In total, over <a href="https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/nova-scotia-prisons-released-41-per-cent-of-inmates-during-pandemic-1.5063557">40 per cent</a> of the provincially incarcerated population was released.</p>
<p>The judiciary, corrections, crown and defense counsels, along with community organizations, <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-canada-is-serious-about-confronting-systemic-racism-we-must-abolish-prisons-141408">collaborated to cut</a> provincial prison numbers. Some imprisoned people went to new supported community residency options, which proved successful even for people with the most complex needs.</p>
<p>Beyond ending these lockdowns, a whole-of-government approach must be taken to foster and sustain community-based alternatives to pre-trial detention and to support other initiatives preventive of imprisonment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lockdowns can have severe impacts on an inmate’s mental and physical health and well-being.Jessica Evans, Assistant Professor, Criminology, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLinda Mussell, Lecturer, Political Science and International Relations, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2213122024-01-17T23:06:58Z2024-01-17T23:06:58ZHow Ecuador went from an ‘island of peace’ to one of the world’s most violent countries<p>In 1991, Ecuadorian President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Borja_Cevallos">Rodrigo Borja Cevallos</a> uttered a famous phrase, calling Ecuador an “island of peace” in the world. These words were repeated ten years later by President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Noboa">Gustavo Noboa Bejarano</a> in his 2002 Report to the Nation. Today, however, they have completely lost their meaning – and worryingly so.</p>
<p>Ecuador has unexpectedly become one of the most violent countries in the world, described by the United Nations as a country “under stress”.</p>
<p>According to a study by the independent <a href="https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/ocindex-2023/">Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime</a>, the country ranks as the 11th most violent in the world, alongside Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In addition, Ecuador ranks 96th out of 146 countries (23rd out of 32 regionally) in the 2023 <a href="https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/">Rule of Law Index</a> (World Justice Project), which evaluates factors such as limits to government power, absence of corruption, political openness, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory compliance, civil justice and criminal justice.</p>
<p>Just five years ago, Ecuador was still considered one of the safest countries in Latin America, with a rate of 6.7 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. Today, it is nearing a rate of 45 deaths.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Video from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime with the results of the Global Organised Crime Index 2023.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Earlier this month, President Daniel Noboa <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/10/1224041752/ecuadorian-president-declares-a-state-of-emergency-amid-gang-violence-outbreak">declared</a> a state of emergency with a curfew throughout the country following the escape of the top leader of the most important criminal group, Los Choneros. This resulted in explosives attacks and kidnappings by criminal groups and the arrests of members of the country’s security forces and prison officials. </p>
<p>It was a clear demonstration of the level of firepower the criminal gangs are able to use against the state’s security forces. And rather than isolated incidents, it’s now clear this violence is becoming a war between criminal groups and the state over territory and control of populations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Leia mais:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ecuador-went-from-being-latin-americas-model-of-stability-to-a-nation-in-crisis-220911">How Ecuador went from being Latin America's model of stability to a nation in crisis</a>
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<h2>The economics of drug trafficking drives crime</h2>
<p>The variable most responsible for this rise in violence and insecurity in Ecuador is drug trafficking. And not just cocaine, but also heroin and, more recently, the destructive synthetic drug fentanyl.</p>
<p>This is due to several factors: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the country’s location next door to the world’s largest cocaine producers </p></li>
<li><p>the dollarised economy, which is attractive for money laundering </p></li>
<li><p>the limited ability of the state to monitor the various air, sea and land drug transport routes into and out of the country </p></li>
<li><p>structural causes, such as unemployment, increasing inequality and lack of development </p></li>
<li><p>and the strong influence of the media, especially social networks, on young people who are increasingly seduced by the culture of drug trafficking and the lure of leadership, power and easy money.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Local drug lords have also formed strategic alliances with transnational drug trafficking cartels. In addition to bringing economic benefits, these connections have led to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a professionalisation in the management of criminal markets in Ecuador</p></li>
<li><p>increased specialisation in criminal tasks (custody, extortion, money laundering, illegal mining, among others) </p></li>
<li><p>better training of hitmen, explosives experts and specialists in criminal intelligence and counterintelligence </p></li>
<li><p>and more effective communication among guerrillas around the country, such as through graffiti art.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Crisis in the penitentiary system</h2>
<p>Another critical underlying factor was the reduction of the central government’s budget for reforming the country’s penitentiary system several years ago. </p>
<p>This led to the dismissal of prison officials and the elimination of directorates in the justice sector. In fact, under the government of former President Lenin Moreno, the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Religious Affairs was eliminated and the Secretariat of Human Rights and the National Service for Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (which runs the corrections system) were created. </p>
<p>All this has led to a lack of clarity in the management of serious prison problems and an increase in overcrowding in the country’s 34 detention centres. As a result, the prisons have become strategic strongholds for drug lords, beset by crime and violence. In the last three years, there have been 11 prison massacres, resulting in 412 deaths across Ecuador. </p>
<p>The prisons are also contributing to criminal enterprises on the streets. Live internet broadcasts of atrocities have become common, such as dismemberments and decapitations, as well as limbless corpses and vital organs exposed on bridges and in other public places.</p>
<p>In fact, there’s an increasingly popular expression in the country that “it is safer to live in prisons than on the streets”.</p>
<p>When it comes to this kind of violence, the local mafia groups have learned from the practices of Colombian and Mexican cartels. </p>
<p>The crudest displays of violence have come from the groups aligned with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalisco_New_Generation_Cartel">Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación</a>, formerly known as the Mata Zetas. This group has received military training (some members in the United States) and its practices are based in religious cultural beliefs, including cannibalism and the cult of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/who-is-santa-muerte/">Santa Muerte</a>, which influence their chilling acts of violence.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Leia mais:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-mexicos-war-on-drugs-conversations-with-el-narco-129865">Inside Mexico's war on drugs: Conversations with 'el narco'</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Assassination schools</h2>
<p>When a new executive decree was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuadors-lasso-authorizes-civilian-use-guns-citing-insecurity-2023-04-02/">signed</a> by former President Guillermo Lasso in April that made it easier for civilians to carry and use weapons, criminal groups increased their attacks, especially assassinations by hitmen with military weapons purchased on the illicit market.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the existence of four notorious schools of hired killers, located in the cities of Durán, Manta, Lago Agrio and Esmeraldas, has not been formally denounced by the government</p>
<p>Information from police sources indicates that these schools promote junior, intermediate and senior assassins and, depending on their experience in terms of number of assassinations, strict compliance with orders and the level of importance of the targets, their salaries vary between USD$200 and $10,000 per month.</p>
<p>The training of these assassins is not necessarily done in person, but virtually, through video games which are intended to help recruits lose their feelings of fear and remorse. This is a vital psychological preparation for young people who, due to poverty, unemployment and lack of study opportunities, are easily recruited to work as assassins for the various mafia groups.</p>
<p>The gangs have increasingly powerful mechanisms for attracting those in the most economically desperate areas of the country, who are forced (either by threats or economic necessity) to join the criminal underworld.</p>
<h2>A narco-state under construction</h2>
<p>Increasingly, criminal groups are able to wield influence over local governments, municipalities and mayors’ offices to hide their criminal endeavours in pseudo-legal ways and advance their strategic objectives of ultimately turning Ecuador into a narco-state.</p>
<p>And Ecuador’s citizens are the ones paying the price. The macabre murders, kidnappings and other acts of violence are forcing them to change their routines or adopt lives of complete seclusion. </p>
<p>There is an atmosphere of insecurity and mistrust creeping into society, which is being exacerbated by the traditional and social media, who continue to operate without a real commitment to journalistic ethics and social responsibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Fernanda Noboa Gonzalez não presta consultoria, trabalha, possui ações ou recebe financiamento de qualquer empresa ou organização que poderia se beneficiar com a publicação deste artigo e não revelou nenhum vínculo relevante além de seu cargo acadêmico.</span></em></p>Just five years ago, Ecuador was still considered one of the safest countries in Latin America. Now, there is a brutal war playing out between criminal gangs and the state.Maria Fernanda Noboa Gonzalez, Doutora em Estudos Internacionais, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) - EcuadorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2175152023-12-03T13:27:38Z2023-12-03T13:27:38ZEquitable sentencing can mitigate anti-Black racism in Canada’s justice system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562230/original/file-20231128-17-aahe7u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C233%2C5955%2C3754&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black people have long faced systemic inequalities in Canada's justice system. But more equitable sentencing practices could make the process fairer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/equitable-sentencing-can-mitigate-anti-black-racism-in-canadas-justice-system" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/obpccjs-spnsjpc/pdf/RSD_JF2022_Black_Overrepresentation_in_CJS_EN.pdf">Black people continue to be overrepresented</a> at all levels of the Canadian justice system. <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/obpccjs-spnsjpc/pdf/RSD_JF2022_Black_Overrepresentation_in_CJS_EN.pdf">According to the Correctional Service of Canada</a>, nine per cent of offenders in custody were Black in 2020-2021, despite only representing about four per cent of Canada’s population.</p>
<p>As community activists, we delve into the pressing issue of <a href="https://educationactiontoronto.com/articles/systemic-violence-institutional-apathy-and-the-death-of-222-school-aged-students/">anti-Black racism in the Canadian justice system</a> and how the implementation of <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/gov-gouv/supporting-soutien.html">Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs)</a> can reduce the <a href="https://www.prisonfreepress.org/Facts.htm">over-representation of Black people in the justice system</a>. This is significant as it goes beyond a <a href="https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-r426-en.shtml#2">one-size-fits-all punitive approach that has shown to be ineffective</a>.</p>
<h2>Anti-Black racism within institutions</h2>
<p>Anti-Black racism is not unique to the criminal system. According to the 2019 General Social Survey, 46 per cent of Black people aged 15 and older <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00002-eng.htm">reported experiencing at least one form of discrimination</a>. That is compared to 16 per cent of non-racialized people. </p>
<p>The intersection of anti-Black racism, <a href="https://www.the-crib.org/uploads/1/2/9/6/129649149/social_determinants_of_homicide_011022.pdf">systemic barriers in education</a>, and <a href="https://youthrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/The-Roots-of-Youth-Violence-vol.-1-Findings-Analysis-and-Conclusions-2008.pdf">over-policing of racialized communities</a> all play a role in perpetuating the problem. </p>
<p>Black youth continue to be <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">disproportionately streamed into lower education tracks</a>. <a href="https://thewalrus.ca/canadian-education-is-steeped-in-anti-black-racism/">Invisibility in curricula, stereotypical thinking about Black cultures, and the predominantly white demographic makeup of educators</a> contribute to the perpetuation of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3mD7Dyf6bY&t=1194s">school to prison pipeline</a> which funnels Black youth into the criminal justice system.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing the overrepresentation of Black adults in prison in four Canadian provinces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=234&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562219/original/file-20231128-24-nyf1gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Data shows that Black people continue to be incarcerated at a disproportionately high rate across Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Statistics Canada)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The need for IRCAs</h2>
<p>The 1999 landmark Supreme Court of Canada case, <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1695/index.do">R. v. Gladue</a>, established that as part of sentencing Indigenous offenders, the judge must consider: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The unique systemic or background factors which may have played a part in bringing the particular Indigenous offender before the courts; and </p></li>
<li><p>The types of sentencing procedures and sanctions which may be appropriate given the circumstances for the offender because of their particular Indigenous heritage.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/gladue/p3.html">Gladue report</a> emerged from the case acknowledging the need to consider the unique circumstances of Indigenous individuals as part of equitable sentencing. It highlighted how historical injustices, systemic discrimination and cultural factors play a significant role in shaping the lives of Indigenous offenders.</p>
<p>Currently, IRCAs can be used for Black offenders facing jail time of two years or more or a youth facing a custodial sentence. By recognizing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687211006461">the racial systemic injustices Black people face</a>, <a href="https://www.legalaid.on.ca/irca/">IRCAs enable judges to make more informed decisions that can lead to more equitable consequences</a>. IRCAs provide context for the disadvantages and systemic racism faced by Black offenders and offers recommendations for alternatives to incarceration. </p>
<p>However, IRCAs are inconsistently implemented across provinces and used occasionally in <a href="https://sentencingproject.ca/cases">Ontario</a> and <a href="https://www.ansji.ca/">Nova Scotia</a>. IRCAs must be done by clinical social workers to provide judges and parole boards with a more complete picture of an individual’s personal background, specifically their past traumas and impact of such experiences in engaging in criminality. </p>
<p>In 2021, the federal government <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fund-fina/gov-gouv/supporting-soutien.html">provided funding to legal aid to implement IRCAs</a>. By acknowledging historical and systemic biases and tailoring interventions to individual identities and life experiences, IRCAs have the potential to transform the criminal justice system. </p>
<h2>Support from community organizations</h2>
<p>The Gladue process must be adapted to provide IRCAs more comprehensively for Black offenders. This would promote equitable justice <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/https-theconversationcom-how-can-we-slow-down-youth-gun-violence-194145-u2f_EZHZ">giving consideration for Black offenders’ backgrounds, traumas, and the intergenerational impacts of discrimination and marginalization</a>.</p>
<p>The involvement of <a href="https://yaaace.com/">Black community organizations</a> is crucial in guiding the implementation of IRCAs. <a href="https://www.ansji.ca/">Black community organizations</a> hold a wealth of knowledge and lived experiences that are indispensable in crafting effective IRCAs. Their leadership can ensure that the process is respectful, culturally reflective, and responsive to the unique challenges faced by Black individuals within the justice system. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black boy sitting in a class room" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562228/original/file-20231128-17-nulvu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-Black racism is not unique to the criminal system and many Black youth continue to face systemic barriers in education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, the <a href="https://yaaace.com/">Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education</a> (YAAACE) is a Black-led non-profit organization housed in Toronto’s Jane and Finch community that is advocating for the implementation of IRCAs and exploring alternatives to custody in community settings. A co-author of this story, Ardavan Eizadirad, is the executive director of YAAACE.</p>
<p>Such community organizations can serve as <a href="https://yaaace.com/initiatives">bridges between incarceration facilities and institutions fostering trust and cooperation</a>. This is critical to shift away from a narrative that blames racialized communities for violence to one that works collaboratively with them <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html#Risk%20Factors">to mitigate the risk factors that gravitate people towards violence</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/jf-pf/2020/aug01.html#:%7E:text=According%20to%20a%202019%20CSC,of%20non%2DIndigenous%20male%20offenders.">Recidivism rates remain high for Canada</a> showing that <a href="https://www.intersectionalanalyst.com/intersectional-analyst/2017/7/20/everything-you-were-never-taught-about-canadas-prison-systems">the current justice system is not very efficient</a> in promoting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687211006461">rehabilitation and reintegration back into community</a>. </p>
<p>Co-author <a href="https://www.educaress.com/">Greg Leslie</a> is a Black social worker and psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience. Unaddressed race-based traumas <a href="https://www.socialconnectedness.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/HL-A-Public-Health-Approach-to-Gun-Violence-in-Toronto-Report-VERSION5.docx.pdf">contribute to severe mental health problems</a>. Culturally reflective services that address traumas experienced by Black individuals and families, particularly due to gun violence, are vitally important. Trauma-focused therapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can provide compassionate support and acknowledge the unique cultural complexities of a person’s experiences. </p>
<h2>Investing in more equitable justice</h2>
<p>To ensure effective implementation of IRCAs, some key investments are required:</p>
<p><strong>Training and education:</strong> Legal professionals, judges, police officers, and correctional staff must undergo comprehensive training on cultural competence and learning about the historical context of systemic anti-Black racism in Canada. </p>
<p><strong>Data collection and government support:</strong> Accurate and consistent data collection is crucial to measure the impact of IRCAs and address potential disparities in implementation. Collaboration between government agencies, academic institutions, and community organizations are necessary. All levels of government must provide adequate resources and funding to support implementation of IRCAs.</p>
<p>IRCAs hold the key to creating a more just and equitable Canadian justice system. By recognizing how racism and injustice impact people’s lives, IRCAs can transform Canada’s justice system through equitable sentencing, contributing to reduced recidivism, community healing, and overall safer communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ardavan Eizadirad receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) in the Jane and Finch community.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Leslie 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>Impact of Race and Culture Assessments can reduce the overrepresentation of Black people in the justice system.Ardavan Eizadirad, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Wilfrid Laurier UniversityGregory Leslie, Master's student, School of Social Work, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2175582023-11-14T19:07:15Z2023-11-14T19:07:15ZNew report reveals shocking state of prisoner health. Here’s what needs to be done<p>A new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/prisoners/the-health-of-people-in-australias-prisons-2022/contents/about">report</a> on the health of people in Australian prisons makes for sobering reading.</p>
<p>It reveals that compared to the general population, people in prison have higher rates of mental health conditions, chronic disease, communicable disease, and acquired brain injury. This is despite the fact the prison population is <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/prisoners-australia/latest-release">relatively young</a>. </p>
<p>This is a problem for everyone. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-020-01873-1">Research</a> shows mental health intervention and engagement helps <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32667664/">reduce offending</a> among offenders with serious mental illness. </p>
<p>Good health care in prisons, with continuity of community health care upon release, not only helps the person being treated. It also helps the community through reduced levels of offending.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-mental-health-care-in-prisons-must-begin-and-end-in-the-community-40011">Good mental health care in prisons must begin and end in the community</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The new report</h2>
<p>Data were collected in 2022 from 371 people entering prison during a given two-week period, and 431 who were due to be released during the data collection period or in the following four weeks. The report includes information drawn from 73 of 87 prisons across Australia (excluding Victoria, which didn’t participate in the survey this year).</p>
<p>The researchers also collected data from 4,500 people who visited the prison health clinic and another 7,100 people who received medications while in prison.</p>
<p>According to the data, around one in two prison entrants reported a chronic physical health condition.</p>
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<p>One in two prison entrants reported having been told they had a mental health condition, with almost one in five currently taking mental health related medication.</p>
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<p>Around one in five prison entrants reported a history of self-harm.</p>
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<p>Self-reported levels of distress were high:</p>
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<p>The report also revealed:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>two-thirds of prison entrants reported they had previously been in prison</p></li>
<li><p>around two in five younger prison entrants reported a family history of incarceration</p></li>
<li><p>around two in five prison entrants reported having dependent children in the community</p></li>
<li><p>nearly one in three prison entrants reported their highest level of schooling as year nine or under</p></li>
<li><p>nearly one in two prison dischargees expected they would be homeless on release</p></li>
<li><p>almost one in three prison entrants reported consuming at least seven standard drinks of alcohol in a typical day of drinking</p></li>
<li><p>almost three in four prison entrants reported being current smokers.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Shocking, though unsurprising</h2>
<p>As someone who has worked in prisons and researched prisoner health for more than three decades, I was sadly unsurprised by these grim findings. The results are largely consistent with <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/prisoners/the-health-of-people-in-australias-prisons-2022/report-editions">previous reports</a> and confirm people in custody have particularly high health needs. </p>
<p>It’s easy for us to lose sight of the health needs of people in prison while they are locked away.</p>
<p>A high percentage of people in prison are on remand pending trial and once sentenced most are back in the community relatively soon. </p>
<p>Once sentenced, most spend a <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/prisoners-australia/latest-release">relatively short time</a> in prison, particularly those who commit low or medium-risk offences. </p>
<p>A high proportion of people cycle back into prison after release. There is very little continuity of care between health care in prison and in the community. The failures in the system help replicate disadvantage and leave the whole community worse off.</p>
<h2>Why is the prisoner population generally in such poor health?</h2>
<p>Many prison entrants are poorly educated, impoverished, come from families with an incarceration history, and experience homelessness.</p>
<p>They are also more likely than others in the community to have poor employment skills and histories, and to have experienced child abuse. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/prisoners-australia/latest-release#aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-prisoners">disproportionate number</a> of people in prison are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, a group that generally experiences significantly poorer health than the general community. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-023-16464-3">evidence</a> also shows many people in prison have poorer levels of health literacy than people in the general community. In other words, they may struggle to obtain, understand, and use information to make appropriate health decisions. </p>
<h2>Why is this a problem for all of us?</h2>
<p>Prisons are very much part of our community and most people are incarcerated temporarily. By enhancing the health care of people in prison and ensuring continuity of care to the community, we can reduce the costs associated with health care more generally. Investing early to improve the health of prisoners can save a lot of taxpayer money down the track.</p>
<p>And as some types of mental health conditions are related to a higher risk for offending, better health care can help enhance public safety.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-prison-health-care-system-should-match-community-health-care-180558">Victoria’s prison health care system should match community health care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs to be done?</h2>
<p>We need to reassess how we think of prisons and those detained in them.</p>
<p>We have an opportunity to target people entering prisons to increase their health care and health literacy. Health care, and particularly mental health care, are critical ingredients in enhancing prisoners’ wellbeing, their health literacy and their continuity of care upon release. </p>
<p>All states screen detainees upon admission for health issues. And, encouragingly, the new report on prisoner health reveals almost three-quarters of prison dischargees rated the health care they received in the prison clinic as good or excellent. </p>
<p>But as good as they are, correctional health services cannot effectively overcome systems issues. Health care in prison is not enough to address health literacy, prevention of health problems, and continuity of care upon release.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/raising-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-is-only-a-first-step-first-nations-kids-need-cultural-solutions-186201">Raising the age of criminal responsibility is only a first step. First Nations kids need cultural solutions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The health and mental health care service system in Australia is fundamentally flawed. </p>
<p>Prison health services are funded by state governments without federal funding enjoyed by all other Australians through the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ann-Claire-Larsen/publication/328250377_In_Sickness_and_in_Prison_The_Case_for_Removing_the_Medicare_Exclusion_for_Australian_Prisoners/links/5bc92b1aa6fdcc03c7939cfb/In-Sickness-and-in-Prison-The-Case-for-Removing-the-Medicare-Exclusion-for-Australian-Prisoners.pdf">Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)</a>.</p>
<p>This funding inequity and systemic issues contribute to the overall disadvantage in health care for people in prison.</p>
<p>And in some states, the responsibility for prisoner health care rests with the department of justice rather than the department of health. </p>
<p>This contributes to a breakdown in integrated service planning and delivery, which should include prisoner health care, health care upon release, and continuing care while in the community. </p>
<p>Boosting health literacy among people detained in prisons can help. Health literacy includes health-related critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving. </p>
<p>It means equipping people with the skills they need to actively participate in their own health and wellbeing.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-werent-there-when-i-needed-them-we-asked-former-prisoners-what-happens-when-support-services-fail-208949">‘They weren’t there when I needed them’: we asked former prisoners what happens when support services fail</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Ogloff has received funding from the Australian Research Council and is a Strategic Advisor for the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare). Forensicare provides mental health services in prisons in Victoria. </span></em></p>This is a problem for everyone. Research shows mental health intervention and engagement helps reduce offending among people with serious mental illness who commit offences.James Ogloff, University Distinguished Professor of Forensic Behavioural Science & Dean, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145672023-11-02T19:13:03Z2023-11-02T19:13:03ZI was a ward of the state. The horrors of the Parramatta Girls’ Home were legendary<p><em>Readers are advised this article discusses sexual abuse.</em></p>
<p>In the Sydney suburb of North Parramatta sits a cluster of very old buildings known as the “<a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/parramatta-female-factory-and-institutions-precinct">Parramatta Female Factory Precinct</a>”.</p>
<p>Built in 1821 to house and provide productive employment for the New South Wales colony’s growing population of female convicts, it was also the site of countless <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/case_study_7_-_findings_report_-_parramatta_training_school_for_girls.pdf">horrors</a> – many of which occurred much more recently than you might think. </p>
<p>The Australian government recently announced it will nominate the Parramatta Female Factory in Sydney for <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/faq/19">World Heritage listing</a>. It is a worthy nomination; the site is deeply significant for the many wards of the state who survived institutionalisation here or in other parts of Australia.</p>
<p>This precinct is by no means merely a relic of the convict era. Only 15 years ago, part of the site was a women’s prison. And from 1887 to 1974, it housed the notorious <a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/parramatta-girls-home">Parramatta Girls’ Home</a>.</p>
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<h2>The Parramatta Girls’ Home</h2>
<p>The Girls’ Home was also known as Parramatta Girls’ Industrial School, Girls’ Training School, and Girls’ Training Home. Each name was very much a euphemism. Whatever you call it, it was a high-security institution. That is, a jail.</p>
<p>It was a place where adolescent girls who had been removed from abusive or unfit parents, found homeless, orphaned, or mandated by the courts as wards of the state could be indefinitely detained. </p>
<p>It was among the most infamous examples of what criminologists today call “penal welfare” – the practice of locking up children and adolescents who have committed no offence other than being poor, homeless, or simply unloved.</p>
<p>It was official policy to treat welfare inmates — already highly vulnerable and having committed no offence at all — like <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/12063312211066542">hardened criminals</a>.</p>
<p>They suffered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT6YzaHlC5E">cruel and humiliating regime</a> of physical, psychological and sexual violence. </p>
<p>The most trivial infraction of the rules — or no infraction at all — attracted <a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/parramatta-girls-home">punishments</a> such as forced silence, scrubbing floors (with a toothbrush), beatings, and solitary confinement in dark underground cells.</p>
<p>And aside from the trauma of being locked in a pitch-black dungeon, girls in solitary were routinely <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/case_study_7_-_findings_report_-_parramatta_training_school_for_girls.pdf">raped</a> by male staff members.</p>
<p>So horrific was its record of abuses that the <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/">Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse</a> treated it as a special <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-07-parramatta-training-school-girls">case study</a>.</p>
<p>The Commission heard testimony from former inmates who named former staff members as serial sex offenders. Many had since died, but others have been charged and received <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/noel-greenaway-to-die-behind-bars-after-appeal-dismissed/news-story/45d35c7af78fd0d2c4ee6bf5feeeac06">heavy</a> prison sentences.</p>
<p>And it should be kept in mind that the Royal Commission’s terms of reference focused narrowly on sexual abuse. No prosecutions ensued for the myriad incidents of appalling, but non-sexual, emotional and physical maltreatment.</p>
<p>The stakeholders who so passionately advocated for the preservation and commemoration of the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct were survivors of the Girls’ Home. </p>
<p>In 2006 they formed a lobby group called “<a href="https://www.parragirls.org.au/">Parragirls</a>”, and began campaigning for official acknowledgement of their experiences.</p>
<p>They called for the entire site — not just the convict-era building — to be recognised as historically significant and worthy of preservation.</p>
<h2>It wasn’t the only institution</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/12063312211066542">Parragirls</a> number a few hundred. They form a small subsection of the roughly half a million survivors of out-of-home “care” in the latter half of the 20th century, whom a 2003 Senate inquiry dubbed the “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/community_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/report/index">Forgotten Australians</a>”. </p>
<p>I was a ward of the state as a teenager and spent time in various institutions as a child. As a Victorian, I was never in danger of being locked away in Parramatta, but its horrors were legendary among state wards everywhere. </p>
<p>We had <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-30-youth-detention-centres-victoria">our own institutions</a>, many as brutal as Parramatta, to contend with and try to avoid.</p>
<p>Australia has not come to terms with what happened to wards of the state in the 20th century. </p>
<p>Many are still alive, but many lives have been ruined. </p>
<p>Institutions like Parramatta Girls and others investigated by various inquiries and by the Royal Commission remain relatively unknown to the general public. </p>
<p>For Forgotten Australians whose lives were not touched directly by Parramatta, the site nevertheless stands as an emblem of all the institutions that served Australia’s horrific “penal welfare” system. </p>
<p>Many of us endorse the campaign to have the entire site, not just the convict-era Female Factory, preserved and nominated for World Heritage recognition.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"930241874299727872"}"></div></p>
<h2>It has taken too long to recognise this history</h2>
<p>World Heritage Listing defines the site as being “of outstanding universal value to humanity” and ensures it will be preserved.</p>
<p>If the Parramatta Female Factory Precinct makes it onto the World Heritage List, it will be only the second female convict factory site in Australia to do so, after the <a href="https://femalefactory.org.au/history/%22%22">Cascades Female Factory</a> in Tasmania.</p>
<p>Parramatta’s nomination, however, raises questions. </p>
<p>Older and larger than Cascades, it was the prototype of all female factories around Australia, and significantly more of it survives today than any other site. Yet it took years of campaigning to draw the government’s attention to it. </p>
<p>Sydney’s <a href="https://mhnsw.au/visit-us/hyde-park-barracks/">Hyde Park Barracks</a>, a major convict prison for men, has been a tourist attraction for decades and has had World Heritage listing since 2010.</p>
<p>To overlook an even larger and equally significant site devoted to women of the same historical era is a rather glaring omission.</p>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. The National Sexual Assault, Family and Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Z. Wilson receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects: DP210101275. "Activism & Advocacy: From Deficit Models To Survivor Narratives"</span></em></p>Built in 1821 to house and provide productive employment for the New South Wales colony’s growing population of female convicts, the Parramatta Female Factory was also the site of countless horrors.Jacqueline Z. Wilson, Adjunct Associate Professor in History, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2148442023-10-16T01:07:55Z2023-10-16T01:07:55ZHow mistaken identity can lead to wrongful convictions<p>In March 1976, American Leonard Mack was convicted of sexual assault and holding two female victims at gunpoint. In September 2023, Mack’s wrongful conviction was finally overturned by a New York judge on his 72nd birthday with the help of the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/hit-in-dna-database-proves-leonard-macks-innocence-after-47-years-of-wrongful-conviction/">Innocence Project</a>, an organisation that uses DNA evidence to prove factual innocence. </p>
<p>Mack’s conviction took 47 years to overturn. He served seven-and-a-half of these years in a New York prison. His case is the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/8-moving-moments-from-leonard-macks-historic-exoneration-after-47-years/">longest</a> in United States history to be overturned using DNA evidence. </p>
<p>In June 2023, a similar historic moment occurred in Australia. Kathleen Folbigg was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/05/kathleen-folbigg-pardoned-after-20-years-in-jail-over-deaths-of-her-four-children">pardoned and released</a> after 20 years in prison for the murder and manslaughter of her four young children. </p>
<p>Considered one of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/folbigg-release-would-make-chamberlain-case-pale-into-insignificance-20230307-p5cpya.html">worst miscarriages of justice</a> in Australian history, Folbigg’s release has sparked discussion over whether Australia needs a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/12/not-a-rare-case-kathleen-folbigg-pardon-sparks-calls-for-new-body-to-review-possible-wrongful-convictions">formalised body</a> to deal with post-conviction appeals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/serial-podcasts-adnan-syed-has-murder-conviction-vacated-how-common-are-wrongful-convictions-190968">'Serial' podcast's Adnan Syed has murder conviction vacated. How common are wrongful convictions?</a>
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<p>Mack and Folbigg are only two individuals on different sides of the world who have spent decades fighting to prove their innocence. </p>
<p>Many others are still fighting. The prevalence of wrongful convictions is hard to determine. The <a href="https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx">National Registry of Exonerations</a> in the United States has recorded 3,396 exonerations nation-wide since 1989. </p>
<p>But data on official exonerations fail to capture the many individuals whose convictions are yet to be overturned. </p>
<p>Estimates of the prevalence of wrongful convictions in the United States range from <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/08874034221106747?casa_token=DL_gPkxNcI8AAAAA:uI-en9junmLXXScDGthXAuC9JcLsxp5OF1J4QB1WdA2L2cZRcwRuwtxVmIMiKYbYaSDj_ji4EdPSLA">0.5 to 5%</a>. The exact prevalence in Australia is less clear but we do know <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.801706351305383?casa_token=cpZBfZmh944AAAAA%3Ax_zYUlnogLjuDWl81jc38vmeOovzw44M171rP7G3ibNnU35rvWS0yeIO_Ad0eBa54nE54KxaKzIb3w4">71 cases of wrongful convictions</a> have been identified in Australia between 1922 to 2015.</p>
<p>Some have argued there could be <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.308199161216493">350 convictions per year</a> of individuals who are factually innocent in Australia. </p>
<p>A witness mistakenly identifying an innocent suspect is common in many wrongful conviction cases.</p>
<p>Eyewitness misidentification is the leading contributing factor in wrongful convictions overturned by the <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/exonerations-data/">Innocence Project</a>, present in 64% of their successful cases. </p>
<p>In Australia, <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.801706351305383?casa_token=cpZBfZmh944AAAAA%3Ax_zYUlnogLjuDWl81jc38vmeOovzw44M171rP7G3ibNnU35rvWS0yeIO_Ad0eBa54nE54KxaKzIb3w4">6%</a> of recorded wrongful convictions involved an eyewitness error. </p>
<p>This may be an underestimate given many applications to innocence initiatives in Australia alleging wrongful conviction, such as the <a href="https://bohii.net/">Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative</a>, report <a href="https://bohii.net/blog/positiononestablishingccrcas">eyewitness evidence</a> as a potential contributing factor.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kathleen-folbigg-pardon-shows-australia-needs-a-dedicated-body-to-investigate-wrongful-convictions-205645">Kathleen Folbigg pardon shows Australia needs a dedicated body to investigate wrongful convictions</a>
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<p>In Mack’s case, two victims misidentified him as the perpetrator. These identifications proved to be instrumental in his wrongful conviction. How did the two victims get it wrong? </p>
<h2>How problematic procedures influence eyewitnesses</h2>
<p>Eyewitness identification evidence relies on witnesses to accurately remember criminal perpetrators. Several factors affect eyewitness memory accuracy. Features of the crime can impact memory, such as whether it was light or dark, or whether the perpetrator wore a disguise. </p>
<p>Memory can also be affected by characteristics of the witness at the time of the crime, such as their stress or intoxication levels. </p>
<p>These factors are present at the time of the crime and cannot be changed. What is perhaps more crucial is that eyewitness memory can also be affected by the procedures law enforcement use to collect identification evidence.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://innocenceproject.org/news/hit-in-dna-database-proves-leonard-macks-innocence-after-47-years-of-wrongful-conviction/">Mack’s case</a>, there were serious problems with the procedures used to get the identifications from the victims. One of the victims made three separate identifications of Mack. Witnesses should only complete one identification procedure for each suspect, because the first identification will bias future identification attempts. </p>
<p>For two of the identifications the victim made, she was only shown Mack by himself surrounded by police. Showing a lone suspect without any other lineup members may <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-29406-3_2">increase mistaken identifications</a>, particularly when the context in which they are shown is highly suggestive. </p>
<p>Seeing Mack in handcuffs and in the presence of police may have led the victim to identify him. Mack was the only person shown to the witness in these identification attempts, so the police officers organising the process knew he was the suspect. </p>
<p>“Single-blind” administration of identification procedures – where the police officers organising the lineup know who the suspect is – increase the likelihood of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-49224-002">mistaken identifications</a>.</p>
<p>For the other identification this victim made, she picked Mack out of a photo lineup containing seven images. Mack’s photo was the only photo in the lineup that contained visible clothing and the year (1975) in the background. All members of a lineup must be matched and no one lineup member <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/lhb-lhb0000359.pdf">should stand out</a>, but Mack’s photo was distinct. </p>
<p>With all these problematic practices combined, we can see how Mack was misidentified and convicted.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kathleen-folbigg-is-free-but-people-pardoned-and-exonerated-of-crimes-face-unique-challenges-when-released-from-prison-207017">Kathleen Folbigg is free. But people pardoned and exonerated of crimes face unique challenges when released from prison</a>
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<p>In 2020, a team of eyewitness experts published <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/lhb-lhb0000359.pdf">nine evidence-based recommendations </a>for conducting identification procedures. </p>
<p>These recommendations serve to reduce mistaken identifications and enhance accurate ones. </p>
<p>The recommendations address the problematic practices in Mack’s case, but also include things like making sure there is sufficient evidence to place a suspect in a lineup, and giving appropriate instructions to witnesses during the procedure. </p>
<p>Identification procedures should also be video recorded to identify any poor practices. </p>
<p>While these recommendations will go a long way to reducing wrongful convictions resulting from faulty eyewitness identifications, they will only be effective if followed by police. </p>
<p>The next step is ensuring these recommendations are embedded into everyday policing practice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Cullen previously worked on a voluntary basis for Not Guilty: The Sydney Exoneration Project, an organisation that reviews cases of potential wrongful conviction. She was not involved in any of the cases discussed in this article.</span></em></p>Leonard Mack spent years in a US jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Here’s how identification procedures can, and have, led to wrongful convictions, and what can be done to prevent it.Hayley Cullen, Lecturer, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111532023-08-11T14:14:53Z2023-08-11T14:14:53ZWhy imprisoning repeat shoplifters rarely breaks the cycle of offending – and what may work better<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541706/original/file-20230808-25-1obzzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C5364%2C3910&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The possibility of introducing mandatory prison sentences for prolific shoplifters has been mooted by government ministers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonenglandunited-kingdomjuly-21-2019-waterloo-rail-1676652064">Neil Bussey/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government is taking a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/action-plan-to-crack-down-on-anti-social-behaviour">harsher approach</a> to tackle criminal activity which is blighting local neighbourhoods. And recently, government ministers have been talking tough about repeat shoplifting, including <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/shoplifters-face-prison-under-crime-crackdown-ggdbv3j99">the possibility</a> of introducing new laws which would see prolific shoplifters imprisoned. This has all been against a backdrop of concern about a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/01/one-guy-uses-us-like-a-larder-the-british-shoplifting-crisis-as-seen-from-the-tills">rise in shoplifting</a> across the UK.</p>
<p>But there are some serious practical problems with any such measures and questions remain over whether such a policy could break the cycle of offending. Meanwhile, there is an innovative approach to this issue which may be a better way of dealing with crimes such as shoplifting called “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/integrated-offender-management-iom">integrated offender management</a>” (IOM). </p>
<p>Rolled out over the past few years, IOM is a novel criminal justice approach that is designed to break the cycle of re-offending. It is operated by 39 out of 43 police forces in England and Wales. </p>
<p>IOM involves police officers working closely with prison and probation services and criminal justice intervention teams. These are support staff who provide both clinical and therapeutic interventions for drug users involved in the criminal justice system. It is all in an effort to change or control the criminal activities of prolific offenders. </p>
<p>IOM was designed to address the underlying causes of offending. By the end of 2020, it was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-offender-management-strategy">central</a> to the government’s neighbourhood crime strategy. In a report issued that year, former minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse and former minister for prisons and probation, Luzy Frazer, said: </p>
<p>“We need a new approach – one with the tools to come down with full force on those responsible, but which also encourages rehabilitation and supports offenders to overcome the complex problems that we know can fuel this type of behaviour, such as substance misuse, poor mental health and issues with housing or employment.”</p>
<p>Any proposals which would see prison sentences for repeat shoplifters could risk undoing any positive progress made under IOM. </p>
<h2>The problem with prison</h2>
<p>The UK’s prison estate is running out of capacity for adult males. In November 2022, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/30/uk-government-requests-urgent-police-cells-male-prisoners">the Ministry of Justice announced</a> emergency measures that would see some offenders who would ordinarily be imprisoned (typically remand prisoners) housed in police cells. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-population-figures-2023">Figures</a> released in August 2023 show a total of just 980 available prison places.</p>
<p>The government has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/500-million-boost-to-create-thousands-of-new-prison-places">already stated</a> that more prisons need to be built. But any criminal justice initiative that requires new prisons will take a long time to deliver. This is because, on average, new prisons take <a href="https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/proposed-new-prison-in-chorley/supporting_documents/chorleynewprisonconsultation.pdf">two to three years to build</a> and open. </p>
<p>Also, <a href="https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CSJ-Desperate-for-a-fix-WEB-1.pdf">70% of shoplifting</a> is estimated to be carried out by people funding an addiction to class A drugs – typically heroin and crack cocaine. These people arrive in prison as addicts and likely leave as addicts and so will continue shoplifting. Custody is not a panacea for prolific shoplifting and is unlikely to break the cycle of offending. </p>
<h2>Integrated offender management</h2>
<p>IOM work is done through a mix of rehabilitative and restrictive or enforcement-orientated interventions. Here, the police take a “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10439463.2018.1547719">carrot and stick</a>” approach to the management of offenders. Plain-clothed officers, deployed as police offender managers, gather intelligence and monitor people for signs of re-offending. </p>
<p>Simultaneously, these officers attempt to draw offenders away from crime by working alongside the other agencies, facilitating access to drug services, education, employment and transitions into stable housing arrangements. This is the “carrot” approach. </p>
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<img alt="A police officer wearing a yellow high visibility jacket" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542123/original/file-20230810-18-i6hwim.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Integrated offender management involves police officers working closely with other agencies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-19th-april-2019-police-1392717764">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Where there is evidence that a person is failing to comply with licence conditions, or engage with IOM positively, traditional catch-and-convict policing methods are used by uniformed patrol officers. This is the “stick” approach.</p>
<p>Prolific shoplifters are the type of offenders IOM schemes should be engaging with. </p>
<p>My own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Integrated-Offender-Management-and-the-Policing-of-Prolific-Offenders/Cram/p/book/9780367254148">research</a> has focused on how police officers contribute to IOM schemes. </p>
<p>I have also spoken with offenders who were engaged with IOM in the community. A number said that, while it was initially challenging to do so, in time they were able to form working relationships with police officers. </p>
<p>And, significantly, because of this, IOM had had a positive impact on their lives. This was particularly the case when it came to IOM helping them enter employment and tackle any drug-related issues they were experiencing. </p>
<p>Broadly, IOM seemed to have a strong motivational influence and a positive impact on those who wanted to leave their criminal lifestyle behind. </p>
<p>But IOM can only fully operate when people are able to access the relevant support services in the community. People may be able to get very limited employment and substance misuse help when in prison, but IOM offers a much deeper and enduring level of support. </p>
<p>The prospect of removing sentencing discretion for prolific shoplifters from magistrates and judges and introducing mandatory jail sentences, would risk disrupting a significant criminal justice programme. IOM may be a better and more cost effective way to deal with the pressing issue of repeated shoplifting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>My original research, on Integrated Offender Management, was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. Grant number: EF/H011382/1.</span></em></p>Integrated offender management is a better way of dealing with shoplifters than prison.Frederick Cram, Lecturer in Law, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2028242023-07-27T12:25:16Z2023-07-27T12:25:16ZI’ve taught in prisons for 15 years – here’s what schools need to know as government funding expands<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536669/original/file-20230710-36093-htveov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the U.S., almost 2 million people are in prison.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/barbed-wire-against-sunset-sky-background-royalty-free-image/1296193766?phrase=prisoners+&adppopup=true">Rizky Panuntun/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In spring of 2023, I taught a class on memoir at the <a href="https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-locator/ciw/">California Institution for Women</a>, a medium-security facility, in Chino. </p>
<p>The course focused on autobiographical writing. Each week, students were asked to draft narratives focused on their life story and its larger social context. </p>
<p>In addition to writers-in-custody at the prison, the class enrolled University of Southern California students. Every week, my colleague and I drove 12 USC undergraduates out to the prison to join their incarcerated peers in class. Both populations received college credit for their work.</p>
<p>After the class ended, I received a thank-you note from one of our incarcerated students. Jaime – I’ve changed her name for privacy – wanted to let me know that she was writing more than ever to prepare for her release. She said the USC students were a model for her, and she could see herself being friends with them on the outside.</p>
<p>I have taught in prisons and jails for 15 years, both as a volunteer and as the director of <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/pep/">USC’s Dornsife Prison Education Project</a>. My teaching and writing focus on how everyday speech can find its way and <a href="https://poems.com/poem/well/">make lyric expression</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Standing before a whiteboard, a female instructor talks to three prisoners seated at a table and dressed in orange jump suits." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536671/original/file-20230710-16328-wgqxtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Education for inmates leads to lower rates of re-offending after release.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-talking-to-inmates-royalty-free-image/86501547?phrase=prison+classroom&adppopup=true">Jupiterimages/Stockbyte via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>USC’s Dornsife Prison Education Project offers courses for enrichment and college credit to people within California correctional facilities. The program organization also sponsors projects like criminal record <a href="https://www.nacdl.org/content/expungement-clinics">expungement clinics</a>, during which law school and community volunteers help people clear their criminal records. </p>
<p>Jaime’s note wasn’t the first I’ve received since beginning to teach in prisons, but it was one of the most meaningful. This was the first semester my university made an important investment by granting incarcerated students credit for their work. Until this point, PEP’s courses were offered solely for enrichment. </p>
<h2>Cost of incarceration</h2>
<p>Today, there are over <a href="https://doi-org.libproxy1.usc.edu/10.1177/0093854820977587">2 million people</a> in jail or prison in the United States, and annual spending on incarceration exceeds <a href="https://nicic.gov/weblink/economic-burden-incarceration-us-2016">US$80 billion</a>. </p>
<p>This $80 billion may underestimate the true economic picture. Larger social costs associated with mass incarceration exceed <a href="https://ijrd.csw.fsu.edu/sites/g/files/upcbnu1766/files/media/images/publication_pdfs/Economic_Burden_of_Incarceration_IJRD072016_0_0.pdf">$500 billion annually</a>. Most Americans believe <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000161-2ccc-da2c-a963-efff82be0001">the goal of incarceration should be rehabilitation</a>, but because of the <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/01/the-everyday-chaos-of-incarceration">climate of violence</a> in most prisons, very little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-030920-112506">actual rehabilitation takes place</a>. Recidivism rates support this: <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/recidivism-prisoners-released-34-states-2012-5-year-follow-period-2012-2017">Seven out of 10 people will be arrested again within five years of their release</a>. </p>
<p>Both spending and rates of incarceration have increased sixfold over the last 50 years, reaching <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/correctional-populations-united-states-2012">a peak in 2009</a> and dropping slightly since then with little to no effect on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/715100">re-offense rates</a> or <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511616167.005">public safety</a>. Mass incarceration has proved somehow to be both extraordinarily expensive and preposterously ineffective. </p>
<p>But research shows that one of the most effective ways to make real change when it comes to mass incarceration is by expanding access to education. As soon as a person who is incarcerated steps into a classroom, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7249/RR266">their likelihood to re-offend decreases</a>. With each educational milestone achieved, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2021.2005122">those rates continue to go down</a>. </p>
<h2>Opportunities slowly growing</h2>
<p>Participation in higher education programs increases critical thinking and raises <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/education-leads-higher-earnings">potential future earnings</a>, with the benefits extending beyond the individual to the community as well. </p>
<p>Despite these clear benefits, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12290">most prisons only offer access to high school equivalency classes and testing</a>, and some vocational classes. Few offer post-secondary educational opportunities. <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0032885518776376">Only approximately 202 credit-bearing college programs exist</a> in U.S. prisons. These are mostly offered to men imprisoned on the East and West coasts, even though <a href="https://www.ncja.org/crimeandjusticenews/six-times-more-female-inmates-than-there-were-in-1980">women’s incarceration rates have increased by 525% since 1980</a>.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, I’ve witnessed incredible growth of prison education. When I began this work in 2006, only a handful of institutions granted Bachelors of Arts degrees to incarcerated people. But recently, director and project manager positions were posted by schools like <a href="https://sites.northwestern.edu/npep/program_team/">Northwestern</a>, <a href="https://www.wesleyan.edu/cpe/">Wesleyan</a> and <a href="https://prisonsandjustice.georgetown.edu/programs/scholarsprogram/">Georgetown</a> universities. In the next five years, I expect these programs to multiply.</p>
<p>Driving this expansion is the fact that in December 2022, Congress restored access to <a href="https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/library/dear-colleague-letters/2023-03-29/eligibility-confined-or-incarcerated-individuals-receive-pell-grants">Pell Grants for incarcerated students</a>. In July 2023, an estimated <a href="https://www.vera.org/publications/restoring-access-to-pell-grants-for-incarcerated-students">463,000 incarcerated people will become eligible for federal student aid</a>. </p>
<p>This increased accessibility to federal money for incarcerated students has created a new revenue stream for colleges and universities. Many schools will look to compete for these federal dollars, and incarcerated people will have more choices when it comes to their education. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cw-OoV0aZ1g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Seven inmates earned associate degrees from the University of New Haven.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A heavy lift</h2>
<p>But these new opportunities bring new potential problems. </p>
<p>First, more money creates renewed motivation for predatory institutions to exploit an already vulnerable population. I regularly meet students who have several degrees from <a href="https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v10i13.186525">pay-to-play degree mills</a>. Many of these students are the first in their families to attend college and are navigating the process alone – a reality that makes them susceptible to exploitation. With the increase of federal dollars, I expect more for-profit universities to offer incarcerated people degrees with nominal utility. </p>
<p>Beyond bad actors, many smaller regional universities and colleges are facing what’s been dubbed the “<a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/CTEE_Report_Spring_2023.pdf">enrollment cliff</a>,” or a drop in the population of traditional students beginning in 2025 <a href="https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/analysis/looming-enrollment-cliff-poses-serious-threat-to-colleges/">due to a declining U.S. birth rate</a>. As a result, they are looking for nontraditional students to fill the gap, including incarcerated people. </p>
<p>I fear a massive onslaught of new players rushing to meet this need will lead to careless program design and speedy implementations. </p>
<h2>Hard to do well</h2>
<p>This is a concern because prison higher education programs are incredibly difficult to administer. Space within prisons is at a premium. Moving students from one area to another presents logistical challenges. </p>
<p>Best practices within prison education have been notoriously difficult to define because of how site-specific programs are. Even within large, well-funded correctional systems like California’s, I’ve observed massive cultural differences between facilities that are across the street from each other. </p>
<p>Classes are frequently canceled due to the day-to-day operations of the prison, making it difficult to deliver good instruction. For example, if a typical course requires a certain amount of instructor-to-student contact hours and classes are regularly interrupted due to prison trainings, audits and security concerns, how does the program make up those missed classes? </p>
<p>Students often need different levels of support services due to varying, and often low, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11020077">literacy levels</a>. These services are available on campus, but creating them in a prison is next to impossible. </p>
<p>Further, students may be transferred from one prison to another where the programs they’ve begun are no longer available. </p>
<p>Persuading faculty to teach in prison in addition to their usual class load at the university adds yet another barrier. </p>
<p>Managing a program that offers higher education in prison necessitates the active management not only of law enforcement bureaucracies, but of complex university ones that are slow to adapt to change. Yet unlike on a college campus, one miscommunication in prison – like someone missing an email – can put a class on hold for an indeterminate amount of time. </p>
<p>I’ve observed institutions enter prisons and then abruptly disband programs after problems arise, abandoning students already distrustful of the system.</p>
<p>Jaime’s letter proves the power of these programs on the individual. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0264550517699290">review of prison research</a> concludes the same thing. </p>
<p>As more colleges invest in these populations, I’d argue these new programs must deeply invest in this population and commit to providing the opportunities they create. It’s important to offer incarcerated students the same support systems that traditional campus students receive, while being fully aware of the challenges they face. </p>
<p>Otherwise, these programs may in fact disappoint students like Jaime rather than inspire them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas De Dominic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Only 218 programs offer credit-bearing college programs in prison. That’s about to change.Nicholas De Dominic, Associate Professor of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2089492023-07-24T20:10:09Z2023-07-24T20:10:09Z‘They weren’t there when I needed them’: we asked former prisoners what happens when support services fail<p>When Geoff* left prison after his sentence ended, he was told he would be provided with help to return to the community and get on with this new chapter in life. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They promised a lot. Like you know transitioning to housing, even help with you know finding work and that, but […] none of those promises were met.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The result was sadly predictable. Geoff was unable to access public housing due to a lengthy wait list and he soon found himself rotating between staying with friends or at hostels and living on the street. </p>
<p>Geoff’s story is not uncommon, as we discovered when we <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395922003413">interviewed</a> 48 people formerly incarcerated in Victoria (33 men, 15 women) for a <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/csrh/our-projects/identifying-factors-that-improve-the-health-of-people-newly-released-from-prison-who-inject-drugs">study</a> on post-release pathways among people who inject drugs. All had a history of drug use.</p>
<p>We wanted to know more about how they were supported to find housing and work, obtain medical care or, for those wanting to do so, access help to get off drugs. Getting this kind of pre- and post-release support can drastically reduce the risk of the person re-offending.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395922003413">analysis</a>, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, reveals how services can play a crucial role in post-release success for people leaving prison.</p>
<p>Systemic failures can ultimately perpetuate the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-social-determinants-of-justice-8-factors-that-increase-your-risk-of-imprisonment-203661">revolving door</a>” of incarceration.</p>
<h2>System failure</h2>
<p>In 2019‑20, <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2021/justice">46%</a> of prisoners released in 2017-18 had returned to prison within two years.</p>
<p>People who inject drugs are disproportionately more likely to return to prison. This suggests a systemic failure; something is going wrong in the way we provide services to this group of people.</p>
<p>For this analysis, “service providers” include actors such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the state correctional authority (specifically, prison programs staff such as those responsible for pre-release planning and identifying support needs following release)</p></li>
<li><p>prison health staff</p></li>
<li><p>community service providers (such as housing providers and Centrelink)</p></li>
<li><p>mental health, alcohol and other drug services, as well as pharmacies; and </p></li>
<li><p>non-government organisations.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535251/original/file-20230703-146989-lezsaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Systemic failures can ultimately perpetuate the revolving door of incarceration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found experiences within the first day or two of release can dramatically shape a person’s post-release pathway.</p>
<p>For example, when Jidah got out of prison, he needed crucial medication for his opioid dependence. Unfortunately, his prescription was not transferred to his community pharmacy: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I got released, I was on the Suboxone and I thought everything was
going to be fine in regards to me going straight to my chemist and picking up my dose. And I’ve gone there and nothing was sent through. And I was that frustrated that it caused me to relapse and get back on the heroin. </p>
<p>I felt like I was just left to fend for myself and to be in a vulnerable place, especially when you get out of jail, ‘cause you are relying on these organisations. […] I done what was asked of me, but they weren’t there when I needed it, so it caused me to be in a bad position, in a bad place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Khish told us he was given some support in getting set up for post-prison life but the help was limited.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Well, they [prison-based staff] made sure that I would be getting Centrelink payments, so they organised for that, for me to talk to people from Centrelink, so that the day of release I would have some money to get a place to stay and stuff like that. That was the only thing that they actually did, yeah.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Trust is key</h2>
<p>Being able to trust a service provider is crucial and can enable a smoother transition to community. </p>
<p>However, being honest with a service provider could be a lucky dip for many of our interviewees; in some cases it could lead to necessary support, while others felt it risked reincarceration.</p>
<p>Parole officers can play a crucial role but people’s experiences varied. Dan had a positive experience, saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>they just try to coach you through it and try to keep you out of jail, which is good, because that’s not helping anyone anyway.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ben, however, didn’t find his parole officer “useful”, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They’re not really there to help you. They’re just there to discipline you and make sure you do it properly, I suppose. They’re there to watch over you, but they say they can help.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Getting the right support can be ‘life-changing’</h2>
<p>We did hear some success stories. Anthony told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve always re-offended, relapsed quite hard and everything, but the difference this time was […] even the staff, the corrections staff, down to the magistrate, I can’t explain the level of empathy and effort they put into me is just huge. Yeah, it has been life-changing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Overseas examples also show what’s possible. A recently adopted philosophy in the US state of Maine (referred to as <a href="https://www.maine.gov/corrections/mmc#:%7E:text=This%20operating%20philosophy%2C%20known%20as,to%20rebuild%20and%20transform%20lives.">Maine Model of Corrections</a>) has involved overhauling the way the system supports people during incarceration and preparing for release. The primary goal of the new philosophy is to “rebuild and transform lives”.</p>
<p>Under this new philosophy, Maine’s prisons focus on rehabilitation and growing respect between correctional officers and people who are incarcerated. In these prisons, the words “prisoners” and “inmates” are replaced with “<a href="https://www.maine.gov/corrections/sites/maine.gov.corrections/files/inline-files/WE%20%282022%29%20-%20Destigmatizing%20Corrections.Language%20Matters%20%28MDOC%29.pdf">residents</a>”. Drug dependence is treated as a matter of <a href="https://www.maine.gov/corrections/sites/maine.gov.corrections/files/inline-files/MDOC%20MSUD%20Year%20Three%20Report%20%282022%29.pdf">health priority</a>, with all clinically eligible residents given access to medicines for substance use disorder, regardless of their release date. </p>
<p>In contrast to Jidah’s experiences above, the Department of Corrections in Maine has a <a href="https://www.maine.gov/corrections/sites/maine.gov.corrections/files/inline-files/MDOC%20MSUD%20Year%20Three%20Report-2022.pdf">multi-disciplinary team</a> to ensure continuity of care for residents receiving medicines for substance use disorder prior to release.</p>
<p>Most people leaving prison face an uphill battle of service navigation that is too often deficit-focused, intentionally seeking out the failures of the individual and centred on punitive responses.</p>
<p>Communities of justice-involved people and people who use drugs have been clear about what they need when exiting prison: help with the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njTVEBehDjQ">exhaustion</a> associated with re-entering the community, help to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNT7u3vJ98">build and retain trust</a>, and help from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Ctgo-rkGw">competent workforce</a> that can improve people’s post-release chances.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/njTVEBehDjQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Identifying factors that improve the health of prisoners who inject drugs – Exhaustion. UNSW Community.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A culture of respect and prioritising health needs associated with opioid dependence will help many ex-prisoners transition back into community and break the “incarceration treadmill”. </p>
<p>It can help reduce the chances the prison system is simply reproducing disadvantage and replicating the problems it is ostensibly supposed to solve.</p>
<p><em>Names have been changed to protect identities. If you or someone you know needs help with exiting prison, you can find a list of resources <a href="https://www.crcnsw.org.au/get-help/">here</a>. The NSW Users and AIDS Association (NUAA) PeerLine on 1800 644 413 may also be helpful.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lise Lafferty 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><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carla Treloar has received funding from the NHMRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerryn Drysdale 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>Most people leaving prison face an uphill battle of service navigation that is too often deficit-focused, intentionally seeking out the failures of the individual and centred on punitive responses.Lise Lafferty, Senior research fellow, UNSW SydneyCarla Treloar, Director, Centre for Social Research in Health, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW SydneyKerryn Drysdale, Senior Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065692023-07-24T12:16:55Z2023-07-24T12:16:55Z40 years ago, the US started sending more and more kids to prison without hope of release, but today, it’s far more rare – what happened?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538752/original/file-20230721-25-zxq7ms.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C12%2C2854%2C1901&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Panic over supposed 'super-predator' teens ended years ago, but its consequences did not.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bad-kid-royalty-free-image/174546155?phrase=teen+handcuff&adppopup=true">jabejon/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A South Carolina judge <a href="https://www.wyff4.com/article/judge-reduce-sentence-townville-school-shooter/43967273">heard arguments</a> in late May 2023 to reconsider the sentence for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/3ebe190981d445edbb30501aa7cd6959">Jesse Osborne</a>, who carried out a school shooting in 2016. Fourteen years old at the time, Osborne killed his father, then opened fire at Townsville Elementary School, killing a 6-year-old child and injuring others. </p>
<p>He was sentenced to life without parole, but his attorneys have asked that a judge “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/townville-school-shooting-jesse-osborne-0cd4c422fd51a4c357fb9be6caed4bd9">give Jesse some hope</a>” of leaving prison decades down the line. The judge ordered the defense to submit a detailed report by late June about abuse Osborne suffered as a child and his potential for rehabilitation. He said the prosecution would have 10 days to respond, though no decision has been announced as of mid-July.</p>
<p>At the heart of this case is whether it is appropriate to sentence children to die in prison, with no chance of being considered for release. Half a century ago, offenders in the U.S. of any age were rarely <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/u-s-sentence-children-life-prison/">sentenced to life without parole</a>, and it was not until 1978 that states began trying youths as adults. Between 1985 and 2001, however, youths convicted of murder were actually more likely to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/10/12/rest-their-lives/life-without-parole-child-offenders-united-states">enter prison with a life sentence</a> than adults convicted of the same crime.</p>
<p>Yet the use of juvenile life without parole, or JLWOP, has sharply declined over the past two decades and has been <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/articles/2018/summer2018-rejecting-harsh-sentences-children-20-yrs-sentence-reform/">condemned by the American Bar Association</a>, largely thanks to <a href="https://clbb.mgh.harvard.edu/juvenilejustice/">new research on brain development</a>.</p>
<p>As a former prosecutor, I respect the need to consider victims’ perspectives. However, I also believe it is important to recognize that a 14-year-old child’s brain <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708">is far from fully developed</a>, and that retribution and accountability must take that into account – ideas that guide my work today as <a href="https://law.richmond.edu/faculty/jm6hd/">a legal scholar</a> who defends youth offenders. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A row of swings on a playground, seen from above as dusk starts to fall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C4%2C1004%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538656/original/file-20230721-19180-329n1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The playground at Townville Elementary School where Jesse Osborne, then 14, shot three students and a teacher in 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-playground-where-children-were-playing-when-the-news-photo/926603318?adppopup=true">Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘superpredator’ era</h2>
<p>In 1995, political scientist <a href="https://live-sas-www-polisci.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/people/standing-faculty/john-diiulio">John J. DiIulio Jr.</a> published <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-coming-of-the-super-predators">an influential article</a> arguing that the U.S. faced a wave of <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth">child “superpredators</a>” who “prefer murder to mischief” and “perceive no relationship between doing right (or wrong) now and being rewarded (or punished) for it later.”</p>
<p>DiIulio <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-coming-of-the-super-predators">blamed this predicted criminal conduct</a> on the “moral poverty” of not having “loving, capable, responsible adults who teach you right from wrong.” He repeatedly called attention to violence among Black youths in “inner-city neighborhoods.”</p>
<p>While DiIulio coined the phrase “superpredator,” his message resonated with many Americans used to “war on drugs” and “<a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/failure-get-tough-crime-policy">tough on crime” campaigns</a>. America’s history of marginalizing and criminalizing Black citizens primed the media and the public to accept <a href="https://cfsy.org/wp-content/uploads/Superpredator-Origins-CFSY.pdf">his theory</a>, as did several high-profile cases. The most notorious, perhaps, was that of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/television/when-they-see-us.html">the Central Park Five</a>, in which five Black teenagers were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park in 1989.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, well before DiIulio’s article, states had already been establishing harsher sentencing laws, <a href="https://law.asu.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academy_for_justice/14_Reforming-Criminal-Justice_Vol_1_Juvenile-Justice.pdf">even for minors</a>. <a href="https://eji.org/news/superpredator-myth-20-years-later/">Across the country</a>, legislatures embraced trying children as adults and rejected policies focused on <a href="https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1497&context=ndjlepp">prevention and rehabilitation</a>.</p>
<p>Between 1985 and 1994, the number of children tried as adults <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles/163709.pdf">grew 71%</a>, and by 2012, 28 states had <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal-justice/miller-v-alabama-and-juvenile-life-without-parole-laws#:%7E:text=During%20the%20time%20of%20the,in%20compliance%20with%20federal%20law">mandatory life sentences</a> for capital murder for certain minors.</p>
<p>The “superpredator” theory turned out to be a myth: By the end of the 1990s, youth crime <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth">had actually decreased</a>, and that trajectory <a href="https://info.mstservices.com/blog/juvenile-crime-rates#:%7E:text=One%20proposed%20reason%20behind%20the,arrested%20for%20committing%20a%20crime">has continued</a>. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of incarcerated youths <a href="https://jjie.org/2023/01/10/its-not-just-a-jail-break-juvenile-prison-populations-reach-all-time-lows/">fell by 77%</a>.</p>
<p>By 2000, DiIulio had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/09/us/as-ex-theorist-on-young-superpredators-bush-aide-has-regrets.html">retracted the superpredator theory</a> and was advocating for reform. Many laws from the “superpredator” era, however, are still on the books. The U.S. is still <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/u-s-sentence-children-life-prison/">the only nation</a> that sentences children to life without the possibility of parole.</p>
<h2>Shifts at the Supreme Court</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, a sea change has taken place in legal thinking, as psychologists have argued that teenagers are less culpable than adults because of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412471678">the nature of adolescents’ brains</a>. </p>
<p>Starting in the 2000s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/they-were-sentenced-as-superpredators-who-were-they-really/">child offenders are different from adults</a>. In 2005, the court <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-633.ZS.html">banned the death penalty</a> for people under 18, and in 2010 <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-7412.ZO.html">outlawed life sentences</a> for juveniles convicted of nonhomicide offenses.</p>
<p>Two years later, in Miller v. Alabama, the court ruled that, even in homicide cases, mandatory sentences of life without parole for minors <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/10-9646">violate the Eighth Amendment</a>’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The justices did not ban life sentences completely, however – simply mandatory sentencing laws that require them for juvenile homicide offenders, without consideration of the particular mitigating factors of each case.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/03-633">each of these decisions</a>, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2009/08-7412">the Supreme Court</a> recognized that a lack of brain development makes adolescents, even those <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/567/460/">who commit serious and violent offenses</a>, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-280">less culpable and more capable of change than adults</a>. In Miller v. Alabama, the court emphasized that teenagers are impulsive, cannot escape abusive home environments, cannot properly assist their attorneys and have inherent capacity for rehabilitation.</p>
<h2>State-by-state change</h2>
<p>This change in attitudes has had <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9debc3bdc7034ad2a68e62911fba0d85">clear impact on state laws</a>. Today, a majority of states <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/22/michigan-leads-juveniles-life-without-parole-bill-to-ban/70245687007/">have now banned</a> or have no one serving JLWOP.</p>
<p>More than 500 people who received their sentences before these SCOTUS cases are still serving life without parole for crimes they committed as children. However, another 1,000 individuals <a href="https://cfsy.org/get-involved/1000-releases/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20June%206%2C%202023,advocates%20to%20reach%20this%20landmark">have been released</a> because laws changed to override their original sentencing, according to the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, which advocates against JLWOP.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man with buzz-cut hair and black glasses wipes his eye, while wearing a button-up shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538665/original/file-20230721-23-gs06qm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=623&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jesse Osborne wipes tears after being sentenced to life in prison in 2019 in Anderson, S.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/YESouthCarolina/5f7a9dfb9e2c4d88b55263646a796649/photo?Query=%22jesse%20osborne%22&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7&currentItemNo=1">Ken Ruinard/The Independent-Mail via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Virginia, for example, <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB35">passed legislation</a> in 2020 to allow people sentenced as youth offenders who have already served 20 years in prison to seek parole consideration. Approximately 17 have been reviewed and <a href="https://vpb.virginia.gov/parole-decisions/">granted parole</a> so far, including seven rehabilitated individuals whom my law students and I <a href="https://scholarship.richmond.edu/pilr/vol25/iss2/5/">have assisted</a>.</p>
<p>Another aspect of adolescent development that research has emphasized is young offenders’ potential for rehabilitation, challenging the idea that they are irredeemably dangerous. <a href="https://www.montclair.edu/newscenter/2020/04/30/new-study-finds-1-recidivism-rate-among-released-philly-juvenile-lifers/">One 2020 study</a> found that only 1.14% of people who had been sentenced to life without parole in Philadelphia and eventually released were re-convicted of any offense. Similarly, out of 142 individuals released in Michigan after the Supreme Court’s Miller decision, only one <a href="https://imprintnews.org/news-briefs/michigan-released-juvenile-lifers-rarely-reoffend/58122">had been rearrested</a> as of 2021.</p>
<h2>The path ahead</h2>
<p>Nothing can bring back lives cut short. But in my more than 25 years working in the juvenile legal system, I have seen repeatedly that our society fails both defendants and victims by not helping them to resolve their conflicts before they get to that point. Those I assist as a defense attorney often come from the same environments and tragic backgrounds as the victims I served as a prosecutor.</p>
<p>Increasingly, however, it seems schools, courts and communities are turning to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250142.pdf">approaches besides life without parole</a> to help young people move past the worst things they have ever done, or prevent them in the first place.</p>
<p>The primary focus of the juvenile court has always been rehabilitation rather than punishment. Courts now have improved assessment tools, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.56">effective intervention programs</a>, a recognition of the roles lack of brain development and trauma play in delinquent behavior, and treatments for underlying psychiatric disorders that can help achieve that purpose – if our society has the will to invest in these resources as early as possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Ellen McConnell is affiliated with Housing Opportunities Made Equal as a Board member and volunteer</span></em></p>Research on developing brains has helped bring about a sea change in attitudes toward juvenile life without parole. But many people who committed crimes as minors are still serving such sentences.Julie Ellen McConnell, Professor of Law, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2080582023-06-22T21:04:03Z2023-06-22T21:04:03ZPoliticians shouldn’t determine where Paul Bernardo is imprisoned, regardless of his crimes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533180/original/file-20230621-29-mhyd5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2044%2C1217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dozens of people line up in Toronto in 1995 outside a downtown courthouse for entry to Paul Bernardo's trial. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Moe Doiron</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Paul Bernardo is one of Canada’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/key-events-in-the-bernardo-homolka-case-1.933128">most notorious criminal offenders</a>. </p>
<p>Bernardo has been incarcerated since his arrest in 1993 for the sexual assaults he perpetrated as the Scarborough Rapist and for the kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault and first-degree murders of teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. <a href="https://ca.vlex.com/vid/r-v-bernardo-p-681367033">He was convicted</a> on these charges, as well as manslaughter in the death of Tammy Homolka — the sister of his co-accused, Karla Homolka — and of committing an indignity to a body. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in handcuffs and a grey coat sits in the back of a police cruiser." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533186/original/file-20230621-3564-mdueqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser in April 1994 as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At sentencing in 1995, Bernardo was designated a dangerous offender based on his high risk of committing further sexual violence. In accordance with the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-44.6/page-1.html">Corrections and Conditions Act</a>, <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/350611/publication.html">dangerous offenders</a> usually receive an indeterminate sentence. When murder charges are involved, it’s normally an indeterminate life sentence. </p>
<p>After 25 years of incarceration, Bernardo can apply for parole every two years. He has been <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/notorious-killer-and-rapist-paul-bernardo-denied-parole-1.5480292#:%7E:text=The%20Parole%20Board%20of%20Canada,in%20the%20fall%20of%202018.">denied day and full parole by the Parole Board of Canada</a> the two times he has applied.</p>
<h2>Transferred to Québec</h2>
<p>Bernardo <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9741588/paul-bernardo-moved-medium-security-prison/">was recently transferred from Millhaven, a maximum-security prison in Ontario, to La Macaza medium-security prison in Québec</a>. Political and public response was immediate and visceral.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/security/001003-1000-eng.shtml">Correctional Service Canada (CSC)</a> policy says that maximum-security is meant to be temporary and prepare inmates for eventual transfer to medium-security facilities. </p>
<p>Bernardo has been in maximum-security prisons for three decades. Medium-security institutions have the same security safeguards as maximum-security prisons, but there’s more movement and interaction among inmates. The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/07/paul-bernardo-what-did-he-do-whats-the-difference-between-maximum-and-medium-security-and-what-are-politicians-saying.html">facility in Québec is reportedly</a> well-equipped to house sex offenders who are at elevated risk of violence from other prisoners.</p>
<p>Bernardo has spent <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9751583/paul-bernardo-prison-transfer/">the majority of his 30 years in prison segregated in protective custody</a>. <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4099115/cost-prisons-incarceration-canada-pbo/">According to 2016-2017 data</a>, an inmate in segregation costs an estimated $463,045 annually compared to $92,740 for a maximum-security inmate and $75,077 for those in medium-security institutions.</p>
<p>La Macaza seems like an appropriate place to move Bernardo if he has been assessed to be at low risk of escape, even though medium-security institutions are just as secure as maximum-security prisons. Although medium-security institutions allow more interaction with others, La Macaza can specifically provide the additional protection an infamous inmate needs at a significantly lower cost to taxpayers. </p>
<h2>Predictable outrage</h2>
<p>As a criminologist, nothing about Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security institution after 30 years is surprising to me based on standard procedures and available information. As a true crime researcher, I’m also not surprised by the outrage.</p>
<p>Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the French and Mahaffy families, said <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9746198/paul-bernardo-medium-security-transfer-mahaffy-french/">“we need an open and transparent discussion and debate</a>” about whether Canadians and victims’ families are entitled to information about people who are incarcerated, including potential transfers.</p>
<p>Family members of victims are not told of inmate transfers because it’s considered confidential information. The Bernardo transfer likely only became public because it was leaked by someone with access to the information. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A grey-haired older man looks sombre as he stands next to a woman with short dark hair wearing glasses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533185/original/file-20230621-22-dstlbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Doug and Donna French listen while the lawyer Tim Danson (not pictured) speaks to the media after Paul Bernardo’s parole was denied at Millhaven Institution in Bath, Ont., in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9765365/paul-bernardo-prison-transfer-review-underway/">The CSC has now tasked a review committee</a> “to examine the appropriateness of his new security classification and transfer to a medium-security facility, review victims’ considerations and notifications and whether the legislative and policy framework was followed in this case.” </p>
<p>The federal Conservative Party published <a href="https://www.conservative.ca/conservatives-will-ensure-paul-bernardo-rots-in-maximum-security-prison/">a statement</a> on its website pledging that “Conservatives will ensure Paul Bernardo rots in maximum-security prisons.” The party is proposing legislation that would require all dangerous offenders and mass murderers to be permanently assigned to maximum-security institutions.</p>
<p>I’m not concerned that Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison puts public safety in jeopardy, but I am nervous about the potential fallout from this news.</p>
<h2>Serial killers rare</h2>
<p>Ontario Premier Doug Ford has stated: “<a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/doug-ford-says-correctional-service-commissioner-should-step-down-or-be-fired-after-bernardo-jail-transfer-1.6429654?cache=dvgujsbn">This scumbag Bernardo should rot in hell</a>.” </p>
<p>He also <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/06/06/doug-ford-paul-bernardo-move-comments/">told the media</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“When we sentence someone to life sentences, that means a life sentence in jail, maximum security, 23 hours a day. Matter of fact, I’d go one step further — that one hour he’s out should be in general population.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ford insinuates that prison violence is not only a reality of incarceration, but part of the punishment. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1665738159743807490"}"></div></p>
<p>Violence in prisons is rampant. <a href="https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/serial-killers-who-were-murdered-in-prison">Infamous serial killers</a> (including Albert DeSalvo, Léopold Dion and Jeffrey Dahmer, to name a few) have been killed by other inmates during their incarcerations. </p>
<p>Bernardo is infamous largely due to being such an unusual offender in Canada. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220802/dq220802a-eng.htm?indid=4751-1&indgeo=0">Violent crime is often assumed by the general public to be more rampant than it is</a>, especially when perpetrated by strangers. In fact, serial killers are incredibly rare. </p>
<p>The concern is that Bernardo’s transfer, which would probably have gone unnoticed if he were not a household name, will lead to policy changes and legislative reforms that will negatively impact other people. </p>
<p>The situation also raises questions for Canadians and politicians about prisons, public safety and justice. Rather than focusing on whether one man is being punished harshly enough, there must be necessary conversations about the purpose of prisons, whether they’re meant to be solely punitive or serve any rehabilitative functions, and what justice means to Canadians.</p>
<p>Focusing on one infamous serial killer does not make Canadians safer, nor does using an exceptional case to change correctional policy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208058/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meg D. Lonergan has previously received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>As a dangerous offender, Paul Bernardo is unlikely to ever be released from custody after 30 years behind bars — even after his transfer to a medium-security prison.Meg D. Lonergan, Doctoral Candidate and Contract Instructor, Legal Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2075972023-06-13T00:22:44Z2023-06-13T00:22:44ZA watershed report on solitary confinement in NZ prisons must now trigger real reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531489/original/file-20230612-19-zq6sng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C22%2C7315%2C4770&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is hard to find much joy in the <a href="https://inspectorate.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/50011/Office_of_the_Inspectorate_Separation_and_Isolation_final_report.pdf">Prison Inspectorate’s report</a> on segregation and cell confinement released today. It finds many prisoners in New Zealand are kept in solitary confinement and suffer negative psychological and physical effects.</p>
<p>The report follows the <a href="https://inspectorate.corrections.govt.nz/reports/thematic_reports/thematic_report_the_lived_experience_of_women_in_prisons">2021 finding</a> that female prisoners were segregated without due process, and the <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/53SCPET_EVI_104223_PET2124/333d26a1dd8baee52d1951ec0ffe4420cd5087bd">Ombudsman’s statement</a> last year that legal reform is needed “to ensure that New Zealand meets its international human rights obligations with respect to solitary confinement and PSC [prolonged solitary confinement]”.</p>
<p>Two things in particular stood out for me in the report: the Inspectorate’s willingness to call segregation “solitary confinement”, and the inadequate record keeping by the Department of Corrections that is highlighted.</p>
<p>“Segregation” can mean different things in the prison context, making it easy to get bogged down in definitional complexities. Unlike cell confinement, segregation is not a punishment. Instead, it is intended to manage a complex group of people, including supporting those with significant mental health needs, difficult behaviour, or even managing gang affiliations.</p>
<p>It can simply involve separating one group of prisoners from another. Or it can be solitary confinement, isolating a prisoner in their cell for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. </p>
<p>The report finds that for all intents and purposes “segregation” means “solitary confinement” in New Zealand prisons. And some prisoners experience solitary confinement for months or years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531490/original/file-20230612-28-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arohata Prison intervention and support unit yard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dept. of Corrections</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘A dangerous place’</h2>
<p>So what does this look like in practice? Imagine being alone in a bleak version of your bedroom – without a phone or clock, with concrete walls, a television (only free channels) and an open toilet. </p>
<p>You’ll get an hour in a concrete yard to exercise, and at least five minutes a week on the phone with friends and family. In some prisons, dinner arrives at 3.30pm. As one prisoner quoted in the report says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When things get too hard, I wanted to kill myself. I’ve cut myself so many times [… there’s] no-one to talk to.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/prison-turns-life-upside-down-giving-low-risk-prisoners-longer-to-prepare-for-their-sentences-would-benefit-everyone-189382">Prison turns life upside down – giving low-risk prisoners longer to prepare for their sentences would benefit everyone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Segregation includes isolating vulnerable prisoners in “intervention and support units” (ISUs). The picture painted here also lacks hope: stark environments, inaccurate record keeping, sensory deprivation and insufficient social interaction. One ISU prisoner described being “quite lonely”, adding:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mentally it reminds me of being forced into a cupboard when I was in foster care. I didn’t have any mental health support when I was there – just in my own mind, which can be a dangerous place.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Telling details haunt the report: the removing of cardboard tubes from toilet rolls, coldness due to too few blankets, prohibition of wearing shoes, no books in an ISU dayroom for fear prisoners might eat the pages, and lack of exposure to sunlight requiring prescriptions for vitamin D. </p>
<p>One prisoner describes injuring himself at his first opportunity to run in an open space:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just couldn’t help myself, fresh air, the wind on my face, and the grass under my feet, you can’t imagine what that feels like after so many years of being locked in a concrete box.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531492/original/file-20230612-21-h52yxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Auckland South Corrections Facility separation and reintegration unit cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dept. of Corrections</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Impacts on prison staff</h2>
<p>Research has <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/solitary-confinement-effects">demonstrated</a> the psychological trauma, harm to mental health and problems with physical health that solitary confinement can cause. One prisoner put it this way in the report: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Alone in my cell for days, used to often lead me to be frustrated, which led to anger and in turn led to violence. [I] caused a lot of violence in the cells.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/solitary-confinement-by-any-other-name-is-still-torture-149670">Solitary confinement by any other name is still torture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These conditions undermine normal socialisation. Twinned with the lack of access to rehabilitation that the Inspectorate also identifies, segregation cannot be good preparation for release into the community.</p>
<p>The harm caused by such treatment may become permanent after 15 days. This is the threshold defined by the United Nations between “solitary confinement” and “prolonged solitary confinement”, as set out in its “<a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/mandela_rules.shtml">Mandela Rules</a>”.</p>
<p>This is not just a problem for the prisoners. It also has an enormous impact on an already fatigued workforce. As the report states, employees “felt like they had been trained as custodial staff but were being asked to manage prisoners with mental health issues”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-prisons-an-expert-explains-the-history-of-using-correctional-facilities-to-punish-people-198202">Why are there prisons? An expert explains the history of using 'correctional' facilities to punish people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A watershed moment</h2>
<p>The report estimates about 29% of prisoners were segregated during the year of the review (October 1 2020 to September 30 2021). This is within a system where only 16% of prisoners have maximum or high-security classifications. Of all those segregated prisoners, 63% were Māori.</p>
<p>But the report gives only a glimpse into solitary confinement, due to what it identifies as unreliable paperwork and inaccurate data. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, it represents a watershed moment. Important recommendations are made to address key areas of concern. The Department of Corrections can <a href="https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/53SCPET_EVI_104223_PET1484/75bc04d07fc5425c5cbb85234059ad88ab726934">no longer say</a> solitary confinement is not used in New Zealand. Nor can it deny that, for a significant number of prisoners, this confinement is prolonged. </p>
<p>The fact that the department has accepted the Inspectorate’s recommendations should materially improve prisoner experience of segregation, and mean transparent reporting of demographic data and incidents of self-harm.</p>
<p>This is long overdue. As one prisoner noted, describing solitary confinement’s profound isolation: “There is only so much colouring in you can do.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine McCarthy was formerly the president of the Wellington Howard League for Penal Reform (2018-2020). In 2021 a petition she initiated to ban prolonged solitary confinement in New Zealand was presented to parliament.</span></em></p>The Prison Inspectorate has found ‘segregation’ policy and practice in New Zealand prisons are harmful, and has recommended significant changes.Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015642023-05-17T20:07:07Z2023-05-17T20:07:07ZTrauma is trending – but we need to look beyond buzzwords and face its ugly side<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523779/original/file-20230502-22-7ctw2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5184%2C3406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maycon Marmo/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the turn of the 20th century, Imperial Russia was a volatile place. Living conditions were harsh for most people, labour was exploitative and taxes were high.
There were strikes and rebellions, and Jewish immigrants were restricted to an annexed region known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Pale-of-Settlement">Pale of the Settlement</a>, where “pogroms” – antisemitic riots and mob persecutions – had long menaced. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523765/original/file-20230502-24-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&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>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Between 1903 and 1906, as the deadliest waves swept across 64 towns in the Settlement, a girl child named Rivka hid in an alcove with her family amid gunshots and broken windows; in 1907 her fate was decided. She was to leave for America, with her parents to follow (they never did make it). </p>
<p>Aged 14, Rivka became Rebecca, en route to New York by steamship. Magdalena Ball’s verse novel, <a href="https://puncherandwattmann.com/product/bobish/">Bobish</a> (Yiddish for “grandmother”) charts her great-grandmother Rivka’s passage – and her life beyond. </p>
<p>Bobish is published by <a href="https://puncherandwattmann.com/">Puncher & Wattman</a>, an indie publishing house doing more than its share to keep alive novellas, verse novels and other forms not considered commercially viable in Australia. The cover image shows a young woman with the thousand-yard stare of the trauma survivor. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Bobish – Magdalena Ball (Puncher & Wattman) and Reclaim – Ahona Guha (Scribe)</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Complex trauma</h2>
<p>For many with complex trauma histories, leaving home young is less a choice than a necessity or compulsion. When the pain of a situation – social or familial – outweighs the need for family bonding and the security of community, you Get Out. </p>
<p>I was 15, a year older than Rivka, when I fled: not from persecution, but from the powerlessness of a childhood in a family fractured by divorce and the stream of abusive men ushered into my mother’s life. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/understanding-ptsd/202206/the-common-effects-complex-relational-trauma">Complex relational trauma</a> is broadly defined as cumulative and multiple traumatic events featuring interpersonal threat.</p>
<p>For some, this legacy amounts to an unrecognised, unaccommodated disability. Many work overtime to keep a raging chronic <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/fight-or-flight">fight or flight</a> response dampened down to a degree of functional equilibrium, in societal conditions that continually trigger it. </p>
<p>Early starters like Rivka (or, Rebecca) are confronted with the dilemmas and dramas of the adult world before the neocortex has developed enough to comprehend them, and with a traumatised amygdala and hippocampus firing on all cylinders. </p>
<p>Ball writes beautifully of Rebecca’s departure, voyage and beginnings in the Bronx, evoking this complicated soup of experience with a nod to childlike wonder, in poems like Ocean Mandela:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Her eyes became a kaleidoscope
spiralling with the water refracted</p>
<p>through tears she kept from falling …</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The poem ends with a description of the haunting past she leaves behind:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>memory was Prussian Blue
a cyanotype carried like ghostly love.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bobish is transgenerational literary trauma testimony, which, as I argued in my monograph, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/poetics-of-transgenerational-trauma-9781501330872/">The Poetics of Transgenerational Trauma</a>, amounts to a kind of intuitive-affective translation that “comes with its own linguistic and creative reading of the experience of others”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/complex-trauma-how-abuse-and-neglect-can-have-life-long-effects-32329">Complex trauma: how abuse and neglect can have life-long effects</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reclaim and 21st-century trends</h2>
<p>Reading Ball’s verse, woven with strands of nonfiction, family lore, and affective imagination, alongside <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/reclaim-9781922585684">Reclaim: Understanding complex trauma and those who abuse</a> by Dr Ahona Guha, it is as if Ball and Guha’s projects were born to intertwine. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523766/original/file-20230502-1435-ftqwpj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&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>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Guha, a clinical psychologist and forensic expert, has penned a book about trauma that is not literary, academic, or self-help: it is a clear-eyed analysis by a professionally qualified, socially engaged and intimately informed author. Guha purportedly wrote the book to redress fallacies in “a world that is beset by trauma.” </p>
<p>This points to a perplexing paradox. As Guha underscores, trauma is trending – at least on the socials. We’ve come a long way since Charles Myers <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-world-war-i-taught-us-about-ptsd-105613">used the term “shell shock”</a> to describe the shattered men returning from the trenches in 1915, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-trauma-victims-really-repress-memories-and-can-therapy-induce-false-memories-84998">Freud</a> defined trauma as “any excitations from the outside which are powerful enough to break through the protective shield”, thus flooding and binding the psyche (neuroscience has since confirmed traumatic injury as a <a href="https://neurosciencenews.com/salience-network-trauma-22026/#:%7E:text=Exposure%20to%20trauma%20can%20be,rewire%20itself%20after%20these%20experiences.">re-wiring of the brain</a>). As Guha says, this complicated process “will never be adequately captured by <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7wm9w/the-rise-of-traumatok-when-does-sharing-trauma-online-become-unhealthy">a TikTok video</a> or an Instagram reel”.</p>
<p>While increased awareness of trauma is welcome, it comes with a downside. Guha observes that Western society’s tendency to medicalise and pathologise experience leads to difficult feelings and situations being defined as traumatic when they may well not be. </p>
<p>She states, “the reach of technology and social media has facilitated access to easy and overly simplistic information about complex mental health phenomena”, frequently circulated by “people who have limited or no formal qualifications in health or mental health”. </p>
<p>This may sound like a shot at grassroots knowledge, but it’s fairer to call it a level-headed acknowledgement that diagnostic terms (such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-social-media-turning-people-into-narcissists-66573">narcissist</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/impulsive-psychopaths-like-crypto-research-shows-how-dark-personality-traits-affect-bitcoin-enthusiasm-180782">psychopath</a>) are being overused as buzzwords. And that some who stand to profit use mental health and trauma terminology for unscrupulous purposes, such as the peddling of personal growth thirst traps. </p>
<p>Guha discloses her own history of complex trauma to challenge the shame and disparaging associations that stick to trauma. I’ve <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/traumata">been open</a> about my history of complex trauma for much the same reason. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-half-of-australians-will-experience-trauma-most-before-they-turn-17-we-need-to-talk-about-it-159801">More than half of Australians will experience trauma, most before they turn 17. We need to talk about it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Symptoms celebrated and stigmatised</h2>
<p>While some symptoms of complex trauma, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dangers-of-workaholism-for-you-and-your-employer-30689">workaholism</a> and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/emotional-sobriety/202303/what-is-the-fawning-trauma-response">fawning</a> (otherwise known as people pleasing) are culturally embraced and rewarded, others, such as addiction to illegal substances, are denounced and criminalised. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-social-determinants-of-justice-8-factors-that-increase-your-risk-of-imprisonment-203661">in the prison system</a> suffer from complex trauma, as Guha highlights. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/csrh/our-projects/identifying-factors-that-improve-the-health-of-people-newly-released-from-prison-who-inject-drugs">recent study</a>, researchers at the UNSW Centre for Social Research in Health confirmed systemic discrimination toward prisoners with histories of injecting drug use (up to 58% of the prison population) upon release from prison. (I was commissioned to write a creative work based on interview transcripts and performed by a community member to help <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njTVEBehDjQ">communicate these findings</a> to stakeholders and the public). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524282/original/file-20230504-14-yfqq3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many in the prison system suffer from complex trauma.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ron Lach/Pexels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s worth noting that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/indigenous-people-incarcerated-at-more-than-10-times-the-rate-of-the-general-population-abs-20200604-p54zoa.html">according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in New South Wales are incarcerated at almost ten times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians. </p>
<p>Some people in high places hope their past addiction never comes to light: public servants, medical professionals, and others whose careers would be at stake if outed. This bigotry is a hypocritical outrage. Assuming a certain baseline of recovery, why should people with histories of injecting drug use be viewed as anything but an invaluable workplace resource with a wealth of lived experience? </p>
<p>There are also high-functioning drug users and heavy drinkers who perform well at work, though acceptability depends on the context. For example, you wouldn’t want to be operated on by a hungover surgeon, or travel on a bus with a stoned driver.</p>
<p>Despite Guha’s reasonable reservations about persistent shortfalls in nuanced understanding of trauma, our society’s heightened focus on trauma does hold promise. The environment Rivka escaped, beset by antisemitic attacks and pre-revolution tensions, and the world she entered when she docked – colonised Lenape land teeming with displaced people; disease ran rife in the ghettos and the homicide rate was high – were hotbeds of trauma transmission. These populations were almost entirely uneducated about trauma’s pernicious potential – and mostly unaided. </p>
<p>People with early complex trauma histories are among the most spectacular innovators and successes across a range of industries, propelled into prominence or power by a fierce internal drive. </p>
<p>But many childhood and adolescent complex trauma survivors are slow achievers. We grow into our talents and abilities – assuming we survive long enough – after navigating obstacle courses of linked conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders and other chronic illnesses. </p>
<p>We rise in our fields after spending years learning the basic life skills and coping strategies less traumatised people take for granted. Some are considered low achievers, spending a lifetime keeping their heads above water in oceans of emotional pain that would drown many of those who deem them inferior. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-body-keeps-the-score-how-a-bestselling-book-helps-us-understand-trauma-but-inflates-the-definition-of-it-184735">The Body Keeps the Score: how a bestselling book helps us understand trauma – but inflates the definition of it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A reclamation</h2>
<p>Bobish commemorates a life that was both remarkable and unremarkable. It proclaims the worth of those who may appear on the surface to be low achievers, but whose continued existence in the face of adversity is itself an affirmation of spirit over trauma.</p>
<p>Ball’s rendering of Rebecca’s trials is never melodramatic, even when “Beckie” is denied dignity through indifference or hostility. For example, in Guide to the United States for the Jewish Immigrant, Ball is even-toned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A physician and a nurse</p>
<p>are in attendance.</p>
<p>(Illness is forbidden</p>
<p>if you’re marked as sick</p>
<p>you will be sent back.)</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523808/original/file-20230502-20-nh6xjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Magdalena Ball’s Bobish commemorates a life that was both remarkable and unremarkable.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The verse novel, as a form, is always an interesting choice – and it is the perfect vehicle for memorialising Rebecca. While it’s not known for bestseller sales, it makes a vital contribution. Notable outings include Dorothy Porter’s renowned <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9780330362429/">Monkey’s Mask</a> and <a href="https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9780998134833/seahorse.aspxby">Seahorse</a> by San-Francisco-based Australian poet, Natasha Dennerstein, about transitioning during the 1980s, which reads like a verse novella. (Dennerstein’s <a href="https://norfolkpress.com/about-a-girl-natasha-dennerstein/">About A Girl</a> is overtly marketed as a “novella in verse”.)</p>
<p>The beauty of the verse novel (or verse novella) is that it can tell a story without being constrained by prose’s demands for filled-in gaps and transitions between events. Good verse leaps over temporal gaps; the reader is released from the expectation of a blow-by-blow account, free to enter and inhabit the communicative space between poems as part of the narrative rhythm. </p>
<p>Rebecca’s New York trajectory unfolds like a case study of the traumatic operations Guha maps in Reclaim. She gets a job at the infamous anti-unionist <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/triangle-shirtwaist-fire">Triangle Shirtwaist Factory</a>, where bosses lock in the garment workers, to maximise productivity and prevent theft. (Miraculously, Rebecca is not at work the day of the fire that kills 146 people.) </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523768/original/file-20230502-20-37tfb2.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">Rebecca worked at the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, but wasn’t working the day of the fire that killed 146 locked-in workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kheel Center, Cornell</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She meets a charming fish smoker who speaks 11 languages. A fellow Jewish immigrant and one-time scholar studying to become a Rabbi, he is relegated to working a pushcart downtown near the tenements. They soon wed. </p>
<p>Guha introduces shorthand to better understand trauma. “Big T” stands for life-threatening trauma; “little t” is for subtler forms of trauma that “often go unrecognised by victims or people around them”. The tangled spectre of both infuses Rebecca’s marriage. </p>
<p>Guha foregrounds “relational trauma” – trauma that occurs in a relational context – noting that childhood relational trauma typically shapes “someone’s entire identity and the way they think and feel”. This oozes from the page in Ball’s depictions of Rebecca. </p>
<p>Guha unpacks “trauma responses” (such as fight-flight-freeze-tend-befriend defences) as the primary mechanisms for managing traumatic tension. The fish smoker is stuck in fight mode and turns out to be a violent, alcoholic presence in the home.</p>
<p>Ball holds him accountable, but handles him with compassion. In Pickled Herring Pushcart, Ball imagines walking “backwards into the tableau” to sit with him “in some crack between our worlds where we could speak freely”. She imagines him taking her hands to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Whisper everything</p>
<p>so I might understand</p>
<p>contrition and trauma</p>
<p>in equal measure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And in La Grippe, she tells her ailing great-grandfather, nursed by Rebecca:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Ach, fish smoker. You cannot change the past. </p>
<p>It wends its way through the funhouse of time in antigenic drift and shift,</p>
<p>viral particles, infecting the future.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-trauma-takes-the-media-gets-wrong-157403">3 trauma takes the media gets wrong</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Hurt people hurt people</h2>
<p>Here, the two texts intersect poignantly. The most admirable thing about Guha’s admirable book is its advocacy for those caught in the darkest realms of trauma’s slipstream: the least likeable among us, who act out in the most socially unacceptable ways. Guha demands we seek to understand not only traumatised sweethearts (those who invite sympathy) but also people who exhibit alienating, infuriating or frightening trauma-fuelled traits. </p>
<p>Trauma denied and/or unconscious gives life to the adage “hurt people hurt people”. Disengaged from the vulnerable roots of their suffering and in a state of unrelenting reaction, traumatised people can become traumatisers. Guha clarifies, though, that “harmful behaviour arises from a confluence of factors” and trauma alone does not explain abuse. </p>
<p>The fish smoker was not a monster. My mother’s partners were not monsters. They were damaged and socially conditioned men who damaged other people. A history of complex trauma doesn’t excuse violations, but it <em>is</em> frequently at the core of them – and we ignore that at our peril. “We have neat binaries in our minds: victims and perpetrators,” states Guha. In some cases, that neatness belies a chaotic crossover. </p>
<p>It feels like feminist sacrilege to say this, such is the attachment to the binary. Guha’s willingness to confront this murky terrain is courageous, and the risky nature of the move might be why Guha features several women in the chapters focused on harmful behaviour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523773/original/file-20230502-18-a3roix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘We have neat binaries in our minds: victims and perpetrators,’ states Dr Ahona Guha.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trauma as a political tool</h2>
<p>Guha’s appeal is crucial, because the failure to grasp the trauma behind many crimes gives rise to dehumanisation and yet more trauma – sometimes in the form of state violence, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/indigenous-deaths-in-custody-17390?gclid=CjwKCAjw0N6hBhAUEiwAXab-TSGYEPaEZd0bqvMnwPIU8oANMuEsZcHvoysuN_Jp2R5DemW8XagjBhoCQBYQAvD_BwE">Aboriginal deaths in custody</a> and the Northern Territory Emergency Response, otherwise known as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-on-its-time-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-failed-northern-territory-intervention-79198">The Intervention</a>”.</p>
<p>Guha’s chapter on “The Politics of Trauma” is an important contribution. Guha is unusual among psychology-trained authors in taking a firm political stance around “reducing reliance on policing and incarceration-based responses” and advocating for an “equitable trauma-informed society”.</p>
<p>“We fail trauma victims when we do not identify them, and when we do not provide appropriate care”, she says. (For example, the federally funded mental health plan is inadequate for complex trauma, and the 20 subsidised sessions per year permitted during COVID lockdowns were <a href="https://theconversation.com/seeing-a-psychologist-on-medicare-soon-youll-be-back-to-10-sessions-but-we-know-thats-not-often-enough-194338">scaled back to ten</a> in 2022.)</p>
<p>But there are worse things than being ignored. Too often, leaders actively enable structural disadvantage and are responsible for gross failures of governance that themselves prove traumatising, as was the case with the disreputable <a href="https://theconversation.com/robodebt-not-only-broke-the-laws-of-the-land-it-also-broke-laws-of-mathematics-201299">Robodebt Scheme</a>. The true measure of its malice has come to light via the Royal Commission, which Rick Morton has covered exhaustively in <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2023/03/11/robo-debt-final-week-it-served-them-right-did-it#hrd">The Saturday Paper</a> and <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/march/rick-morton/robodebt-and-empathy-bypass#mtr">The Monthly</a>.</p>
<p>The driving force of Bobish is Ball’s veneration for Rebecca, and while the subtle characterisation of her great-grandfather is commendable, she does not shy away from the pain he caused Rebecca and the family. Ultimately, Ball has crafted these poems – in consultation with relatives and her aunt’s memoir and diaries – to honour her bobish.</p>
<p>Rebecca faced continual hardship and died relatively young in part because trauma took its toll on her health. But Ball also shows her loving and laughing, reanimated in scenes of family merriment and tenderness.</p>
<p>Both Bobish and Reclaim push back against common value judgements that less traumatised – and more privileged – people make about those living with complex trauma. </p>
<p>One by looking back; the other by looking around soberly – and inviting us to build a “trauma-informed community” and move toward a more just future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meera Atkinson 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>Two very different books explore the lives of those living with complex trauma, arguing for a nuanced understanding.Meera Atkinson, Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005312023-05-02T03:26:47Z2023-05-02T03:26:47Z‘Too much money is spent on jails and policing’: what Aboriginal communities told us about funding justice reinvestment to keep people out of prison<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521235/original/file-20230417-20-qdjdas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C2592&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Justice reinvestment emerged in the United States more than 20 years ago as a way to reduce mass incarceration and its vast costs by addressing the social drivers of imprisonment.</p>
<p>Through justice reinvestment, communities identify and develop responses to issues that feed high rates of re-incarceration locally, resourced through a “reinvestment” of funds drawn from prison budgets. The focus is often on better access for ex-prisoners to essentials such as accommodation and reducing inequity at a community level in health, education and other outcomes. </p>
<p>The Albanese government is currently implementing its 2022 commitment to A$81 million in funding to support justice reinvestment initiatives in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.</p>
<p>The New South Wales government also recently pledged $9.8 million for Aboriginal-led justice reinvestment initiatives in Kempsey and Nowra. </p>
<p>But what does “reinvestment” mean in practice? Who decides what gets funded and how?</p>
<p>To find out more, we spoke with Aboriginal communities in the NSW towns of Bourke, Moree and Mount Druitt. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.justreinvest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/JRNSW-I-Reinvestment-Forum-I-Report.pdf">report</a>, produced alongside these Aboriginal communities, aims to convey their understanding of justice reinvestment.</p>
<p>This work invites government to co-design with community what “reinvestment” means, led by those Aboriginal communities where local solutions are already underway.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1630809778439225344"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-life-changing-experience-how-adult-literacy-programs-can-keep-first-nations-people-out-of-the-criminal-justice-system-195715">'A life changing experience': how adult literacy programs can keep First Nations people out of the criminal justice system</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Investing in Aboriginal-led solutions</h2>
<p>We heard that current criminal justice approaches are not working in Aboriginal communities like Moree and Mt Druitt. Far too many Aboriginal people are taken off-country to be locked up away from family, employment and schooling. </p>
<p>This fractures community and cultural connections and other elements of a healthy, thriving Aboriginal community. The scale at which this occurs does more harm than good and drives re-incarceration. As one Moree community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They just come out worse. It’s like setting them up to fail. Like, it doesn’t fix it at all. Do you know anyone that’s gone to jail and come out and been good, like better?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal people in Moree and Mount Druitt know what’s needed to turn this around. One Moree community member said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As we’ve been saying for years, we’re the only ones that can tell people what’s wrong, what’s the best way to fix it. And we’re the only ones that can actually do it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These communities have developed Aboriginal-led justice reinvestment governance structures and programs that strengthen culture and self-determination. They aim to improve life opportunities to keep more Aboriginal people – particularly young people – out of custody. </p>
<p>In Mount Druitt, justice reinvestment includes <a href="https://www.justreinvest.org.au/mountyyarns">Mounty Yarns</a>, a project led by local young people with both lived experience of incarceration and ideas about how to reduce contact with the justice system that they want heard:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We don’t want the next generation to go through what we went through. We want to be a voice so others don’t have to keep repeating their stories.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522941/original/file-20230426-22-cfbj29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mounty Yarns leaders speaking out in Mount Druitt about their experiences of the justice system and ideas for change.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aboriginal communities like Moree and Mount Druitt need increased access to resources and decision-making to implement their solutions. </p>
<p>They are calling for backing to put their ideas in motion, including partnerships, programs and interventions they identify as crucial to preventing offending. </p>
<p>These ideas, once implemented, may work well quickly, take time to succeed or perhaps struggle. Increasing community agency is a crucial outcome in itself, regardless. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bni2BDutOgo?wmode=transparent&start=36" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Mounty Yarns. Just Reinvest NSW.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Funding justice reinvestment</h2>
<p>Diverting funding from prisons to resource justice reinvestment in communities like Moree or Mount Druitt is appealing to Aboriginal people. They want divestment from what they see as highly punitive institutions that have long caused significant harm.</p>
<p>One idea for a source of funding might be a state-level mechanism requiring the NSW government to deposit an annual levy into a justice reinvestment fund. </p>
<p>Funds could potentially be drawn from justice spending allocations, calculated on the basis of the number of Aboriginal people imprisoned in NSW in the year in question. </p>
<p>Aboriginal people would determine where this money is spent, with priority given to justice reinvestment and other Aboriginal community-led and prevention-focused approaches likely to reduce over-representation.</p>
<p>As this is achieved, the levy will reduce, as will justice and related costs for government. </p>
<p>Importantly, the enormous social and economic costs for Aboriginal people of mass incarceration would also be averted. As one Mount Druitt community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What’s the outcome of prison spending? A criminal record. There’s lots of things they can do before they chuck them into jail but that’s the first option out here. Help him reconnect with his family, his culture. You could do a lot of things with that money.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal people in Mount Druitt and Moree told us of other ways to “invest” in community-led ideas for change. </p>
<p>They want funding decisions to be informed by community knowledge of which services and programs will best contribute to outcomes likely to help keep Aboriginal people out of prison. </p>
<p>One Mount Druitt community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’ve got no control here in Western Sydney. We need to have more of a say when we’re getting in funding here. How is that funding going to be distributed?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They have also identified “tipping points” that push Aboriginal people into the justice system. These include inappropriate or biased police decisions about bail, inadequate post-release support and school exclusions for younger people. They are calling for government reform in these areas.</p>
<h2>Achieving change</h2>
<p>The message from our report is clear: Aboriginal communities want to determine their own priorities for change and to lead that change. This is crucial to reducing Aboriginal over-representation.</p>
<p>Commitment by governments to funding justice reinvestment initiatives is definitely a positive step in the right direction. </p>
<p>Alongside funding, reform to government ways of working and policy will also be essential to ensuring justice reinvestment has the best chance of success.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-governments-should-follow-the-acts-lead-in-building-communities-not-prisons-111990">Australian governments should follow the ACT's lead in building communities, not prisons</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Allison completed research on reinvestment as a consultant for Just Reinvest NSW. As an academic at Jumbunna, she is also involved in the co-design process informing implementation of the federal government commitment to justice reinvestment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Daylight works for JustReinvest NSW.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Duncan works for JustReinvest NSW.</span></em></p>What does ‘justice reinvestment’ mean in practice? Who makes funding decisions? To find out more, we consulted Aboriginal communities in Bourke, Moree and Mount Druitt.Fiona Allison, Research Fellow, Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology SydneyDaniel Daylight, Community Manager Mt Druitt JustReinvest NSW, Indigenous KnowledgeThomas Duncan, Manager of community-led change, Just Reinvest NSW, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038112023-04-19T11:22:06Z2023-04-19T11:22:06ZPrison food: what we learned from organising food-themed art workshops for women prisoners<p>There are two common misconceptions about food in British prisons: that it is either not fit for human consumption, or too luxurious to be enjoyed by those in prison. The artworks produced by the women prisoners in our project broke down both these myths.</p>
<p>For imprisoned people, creating artworks can be a critical step in overcoming the barriers to discussing sensitive issues such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03069885.2011.621526">drug use</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468794117694219?journalCode=qrja">mental health</a> or <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00328855221079282?journalCode=tpjd">suicide</a>.</p>
<p>As part of <a href="https://doingporridge.com/">Doing Porridge</a>, a two-year project examining the role of food in women’s prisons, we organised workshops for women prisoners in the south-east and north of England. </p>
<p>The classes were facilitated by an art teacher who had expertise in running art programmes with people in prison. The aim was to create a space for open discussion of prison food. The final works were displayed at an exhibition entitled <a href="https://koestlerarts.org.uk/exhibitions/regional-exhibitions/on-my-plate-2023/">On My Plate</a> in Bracknell, Berkshire, in partnership with the prisons charity, Koestler Arts. </p>
<p>The women we worked with saw prison food as another form of social control. Many said they felt a loss of identity due to not cooking for themselves.</p>
<p>However, we also found some women had taken back small pockets of control by being creative with the resources they had in their cells or communal areas to concoct meals. One woman even spoke about baking a cheesecake using the microwave.</p>
<h2>What the artworks told us</h2>
<p>The diverse artworks from our workshops exemplified the tensions and challenges associated with the provision and consumption of prison food. They also highlighted the issues of body image, lack of choice, escape, and problems at home that are experienced by many women prisoners.</p>
<p>Body image is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1462474515623103?journalCode=puna">a contentious issue</a> for incarcerated women. Many of the artworks centred on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-954X.00363">high-carb food</a> and lack of opportunities to exercise. These images often represented the change in the naked body and symbolised the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hojo.12097">anxieties the women experienced</a> about their weight in prison.</p>
<p>Prisons are “<a href="https://www.asdan.org.uk/media/ek3p22qw/corston-report-march-2007.pdf">designed by men for men</a>”. For many women, being confined in a space that takes away freedom limits the ability to celebrate their personal identity. Analysing these artworks can develop our understanding of how they feel about their womanhood.</p>
<p>Another theme that emerged was the women’s experience of the monotonous, unchanging menus of the prison kitchen. </p>
<p>One of the images illustrated a tin of beans with the word “AGAIN” in capitals. This highlighted the distress of eating the same types of food for a long period of time, and the long-awaited but unsatiated need for nutritious and culturally diverse food.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1557085118769748?casa_token=jE7uUmOidvAAAAAA:JpUK3QPx1ubDxFEI7ku-bQXt9NVEX4oQ3IGozb1Ic8b8LcyxXiEa4zRDtCliAdT5ps8cCtGLid7oSf0">importance of choice</a> in prison appeared in much of the artwork produced, from the desire for healthier food to frustrations about not having the choice to make informed decisions about what and how they eat. </p>
<p>This can be seen in motifs like bananas with human features, symbolising the desire for fruit and vegetables which are not always accessible, available or nutritious in prison.</p>
<p>In one poetic illustration entitled I Am the Artist, a prisoner wrote: “I am what I eat.” This was followed by a commentary on the foods she ate on the outside, that she saw as contributing to her identity: “I am feta: I am beetroot: I am peanut butter.”</p>
<h2>Food’s connection to home</h2>
<p>Home life was another prevalent theme, reflecting the need of many to escape the realities of prison life. Creating these artworks also provided comfort for some of the women, as they shared testimonies of the food they ate growing up, and what food they desired the most while in prison.</p>
<p>Motifs included beaches, eating with loved ones and tasty desserts, which were seen as an unobtainable fantasy – this type of food is a privilege not afforded in prison.</p>
<p>Often, art with the theme of home life represented the women’s desire to feel “normal”, something they associated with the memories and emotions around food in the home.</p>
<p>Understanding these food-themed artworks produced by imprisoned women allows a better understanding of the social inequalities they are experiencing while incarcerated. </p>
<p>Exploring their relationships with food brought invaluable understanding of their often complex and traumatic experiences, as well as the intersection of inequalities they face, from racism to sexism and poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Adams receives funding from Economic Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Garland receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Power 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>The artworks created by women in prison brought us greater understanding of their often complex and traumatic experiencesMaria Adams, Senior lecturer, University of SurreyErin Power, Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, Liverpool John Moores UniversityJon Garland, Professor of Criminology, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2000412023-03-02T13:23:59Z2023-03-02T13:23:59ZUnderstanding mass incarceration in the US is the first step to reducing a swollen prison population<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513014/original/file-20230301-30-1c9olo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=238%2C157%2C2573%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People incarcerated at a county jail in North Dakota gather together. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/174524045/photo/oil-boom-shifts-the-landscape-of-rural-north-dakota.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=FaIkb2CLNjUOxOoWX521IPpa5BfsgYTnAMVCQrDFXnI=">Andrew Burton/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/16/americas-incarceration-rate-lowest-since-1995/">The incarceration rate</a> in the United States fell in 2021 to its lowest levels since 1995 – but the U.S. continues to imprison a higher percentage of its population than almost every <a href="https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All">other country</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/correctional-populations-united-states-2021-statistical-tables">The U.S. incarcerates</a> 530 people for every 100,000 in its population, making it one of the world’s biggest jailers – <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-begins-transfers-mega-prison-amid-gang-crackdown-2023-02-24/">just below El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the-most-prisoners-per-100-000-inhabitants/">Rwanda and Turkmenistan.</a> </p>
<p>The U.S. actually had the greatest percentage of its population imprisoned until 2019. This followed steady growth in prison and jail populations in the 1970s, after a wave of <a href="https://www.owu.edu/news-media/from-our-perspective/tough-questions-for-tough-on-crime-policies/">“tough on crime” laws</a> and policies swept the nation. </p>
<p>While there has been a <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/,">growing recognition</a> of the need to reduce <a href="https://joebiden.com/justice/#,%20https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/07/15/president-obama-our-criminal-justice-system-isnt-smart-it-should-be">mass incarceration</a>, experts <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/">do not</a> agree on <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/rafael-mangual-discusses-new-book-criminal-in-justice">what caused the ballooning prison population</a> or the best path to reducing it.</p>
<p>As a former prosecutor and a researcher who studies the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VxvW--wAAAAJ&hl=en">criminal justice system</a>, I have found that understanding how the U.S. incarceration rate grew over the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mass-Incarceration-Nation-Jeffrey-Bellin/dp/1009267558/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0">last few decades</a> is the key to understanding its root causes – and what it will take to return to lower rates. </p>
<p>As I <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/criminal-law/mass-incarceration-nation-how-united-states-became-addicted-prisons-and-jails-and-how-it-can-recover?format=PB&isbn=9781009267557">show in my new book</a>, “Mass Incarceration Nation, How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover,” people tend to talk past one another when they discuss crime and punishment in the U.S. I think the public debate can improve if people develop a better understanding of how mass incarceration arose – and its tenuous connection to crime. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A person wearing a bright orange outfit is seen walking into gates towards a beige building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513012/original/file-20230301-2409-xqwaw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While the U.S. prison population has dipped recently, the rate remains higher than those of most countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/539898510/photo/usa-crime-overcrowding-of-california-prison-system.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=iXtRdZscYW5liMp5Li6ez7mWwHU94JASFEYl2rO7Lus=">Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A growing prison population</h2>
<p>The growth in mass incarceration began with a crime spike. Homicides, which averaged around <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_20/sr20_006acc.pdf">5,000 per year in the 1960s</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/187592/death-rate-from-homicide-in-the-us-since-1950/">shot up in the 1970s,</a> reaching over 24,000 in 1991. </p>
<p>The crime spike sparked a bipartisan wave of punitive laws, the hiring of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/nyregion/dinkins-on-crime-dinkins-proposes-record-expansion-of-police-forces.html">thousands of police officers</a> and a <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/rethinking-prison-as-a-deterrent-to-future-crime/">“tough on crime” mindset</a> that permeated every aspect of American criminal law. The system became more punitive, generating longer sentences, especially for repeat and violent offenses, as I show in my book. </p>
<p>Over time, this led to today’s <a href="https://nicic.gov/projects/aging-prison">aging prison population</a> and many people being held long past the time they would have been released in other countries and at other times <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/02/20/aging-prison-populations-drive-up-costs">in this country’s history</a>. </p>
<p>The number of people 55 or older in state and federal prisons increased 280% from 1999 to 2016, <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/02/20/aging-prison-populations-drive-up-costs">according to Pew research.</a> </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men in bright orange outfits and face masks sit in what looks like an empty classroom with white bars on the windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512999/original/file-20230301-1944-k5hl1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Men incarcerated in Washington, D.C., participate in a computer science program in September 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1243186427/photo/students-from-the-brave-behind-bars-program-an-introductory-computer-science-program-for.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=lVKEnRJ9FBQ5GZSwwxMcHCV3HaKvXpvDudkR9vMMDWw=">Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Different kinds of crime</h2>
<p>But longer sentences are only one factor in America’s supersized incarceration rates. </p>
<p>There has also been a <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2022/02/drug-arrests-stayed-high-even-as-imprisonment-fell-from-2009-to-2019">dramatic expansion of the kinds of crimes</a> for which U.S. courts imprison people. </p>
<p>After the 1970s, more and more people went to prison for drug crimes and other offenses that rarely used to lead to prison time. </p>
<p>Serious violent crime, meanwhile, went <a href="https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004.pdf">back down in the 1990s</a>. The crimes – like armed robbery and murder – that had sparked the march toward mass incarceration plummeted. </p>
<p>But prison populations didn’t drop. </p>
<p>As a prosecutor in Washington, D.C. in the early 2000s, I saw this change firsthand. Our caseloads were increasingly dominated by drug sales, drug possession and gun possession cases – cases which, not coincidentally, are typically the easiest to detect and prove. These changes were happening on a national level.</p>
<p><iframe id="A7bZk" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/A7bZk/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The number of people incarcerated in state prisons for homicide increased by over 300% between 1980 and 2010, reflecting the temporary spike in homicides and longer sentences for those convicted of that offense. </p>
<p>But the scale of the increases for other offenses, like drug crimes, is even larger – rising 1,147% over this time frame.</p>
<h2>Speaking the same language</h2>
<p>While prison populations are finally starting to go down, progress is slow. At the current rate, it will take decades to reach the low incarceration rates the U.S. had for most of its history. </p>
<p>This dip is partially <a href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/impact-covid-19-state-and-federal-prisons-march-2020-february-2021">because of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, which prompted some states to release prisoners to avoid overcrowding and health risks. It is not clear that these recent reductions in the incarcerated population will continue. </p>
<p>I think that substantially reducing prison and jail populations will require better understanding of the link between incarceration and crime. It is not simply the case that incarceration goes up because people commit crime; instead, the story is much more complicated. That is because we use incarceration for two purposes: to obtain justice on behalf of victims and to try to change people’s behavior. </p>
<p>This distinction results in two kinds of cases flowing into this nation’s criminal courts.</p>
<p>First, there are cases that involve the most serious harm to individuals, like crimes of sexual violence and murder. Second, there are cases like drug offenses and weapons possession, which are not typically about obtaining justice for victims but are supposed to further policy goals like preventing drug use.</p>
<p>Changes in how we treat both kinds of cases contributed to the nation’s sky-high incarceration rate. American mass incarceration is a result of <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/12/06/u-s-public-divided-over-whether-people-convicted-of-crimes-spend-too-much-or-too-little-time-in-prison/">increasing sentence lengths</a> for people who commit serious violent crimes. But it is also a product of a stunning expansion of the system’s reach in the form of more and more crimes leading to prison and jail. </p>
<p>Substantial progress at reducing the incarcerated population will require reversing both trends. First, returning sentence lengths for all offenses, including serious violent crime, to their historical norms. And second, resisting this country’s growing habit of relying on incarceration as a tool for achieving policy goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200041/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Bellin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Experts still disagree about why the US prison population has grown so much over the last few decades. But crime is only one part of the problem.Jeffrey Bellin, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, William & Mary Law SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989092023-02-03T17:53:52Z2023-02-03T17:53:52ZIsla Bryson: Scotland’s transgender prisoner policy was assessed as not affecting women<p>The decision to place double rapist <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nicola-sturgeon-trans-isla-bryson-b2274489.html">Isla Bryson</a> in the segregation unit at Scotland’s Cornton Vale women’s prison, ahead of sentencing, has sparked a political crisis that looks unlikely to abate soon. </p>
<p>Following a backlash, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon quickly announced that Bryson would not stay at Cornton Vale. That same day, Bryson was moved to a male wing at His Majesty’s Prison Edinburgh. The Scottish parliament’s justice committee has <a href="https://twitter.com/RussellFindlay1/status/1620817393596649477?s=20&t=4rV1JuIE0x4tHs8FovG8EQ">confirmed</a> that it will scrutinise these events.</p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>The Scottish Prison Service issued its current <a href="https://www.sps.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?fileName=SPSGenderIdentityandGenderReassignmentPolicy20142562_1392.pdf">gender identity and gender reassignment</a> policy in March 2014. This allows prisoners to be accommodated based on self-declared gender identity, subject to a case-by-case assessment. </p>
<p>Work on the policy began in 2007 in close collaboration with Scottish government-funded group Scottish Trans Alliance, whose logo has equal weighting to that of the SPS on the policy document.</p>
<p>Responsibility for decision-making lay with the Scottish Prison Service, whose job was to balance the needs of different groups. That it failed to do so in this case is obvious. </p>
<p>As the service’s own <a href="https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2023/01/29/the-sps-equality-impact-assessment-on-its-trans-prisoner-policy/">equality impact assessment</a> of the policy, dated 2014, shows, officials did not consult with groups representing women’s interests, nor consider relevant documentary evidence on women. It concluded that women would not be affected by the new policy. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/496110/response/1200987/attach/3/Annex%201%20EHRIA%20Gender%20Identity%20and%20Gender%20Reassignment%20Policy%20March%202014%20002.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1">assessment</a> identified three protected characteristics that could be affected by the policy: age, “gender identity” and sexual orientation. The box for “gender” was however, left blank. It should also be noted that the correct protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 are gender reassignment (not gender identity) and sex (not gender).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenshot of an equality assessment form asking the question 'Which groups will be affected by the policy?' The age and gender identity boxes are ticked but not the gender box." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507934/original/file-20230202-12364-fzlu9k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A screenshot of the Scottish Prison Service’s equality assessment of its policy on gender in prisons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/496110/response/1200987/attach/3/Annex%201%20EHRIA%20Gender%20Identity%20and%20Gender%20Reassignment%20Policy%20March%202014%20002.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1">Whatdotheyknow.com</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>The needs of female offenders</h2>
<p>The later stages of development on the 2014 gender identity and gender reassignment policy coincided with the publication of the <a href="https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/3000/https:/www.gov.scot/Resource/0039/00391828.pdf">Commission on Women Offenders report</a> (The Angiolini report) in 2012. The report captured the complex needs and troubled histories of female offenders, documenting high rates of mental health problems. </p>
<p>It noted specifically that around 80% of those housed at Cornton Vale experience mental health problems. It showed that women prisoners have “higher lifetime incidences of trauma, including severe and repeated physical and sexual victimisation than either male prisoners or women in the general population”.</p>
<p>Over the next decade the Angiolini report shaped Scottish prisons policy. In an <a href="https://www.sps.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?fileName=Symposium+Report3593_1824.pdf">address</a> made in May 2015 the first minister acknowledged “recent developments and improvements in the care of women in custody”, citing a staff programme that recognised “many of the women will have experienced trauma and mental ill-health”. </p>
<p>In 2019, the Scottish Prison Service published its <a href="https://dvva.scot/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/New-Model-of-Custody-for-Women-V1.0.docx">new model of custody for women</a>, detailing how a trauma-informed approach would underpin operational practice. It said, “Women who have suffered some type of physical or emotional trauma are often hyper-aware of possible danger,” and “survivors of trauma may find it difficult to trust others.” </p>
<p>The Scottish Prison Service’s <a href="https://www.sps.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=5540&sID=2149">strategy for women in custody 2021-25</a> described the Angiolini report as a “significant catalyst for change”, stating all aspects of care should “take account of their likely experience of trauma and adversities”.</p>
<p>At the same time, officials continued to accommodate transgender prisoners in the female estate. While the Scottish Prison Service has only recently begun to <a href="https://www.sps.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?fileName=Public+Information+Page+(PIP)+Quarter1+20228710_3860.pdf">publish statistics</a> on the placement of transgender prisoners, media reports show that offenders placed in the female estate include those convicted of: murder (<a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1689964/fury-as-transgender-killer-is-allowed-to-live-as-a-woman-on-female-only-prison-wing/">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2606211/transgender-killers-sophie-eastwood-alex-stewart-transferred-prison-greenock-polmont/">examples</a>); <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/pre-op-transsexual-killer-moved-out-2928751">murder and torture</a>; <a href="https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transgender-killer-bit-prison-officer-1524152">murder and assaulting a female prison officer</a>; <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-sunday-post-dundee/20140720/282398397537951">multiple violent offences</a>; <a href="https://news.stv.tv/west-central/scottish-prison-service-criticised-for-moving-trans-woman-katie-dolatowski-to-cornton-vale-stirling">voyeurism and sexual assault</a>; and <a href="https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/courts/3841738/dundee-court-man-woman/">threatening and abusive behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>None of these cases appeared to trouble Scottish ministers. It would take a full-blown political crisis for them to pay attention. </p>
<p>That the Bryson case gained traction is a matter of timing. The story unfolded against the backdrop of the recently passed Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Act, which, controversially, put the principle of self-identification on a statutory basis. </p>
<p>The UK government subsequently issued an order preventing the act from proceeding to royal assent, stating that the act would <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gender-recognition-reform-scotland-bill-statement-from-alister-jack">adversely affect</a> UK-wide equalities legislation. In this context, the Bryson case, which arose directly from a policy based on self-identification, became part of a larger political and constitutional story. </p>
<h2>Damage limitation</h2>
<p>In a bid to stem the tide of criticism being levelled at its handling of the Bryson case, the Scottish government has announced <a href="https://www.gov.scot/news/justice-secretary-statement-on-protecting-prisoners/">interim rules</a> on housing transgender prisoners. Meanwhile, a longstanding <a href="https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2022/04/06/the-sps-review-on-trans-prisoners-a-chance-to-get-policy-making-in-scottish-prisons-back-on-track/">policy review</a> of the management of trans prisoners is nearing completion. </p>
<p>The interim measures are limited, however. They only state that those transgender offenders with convictions of violence against women (including sexual offences) will not be placed in the female estate. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding that most violent or sexual offending goes unreported and few cases are prosecuted in court, the measures appear trauma-blind. Minimal reassurance is provided in respect of women’s psychological safety, dignity and privacy, or to those re-traumatised by male bodies or voices.</p>
<p>The Bryson case reveals a long-standing tension in Scottish prisons policy between gender self-identification principles and trauma-informed care.</p>
<p>For the best part of a decade this contradiction has played out in plain sight, with minimal scrutiny, to the detriment of female offenders. That it has taken the case of a double rapist to bring it to the fore raises serious questions about political priorities as well as the susceptibility of public authorities to lobbying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kath Murray is a founding member of MurrayBlackburnMackenzie (MBM). MBM is a not-for-profit independent policy analysis collective, established in 2018. Most of this work is on an unpaid basis, with some support via funding from crowdfunders and donations</span></em></p>An equality impact assessment stated that decisions around moving transgender prisoners into female prisons would not affect women.Kath Murray, Research Fellow in Criminology, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982022023-01-30T13:13:10Z2023-01-30T13:13:10ZWhy are there prisons? An expert explains the history of using ‘correctional’ facilities to punish people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505667/original/file-20230120-6022-zao2ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C6%2C2105%2C1408&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cells at Alcatraz, a famous former prison on an island off the coast of California.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/alcatraz-cellhouse-in-san-francisco-royalty-free-image/10070645?phrase=alcatraz&adppopup=true">Andrea Pistolesi/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
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<blockquote>
<p><strong>Why are there prisons? – Andrew H., age 8</strong></p>
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<p>When people are found guilty of committing a crime, a judge will decide how they should be punished. Sometimes they are allowed to live in their own homes and they have to pay a fine or serve their communities, but sometimes they are incarcerated, which means they are ordered to live in a jail or a prison. During this time, they cannot leave and they have to follow the rules of the facility.</p>
<p>Jails and prisons are called correctional facilities because they are meant to help correct the person’s behavior so that person does not commit any more crimes. But as <a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/criminal-justice/faculty/long-joshua.aspx">a criminologist</a> – someone who studies crime and prisons – I often wonder how people decided that incarceration was a good way to “correct” people.</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-history-of-the-prison-9780195118148?cc=us&lang=en&">a long history</a> of using jails and prisons as punishment for breaking the law, and to keep communities safe. But there is also debate about how well those systems work, how fair they are and how to improve them.</p>
<h2>Jail vs. prison</h2>
<p>Although jails and prisons are similar, they usually have <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/jail-vs-prison-difference">different purposes</a>. Most of the people living in jail have not been convicted of a crime yet and are waiting for the court to decide if they are guilty. A person who is found guilty can be sent to live in the jail as punishment, but they typically stay for less than one year.</p>
<p>If the judge sentences someone to be incarcerated for a longer period of time, that person is normally sent to a prison in another part of the state. Sometimes the prison is far away from their home, and it can be difficult for their families to visit. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in an orange top puts his head in his hands as a woman makes a heart sign with her hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505964/original/file-20230123-7791-312baj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Sometimes people visiting loved ones in prison must talk on a phone, with a piece of glass separating them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/male-prisoner-sharing-love-with-wife-in-prison-royalty-free-image/1250157575?phrase=%22prison%20visit%22&adppopup=true">South_agency/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Prison then vs. prison now</h2>
<p>In the past, people were not sent to jails and prisons as a legal punishment. Instead, these places were used <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-invention-of-incarceration/">to contain people</a> who were suspected of a crime, to keep them from escaping before their punishment was decided.</p>
<p>If they were found guilty, sometimes they were punished with physical pain, such as being whipped. Sometimes they were forced to work without pay or for very low wages. Others might be sent far away from their communities and not allowed to come back. The most serious punishment was execution, and many people were killed for their crimes.</p>
<p>Over time, most countries decided that these types of punishment were cruel or ineffective, so they <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23307878">started using jails and prisons</a> as places where people could be punished by losing their freedom for a specific amount of time. Judges could give some people longer sentences if their crimes were more serious, and shorter sentences if their crimes did not deserve a long punishment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white sketch shows a grumpy-looking man in stocks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505730/original/file-20230122-22-g57pbm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stocks were an old-fashioned form of punishment where someone had to sit with their legs sticking through the holes for a while.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/man-in-stocks-from-the-illustrated-library-shakspeare-news-photo/188005368?phrase=stocks%20punishment&adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>People expected that some prisoners would learn a lesson from their prison experience. If they were scared of going back to prison, hopefully they would be less likely to break the law in the future. Some prisons tried to “rehabilitate” people by giving them an education, job training or therapy that might help them prepare to return home.</p>
<h2>Longer sentences</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, there was <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates">an increase</a> in the number of crimes reported in the United States, and many people were scared. They thought that society would be safer if more people were <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/correctional-theory/book244021">sent to prison</a>. The size of the prison population increased from <a href="https://www.vera.org/reimagining-prison-web-report/american-history-race-and-prison#:%7E:text=The%20numbers%20are%20stunning.,it%20had%20grown%20to%20481%2C616.">around 200,000 people</a> in the 1970s to <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2022.html">around 2 million people</a> in recent years.</p>
<p>People started spending very long periods of time in prison, and more people were given <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/02/life-sentences-growing/">life sentences</a>, meaning that they could never return home. Before, those punishments had been reserved for very serious crimes, but new laws passed during this time made them more common.</p>
<p>Prisons <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/21/overcrowding/">became overcrowded</a>, which <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/wajlp22&div=24&g_sent=1&casa_token=7UULMYy7JzUAAAAA:k3niXJcHR0c3X3Uz-ck8mC8vWQgxN9GE9QfJauy7CNVq-Ox3oTUYfNEORYMxnnM4qR1YWkA&collection=journals">spread resources more thinly</a>, including programs to help prisoners prepare to return to society. More people wound up <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-warehouse-prison-9780195330472?cc=us&lang=en&">committing crimes again</a> after they returned home. </p>
<h2>Improving prisons</h2>
<p>People who study correctional facilities, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=k14M84kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">like me</a>, have found many problems to fix. Some have to do with the large number of people in prisons. Many nondangerous people <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/how-many-americans-are-unnecessarily-incarcerated">wind up serving time there</a>, when they could serve a different punishment and receive therapy in their communities instead.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A few men sit at classroom desks in a simple room with a blue floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505968/original/file-20230123-5967-zduwlb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prisoners in France wait to receive computers they will be allowed to keep in their cells to do schoolwork.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prisoners-wait-to-get-a-computer-in-the-prison-of-news-photo/1232073840?phrase=degree%20prison&adppopup=true">Olivier Chassignole/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another major problem is <a href="https://newjimcrow.com/">racial discrimination</a>. Many researchers have found that Black, Hispanic and Native American people are <a href="https://www.ussc.gov/research/research-reports/demographic-differences-sentencing">more likely to be sent to prison</a> than people from other racial and ethnic groups, even if they were convicted of the same crimes. This can cause a lot of serious problems for their families and communities.</p>
<p>Societies might always need to incarcerate some people who have committed serious crimes or who pose a danger to others. Perhaps the system can become safer, fairer and more successful in punishing crimes while rehabilitating.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prisons and jails have a long history, but they weren’t always used for the same kinds of punishment.Joshua Long, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1975232023-01-20T13:38:15Z2023-01-20T13:38:15ZSouth Carolina’s execution by firing squad: The last reenactment of the Civil War?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505229/original/file-20230118-16-f5hkve.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C9%2C6311%2C4482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An illustration of a deserter being executed by a firing squad at the Federal Camp in Alexandria during the American civil war. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/illustration-of-a-deserter-being-executed-by-a-firing-squad-news-photo/106416800?phrase=firing%20squad&adppopup=true">Kean Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Americans have an appetite for reenacting the past, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/civil-war-reenactments-were-thing-even-during-civil-war-180967405/">especially the battles of the U.S. Civil War</a>, which took place from 1861 to 1865. Every year, in an effort to relive something of the nation’s bloodiest war, thousands don blue and gray uniforms and gather on fields where the distant echoes of war have since faded.</p>
<p>There are dozens of Civil War reenactments <a href="https://www.milsurpia.com/reenactment-groups/civil-war-reenactors">in the U.S. every year</a>. Participants take them very seriously. Food, uniforms, even the smells of war – all are <a href="https://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-food">recreated to lend authenticity to the events</a>. Only the bullets and shells are not “real.”</p>
<p>Now, the U.S. reenactment community has a potential new member: the state of South Carolina. </p>
<p>That’s courtesy of the <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/05/17/south-carolina-becomes-fourth-state-to-approve-firing-squads/">state’s decision in 2021</a> to allow its inmates on death row the option of execution by firing squad. With that move, South Carolina has elected to deploy a form of capital punishment not used in the state since the Civil War.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two chairs in a room, one shrouded in a cover and the other with straps on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505230/original/file-20230118-24-yrr906.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state’s death chamber in Columbia, S.C., including the electric chair, right, and a firing squad chair, left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DeathPenaltySouthCarolina/347e08524001475dbde099d25b3bc068/photo?Query=South%20Carolina%20firing%20squad&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=18&currentItemNo=2">South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A target placed over his heart</h2>
<p>The reason South Carolina adopted the firing squad is straightforward: The state apparently has <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2021/05/19/with-lethal-injections-harder-to-come-by-some-states-are-turning-to-firing-squads">trouble securing enough lethal injection drugs</a> to execute prisoners. That leaves the electric chair as an option. And now the firing squad.</p>
<p>The firing squad method has yet to be used and is currently under <a href="https://www.wbtw.com/news/state-regional-news/south-carolina-supreme-court-to-take-up-legality-of-using-electric-chair-firing-squad-in-state/">appeal at the state Supreme Court</a>. I am an expert witness in this case and <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-smell-of-battle-the-taste-of-siege-9780190658526?lang=en&cc=us">a historian</a> <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/history/our_people/directory/smith_m_mark.php">of the Civil War</a>. </p>
<p>South Carolina’s Department of Corrections <a href="https://www.live5news.com/2022/03/18/firing-squad-now-execution-option-south-carolina/">has drafted</a> <a href="https://time.com/6170814/south-carolina-firing-squad-richard-moore-death-penalty/">firing squad protocols</a>. The firing squad will be made up of three members drawn from prison staff. They will be behind a wall, all three of their rifles loaded with live ammunition and aimed at the inmate through an opening in the wall. </p>
<p>After entering the chamber, the inmate will be strapped into a chair, a hood placed over his head, and a target placed over his heart. </p>
<p>At this point, the warden will read the execution order aloud. Members of the squad will then fire their rifles. After the inmate is declared dead, witnesses leave.</p>
<h2>Exclusively military punishment</h2>
<p>Firing squad executions are extremely rare in U.S. history. </p>
<p>Only four states currently have it on the books: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/south-carolina-institutes-firing-squad-executions-2022-03-18/">South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah</a>. Only Utah has used it as an actual execution method. Since 1976, just three executions have been <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/methods-of-execution">carried out by firing squad</a> in Utah.</p>
<p>Execution by firing squad has, in fact, never been common in U.S. history. While the term “firing squad” can be found in U.S. newspapers before the Civil War, the phrase was usually used to describe a different custom, akin to a salute, when guns were fired into the air to <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/624044450/?terms=%22firing%20squad%22&match=1">honor an individual of note after death</a>.</p>
<p>The use of the firing squad was also rare during the Civil War. It was used principally to punish soldiers who deserted from either the Union or Confederate Army.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large firing squad executing five men sitting at the foot of their coffins." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505236/original/file-20230118-15-hq1zlv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Execution of five V Corps deserters, Army of the Potomac, Virginia, Aug. 29, 1863.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/41094">House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to Thomas P. Lowry and Lewis Laska’s 2009 study “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/303495225?oclcNum=303495225">Confederate Death Sentences: A Reference Guide</a>,” of the 26,015 Union soldiers tried for desertion, approximately 1,243 of them, or 4.8%, were sentenced to die by firing squad; 12.4% of Confederate soldiers tried for desertion in the Army of Northern Virginia were sentenced to death by this method. </p>
<p>Besides the executions in Utah, there are no instances of the firing squad being used in the U.S. following the Civil War. It was an exclusively military form of punishment. </p>
<p>Because the firing squad was designed to deter deserters during the war, it was often carried out in a ritualized manner. It was almost always done publicly, and it was done with the explicit intention of instilling terror.</p>
<h2>Striking similarities then and now</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/604357565/?terms=%22firing%20squad%22&match=1">similarities between</a> <a href="https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/military-executions-during-the-civil-war/">Civil War firing squads</a> and those proposed by the state of South Carolina are striking.</p>
<p>Like the guards drawn from the prison, the Civil War firing squad was selected from the ranks of soldiers. They typically carried out the punishment at the command of an assistant provost marshal or provost marshal, who is an army officer in charge of the military police. </p>
<p>The firing squad usually stood several feet from the condemned soldier and aimed at a target placed over his heart. In most cases, a blindfold was placed over the condemned soldier’s eyes and his hands were tied.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chair into which someone can be strapped, with sandbags piled on either side of it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505234/original/file-20230118-8082-nvypug.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This June 18, 2010, photo shows the firing squad execution chamber at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DeathPenalty/c6960e67c8a04f899f463f6883a96fa7/photo?Query=Utah%20firing%20squad&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=285&currentItemNo=15">Trent Nelson/Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘The awful ceremony’</h2>
<p>There were, of course, differences between then and now. Not all firing squad soldiers during the Civil War had live ammunition. <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/511702577/?terms=%22firing%20squad%22&match=1">One rifle could be blank</a>, sparing even these war-hardened soldiers the knowledge of having killed an unarmed man. </p>
<p>In general, the firing squad took place in a public location, like a road, a town square or a battlefield. Plainly, this is not the case in the proposed South Carolina blueprint, although reporters were at the scene of Civil War executions and a member of the press will be allowed to witness firing squad executions in South Carolina.</p>
<p>Some comparisons remain elusive. Will the South Carolina firing squad offer an immediate, painless death? We know that Civil War firing squads <a href="http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/december/execution-deserter.htm">were not always immediately effective</a>. For example, according to an 1864 report of a firing squad execution published in the <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/223488798/?terms=%22firing%20squad%22&match=1">Vicksburg Herald</a>, one soldier from the 49th Regiment Colored Infantry “had to be dispatched by pistol, immediate death not resulting from the wounds by the muskets.”</p>
<p>Will the inmate suffer psychologically and emotionally when executed in South Carolina? Again, the Civil War provides clues. <a href="http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1863/september/execution-deserters.htm">Harper’s Weekly</a> said of an 1863 mass firing squad execution: “They all suffered terribly mentally, and as they marched to their own funeral they staggered with mortal agony like a drunken man.”</p>
<p>Witnesses could also find the spectacle difficult to watch. According to the
<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/591871968/?terms=%22firing%20squad%22&match=1">Louisville Daily Journal</a> in 1863, “The scene was now becoming painful to the spectators, and many turned away, not wishing to witness more of the awful ceremony.” Sometimes soldiers charged with firing the deadly rounds <a href="http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/december/execution-deserter.htm">deliberately missed their target</a>, the burden of killing in this fashion proving too much.</p>
<p>Civil War reenactors know the limits of what they do. They do not attempt to recreate the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/confederate-submarine-hunley-sinking-mystery-civil-war">fatal 1864 sinking of the Confederate H.L. Hunley submarine</a> in Charleston Harbor; neither do they attempt to recreate deadly monthlong sieges, such as the one at <a href="https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/vicksburgsiege.htm">Vicksburg in 1863</a>. Nor do they reenact firing squad executions.</p>
<p>Yet the state of South Carolina is willing to quite literally reenact a practice from some of the country’s bloodiest history – a practice that some soldiers, even in the middle of the greatest carnage this nation has experienced, found themselves unable to engage in.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark M. Smith is affiliated with Justice 360. I served as an expert witness for the organization and submitted an affidavit in a case heard by the SC Supreme Court.</span></em></p>South Carolina has had trouble securing enough lethal injection drugs for executions. So it has turned to an old form of killing: the firing squad, last used in the Civil War.Mark M. Smith, Carolina Distinguished Professor of History, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977932023-01-20T01:01:22Z2023-01-20T01:01:22ZAustralia’s twice extended deadline for torture prevention is today, but we’ve missed it again<p>Today marks the (already twice extended) deadline for Australia to meet its <a href="https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/media/media-releases/australia-falling-behind-on-opcat-obligations#:%7E:text=25%20October%202022&text=%E2%80%9CAs%20a%20party%20to%20OPCAT,facilities%2C%E2%80%9D%20Mr%20Liveris%20said.">international obligation</a> to implement torture prevention bodies. The role of these bodies is to monitor treatment and conditions in places where people are deprived of their liberty, like prisons and detention centres. </p>
<p>This obligation arises from the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel"><em>Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment</em></a>, to which the Australian government <a href="https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-9-b&chapter=4&clang=_en">voluntarily signed up in 2017</a>. The protocol aims to <em>prevent</em> torture and ill-treatment in places of detention, rather than <em>responding</em> to allegations after an incident.</p>
<p>However, despite Australia initially <a href="https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-9-b&chapter=4&clang=_en">postponing</a> fulfilling its obligation by three years, then securing a further one-year extension, it has not honoured its commitment. And while there are no formal enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance, there are risks for Australia’s reputation, including its standing as a country with robust human rights protections.</p>
<h2>We only deal with torture once it’s actually happened</h2>
<p>In Australia, a number of these monitoring bodies have already been appointed at federal, state and territory level. Together they make up what is known as the Australian <a href="https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/117745/NPM-statement-detention-of-children-and-young-people.pdf">National Preventive Mechanism</a>. However, this mechanism currently lacks adequate funding and legislation clearly outlining its mission and necessary powers. </p>
<p>Without these things, it will not be feasible for many of the nominated bodies to fulfil their preventive functions. And some governments (<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-misses-deadline-for-un-s-anti-torture-protocols-as-prison-pressure-mounts-20230113-p5ccas.html">Victoria</a>, New South Wales and Queensland) have yet to even nominate their torture prevention bodies. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-has-a-un-torture-prevention-subcommittee-suspended-its-visit-to-australia-193295">Why has a UN torture prevention subcommittee suspended its visit to Australia?</a>
</strong>
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<p>There are a range of oversight mechanisms which respond to alleged incidents and systemic issues in places of detention. However, these mechanisms focus on action after issues have arisen, rather than prevention. These corrective mechanisms include:</p>
<p>• independent statutory bodies, such as a state ombudsman, which conduct <a href="https://www.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/our-impact/investigation-reports/report-on-investigations-into-the-use-of-force-at-the-metropolitan-remand-centre-and-the-melbourne-assessment-prison/">investigations</a>, <a href="https://www.audit.vic.gov.au/report/managing-body-worn-cameras">audits</a> and respond to <a href="https://hrc.act.gov.au/disability/services-for-children-and-young-people/">complaints</a></p>
<p>• civil litigation, including pursuing compensation (such as the ongoing class action against WA detention centre <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-07/banksia-hill-class-action-wa-state-government-federal-court/101741296">Banskia Hill</a>) or a particular outcome (like children not being detained at <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/human-rights-case-summaries/2017/6/30/victorian-supreme-court-finds-establishment-of-youth-justice-centre-at-barwon-adult-prison-contrary-to-human-rights-and-unlawful">Barwon Prison</a> in Victoria)</p>
<p>• <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-28/veronica-nelson-coronial-inquest-aboriginal-prison-death-custody/101103922">coronial inquests</a> following a death in custody</p>
<p>• <a href="https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/inquiries/systemic-inquiries/our-youth-our-way/">systemic inquiries</a> and <a href="https://www.royalcommission.gov.au/child-detention/final-report">royal commissions</a></p>
<p>• <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/11/zachary-rolfe-found-not-guilty-of-over-kumanjayi-walker-fatal-shooting">criminal prosecutions</a> for alleged wrongdoing by staff who work in places of detention or who have powers to detain</p>
<p>• regulatory bodies, such as <a href="https://www.worksafe.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1769110/EU-Bimberi-signed.pdf">those focusing on workplace health and safety for staff</a>, that have coercive and enforcement powers, such as issuing fines.</p>
<p>These mechanisms have varying degrees of efficacy. Their intended function is to seek truth, justice and accountability for ill-treatment. However, they respond <em>after</em> individuals have been harmed or lost their lives. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1612327990037446658"}"></div></p>
<h2>What would a ‘preventive monitoring body’ actually do?</h2>
<p>The National Preventive Mechanism should be empowered and resourced to regularly visit places like prisons and detention centres to identify risks of ill-treatment and propose recommendations to authorities to address those risks. </p>
<p>Torture prevention has <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/law/hric/2015-documents/NPM%20Study_final.pdf">been described</a> as “focusing on the root causes of torture and the complex factors allowing torture to happen rather than on the individual level of violations.” </p>
<p>With financial and policy support, the National Preventive Mechanism could examine how factors like <a href="https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/andreea-lachsz-nt-2018/">racism</a> increase risk of ill-treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It could also consider root causes of overcrowding in places of detention, which according to the <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N07/456/86/PDF/N0745686.pdf?OpenElement">UN Special Rapporteur on Torture</a> “leads to a decline in the standards of detention”. </p>
<p>This mechanism could also consider how changing <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2FOP%2FNZL%2F1&Lang=en">restrictive bail laws</a> could increase prison numbers, contributing to the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous people in prison.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2F62%2F221&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop&LangRequested=False">UN Special Rapporteur on Torture</a> has stated avoiding imprisonment is “one of the most effective safeguards against torture and ill-treatment”. This statement echoes the findings of the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody</a> from more than 30 years ago.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/raising-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-is-only-a-first-step-first-nations-kids-need-cultural-solutions-186201">Raising the age of criminal responsibility is only a first step. First Nations kids need cultural solutions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Looking at best practices internationally</h2>
<p><a href="https://raisetheage.org.au/">Raising the age</a> of criminal responsibility, <a href="https://theconversation.com/raising-the-age-of-criminal-responsibility-is-only-a-first-step-first-nations-kids-need-cultural-solutions-186201">alternatives</a> to imprisonment, and changing current Australian detention practices would offer us the best hope of preventing torture from happening on our shores.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/backstory/2022-11-26/behind-the-scenes-four-corners-locking-up-kids/101694106">Four Corners report</a> on youth detention at the end of last year, David McGuire, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-21/what-does-youth-detention-look-like-in-other-parts-of-the-world/101671932">CEO of NGO Diagrama</a> (an organisation that operates youth detention facilities in Spain), stated “the worst thing you can do to anyone, especially a kid, is to isolate them”.</p>
<p>When I was in Spain, I visited some of the Diagrama-run centres. While I normally focus on issues such as the use of force, restraint and isolation when conducting monitoring visits to places of detention, these did not appear to be issues of concern at these centres. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An outdoors area with trees and a garden." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504795/original/file-20230116-20-u1cjp7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">La Villa, a youth detention facility near Alicante, Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided by author</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-21/what-does-youth-detention-look-like-in-other-parts-of-the-world/101671932">McGuire explained</a> Diagrama-run centres are</p>
<blockquote>
<p>places where young people feel safe and there are very low levels of disruptions […] Therefore, use of restraint and force are uncommon.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1613371001097818113"}"></div></p>
<h2>What does the UN say about OPCAT implementation in Australia?</h2>
<p>In Australia’s recent appearance before the <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2FC%2FAUS%2FCO%2F6&Lang=en">UN Committee Against Torture</a>, the committee concluded Australia should promptly establish its National Preventive Mechanism across all states and territories, and ensure necessary resources for it to function, including access to all places of deprivation of liberty.</p>
<p>While our international human rights reputation might be in jeopardy as a result of this latest missed deadline, it is people deprived of their liberty who will suffer the most. The old adage certainly applies here - prevention is better than cure. So what are we waiting for?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreea Lachsz is currently contracted to the ACT government as the ACT National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) Coordination Director. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ACT government, ACT NPM or any extant policy.</span></em></p>January 20 is the deadline for Australia to have implemented a monitoring body in places like prisons and detention centres. The current monitoring bodies in place need more power and more funding.Andreea Lachsz, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919152022-11-29T14:32:01Z2022-11-29T14:32:01ZSouth Africa’s prisons are a breeding ground for the spread of TB. Our model shows how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488556/original/file-20221006-24-3ly4qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People in prison are more at risk of TB than the general population.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African prisons are famously overcrowded. Prison populations are believed to exceed capacity by an overall 33%, although that number jumps to over 200% at some facilities, according to <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/overcrowding-in-the-countrys-prisons-is-now-at-33-lamola/#:%7E:text=The%20Eastern%20Cape%2C%20the%20Western,and%20Mount%20Frere%20at%20243%25.">recent reports</a>.</p>
<p>The confined, often overcrowded conditions of prisons make them a <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00025-6/fulltext">breeding ground</a> for disease. In particular, they are a high-risk environment for the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) – a leading cause of death in South Africa. TB spreads in the air when a person with the disease coughs, speaks, or sings. </p>
<p>In South Africa’s general population TB prevalence is <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-ever-national-survey-shows-the-extent-of-south-africas-tb-problem-155153">737 per 100,000</a> people – one of the <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/341980/9789240029439-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">highest</a> in the world. </p>
<p>A global <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00025-6/fulltext">review</a> found that people in prison were more at risk of TB than the general population. But very little is known about the TB prevalence in South Africa’s prisons. A <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0087262#:%7E:text=Studies%20from%20Sub%2DSaharan%20African,survey%20from%20Zambia%20%5B9%5D.">2010 study</a> of the country’s largest prison found that 38.6% of the study participants showed at least one symptom of TB. Only 1% of participants were receiving TB treatment. </p>
<p>In two <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2018/3420528/">separate</a> <a href="https://www.naturalspublishing.com/files/published/p91le7563uyz2k.pdf">papers</a> we built models to better understand how TB is spread in a crowded environment, such as a prison. Our findings make it clear that as long as there is an influx of infected patients, TB cannot be eliminated. It will continue to spread through the influx of new carriers or new potential hosts. This in turn increases the risks of drug-resistant and multi-drug-resistant variants of TB developing.</p>
<p>Mathematical epidemiological modelling is a great tool for predicting the behaviour of a disease over a period of time. Models are not meant to treat the disease. But they inform public health decisions and policy. Models can be modified to suit a certain behaviour of the disease, specific lifestyle factors in the population and certain interventions by public health authorities. The accuracy of forward projections depends on the quality and quantity of the available (historical) data. </p>
<p>Mathematical models are able to inform us of the likelihood that, with or without control strategies such as screening and vaccination, the disease can be eliminated or will persist at a specified level of endemicity.</p>
<h2>Modelling in crowded environments</h2>
<p>Over the past few years, we and other researchers have been modelling the transmission of TB, using compartmental models. This is a modelling technique commonly applied in epidemiology to predict the spread of an infectious disease.</p>
<p>The technique derives its name from the fact that the population is divided into “compartments” according to the disease status of individuals: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>those who are susceptible </p></li>
<li><p>those who are infectious </p></li>
<li><p>those who have recovered. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>We then applied this technique to what is known as a crowded environment. This can be anything from an open-air concert to a mining population to a prison – any place where people could potentially gather <em>en masse</em> and in close proximity.</p>
<p>A key objective of the modelling study is what is known as the stability analysis of the disease-free equilibrium state, or the point where the disease is no longer found within that environment. This is because it is important to understand how the disease can possibly be eliminated from the population. There is a lot of maths involved. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2018/3420528/">2018 paper</a> we looked at the inflow of infected patients into a prison, computing what the impact would be on the broader prison community. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.naturalspublishing.com/files/published/p91le7563uyz2k.pdf">more recent paper</a> – in the interests of better accuracy – we added further complexity by developing a novel two-group model that mirrors the dynamics of TB in a prison system. </p>
<p>Our model, in addition to the compartmentalisation, further divides the prison population into two groups: sentenced individuals, and remanded individuals awaiting trial. </p>
<p>The model showed mathematically that when infected people continue to enter the system, the disease cannot be eliminated. It also showed that the average time inmates spend in prison could make a difference to TB dynamics – but this needs further study.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>There are a number of solutions.</p>
<p>The World Health Organization recommends early diagnosis, equitable access to health services, and the co-management of TB and HIV.</p>
<p>At the top of the list is the universal screening of those coming into the system. Research shows that this commonly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3907552/">proposed measure</a> can reduce the number of infectious individuals and help eliminate the disease.</p>
<p>Hand in hand with this should be a strategy to admit infected inmates to a prison facility which has an elimination plan in place, such as treatment for latent cases. </p>
<p>Providing comprehensive curative and preventive services for cases is vital if TB is to be eliminated in prisons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The overcrowded conditions of prisons make them a high-risk environment for the spread of infectious diseases such as TB.Sibaliwe Maku Vyambwera, Lecturer in Mathematics, University of the Western CapePeter Joseph Witbooi, Professor, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1952512022-11-29T13:35:15Z2022-11-29T13:35:15ZAlabama’s execution problems are part of a long history of botched lethal injections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497724/original/file-20221128-5230-q7icct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3457%2C2175&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In some cases, death row inmates have been strapped to the gurney for hours.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/DeathPenaltyProblemsExplainer/86ba64530aa64b6ba241c943b619f14a/photo?Query=alabama%20execution&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=68&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Sue Ogrock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/21/1138357929/alabama-executions-pause-lethal-injection">announced</a> a pause in her state’s use of capital punishment. It follows a run of botched lethal injection executions in the state, including two where the procedure <a href="https://eji.org/news/kenny-smith-alabama-execution/">had to be abandoned before the inmates succumbed to the cocktail of death drugs</a>.</p>
<p>The last straw appears to have been the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/us/alabama-execution-kenneth-smith.html">failed attempt to put Kenneth Smith to death</a> on Nov. 17, 2022. The state had to call off the procedure after difficulty in securing an IV line.</p>
<p>But that was just the latest execution not to go as planned. In September, Alabama had to stop <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/alabama-inmate-execution-alan-miller/671620/">the execution of Alan Eugene Miller</a> after prison officials poked him with needles for more than an hour because they could not find a usable vein in which to secure an IV.</p>
<p>Even when the execution was carried out resulting in death, the manner has been problematic. When the state executed <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-nathan-james-jr-alabama-apparently-botched-recent-execution-anti-death-penalty-group-asserts/">Joe Nathan James</a> on July 28, 2022, the process – which is normally supposed to be over in a matter of minutes – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/joe-nathan-james-execution-alabama/671127/">took more than three hours</a>. During that time, officials tried repeatedly to insert the IV lines necessary to carry the deadly drugs and jabbed James with needles. </p>
<p>In a statement on Nov. 21, Ivey <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/21/politics/alabama-executions-pause-review-ivey">ordered</a> the state Department of Corrections to do a thorough review of the procedures used in executions and asked the state’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, to stop the process for two upcoming executions.</p>
<p>Alabama officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/us/alabama-executions-lethal-injection.html">have blamed</a> their problems on what they have described as frivolous, last-minute legal maneuvers by death penalty defense lawyers. In the cases of Miller and Smith, state officials claimed that they ran out of time before the death warrant was due to expire.</p>
<p>But whatever the cause, Alabama’s execution difficulties are not unique to that state. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23979">research shows</a> that since 1900, in states across the country, lethal injections have been more frequently botched than any of the other type of execution methods used throughout that period. This includes hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber and the firing squad – even though these approaches are not without their problems.</p>
<h2>The early history of lethal injection</h2>
<p>Lethal injection <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a25689/gerry-commission-report-methods-of-execution/">was first considered by the state of New York</a> in the late 1880s when it convened a blue ribbon commission to study alternatives to hanging. During its deliberations, Dr. Julius Mount Bleyer <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E7S3C4_IYmYC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=that+%E2%80%9Cthe+condemned+could+be+executed+on+his+bed+in+his+cell+with+a+6-gram+injection+of+sulfate+of+morphine.%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=DX7rmZpYKi&sig=ACfU3U2t-1PK08QmFL3jwZ63iRWRO6URAw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOpYe52Zv4AhWBZjABHbQKD00Q6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=that%20%E2%80%9Cthe%20condemned%20could%20be%20executed%20on%20his%20bed%20in%20his%20cell%20with%20a%206-gram%20injection%20of%20sulfate%20of%20morphine.%E2%80%9D&f=false">invited the commission to envision</a> a future in which a person condemned to death “could be executed on his bed in his cell with a 6-gram injection of sulfate of morphine.”</p>
<p>Bleyer and his allies <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/medlejo5&div=43&g_sent=1&casa_token=">argued</a> that the procedure would be painless. They said that unlike hanging, the method could not be messed up. It also would be cheap, they claimed – all that was needed was a needle and a small amount of morphine.</p>
<p>Lethal injection’s critics told the commission that the method would actually be easily botched, especially if doctors did not conduct the procedure. And even when done right, those in favor of the death penalty as the ultimate sentence further argued that it would be too humane. It would take the dread out of death and dampen capital punishment’s deterrent effect.</p>
<p>Ultimately, lethal injection’s opponents prevailed, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Executioners-Current-Westinghouse-Invention-Electric/dp/037572446X">aided by the medical community’s unwavering stance against it</a>. Doctors “did not want the syringe, which was associated with the alleviation of human suffering, to become an instrument of death.”</p>
<p>For nearly 100 years after New York’s decision, no jurisdiction in the United States authorized execution by lethal injection. But the early debate over lethal injection foreshadowed arguments that were heard in 1977 during Oklahoma’s consideration of this execution method.</p>
<p>Proponents echoed Bleyer and <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/09/guilty-man/">declared</a> that executions using this method could be accomplished with “no struggle, no stench, no pain.”</p>
<p>This time they won.</p>
<p>The specific drugs to be used in lethal injection – the anesthetic <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/s/sodium-thiopental.html">sodium thiopental</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/339801/">pancuronium bromide</a>, a muscle relaxant – would not be chosen until four years later. Although the original law only called for those two drugs, a third drug was soon added: <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0406/4.htm#:%7E:text=Potassium%20chloride%20is%20the%20drug,within%20a%20minute%20of%20injection.">potassium chloride</a>, which causes cardiac arrest. </p>
<p>Together, these three drugs would <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-alper-3-drug-cocktail-20170420-story.html">make up what became the “standard” three-drug, lethal injection protocol</a>. And what started in Oklahoma spread quickly. Lethal injection soon became the execution method of choice across the United States in every state that had the death penalty. </p>
<h2>Lethal injection’s troubles</h2>
<p>But right from the start, administering lethal injections proved to be a complex procedure that was difficult to get right. In fact, the <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/charlie-brooks-last-words/">first use of lethal injection by Texas in 1982</a> gave a foretaste of some of the problems that would later come to characterize the method of execution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo shows a white gurney with straps in a bricked room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497726/original/file-20221128-13-taimz1.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lethal injection chambers have remained relatively unchanged since being introduced in Texas in 1982.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TexasDeptofCorrectionsExecutionRoom1982/00ea6690975145cca2dfd711504ce77e/photo?Query=lethal%20injection%201982&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=14&currentItemNo=13">AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Texas team charged with executing a prisoner named <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-execution-by-lethal-injection#:%7E:text=The%20first%20execution%20by%20lethal,when%20administered%20in%20lesser%20doses.">Charles Brooks</a> repeatedly <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1982/12/16/painful-questions-pbtbhe-execution-of-charles/">failed in their efforts to insert an IV</a> into a vein in his arm, splattering blood onto the sheet covering his body. And after the IV was secured and the drugs began to flow, Brooks seemed to experience considerable pain.</p>
<p>The difficulties in Brooks’ execution and in subsequent lethal injections result from the fact that medical ethics <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4294&context=flr">do not allow</a> doctors to take part in choosing the drugs or administering them. In the place of doctors, prison officials are responsible for the lethal injection procedure. In addition, dosages of the drugs used are <a href="https://people.howstuffworks.com/lethal-injection5.htm">standardized</a> rather than tailored to the needs of particular inmates as they would be in a medical procedure. As a result, sometimes the lethal injection drugs don’t work correctly. </p>
<p>Despite the effort to medicalize executions, the history of lethal injection has been anything but smooth, sterile and predictable. In fact, my research reveals that of the 1,054 executions carried out from 1982 to 2010 using the standard three-drug lethal injection protocol, more than 7% were botched.</p>
<p>Since then, owing in part to <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2016/04/12/how-the-drug-shortage-has-slowed-the-death-penalty-treadmill">difficulties death penalty states have had in acquiring drugs</a> for the standard three-drug protocol, <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=35871">things appear to have gotten worse</a>. States have turned to questionable drug suppliers, including compounding pharmacies that are <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/compounding-and-fda-questions-and-answers#:%7E:text=Are%20compounded%20drugs%20approved%20by,safety%2C%20effectiveness%2C%20and%20quality.">not subject to extensive regulation by the Food and Drug Administration</a>.</p>
<p>In the last decade, states have used no less than 10 different drug combinations in lethal injections. Some of them were used multiple times, while others were used just once.</p>
<p>As states have experimented in the hope of finding a reliable drug protocol, <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=35871">my research shows</a> that botched executions have occurred as much as 20% of the time, depending on which of the newer drug protocols is employed. </p>
<p>During some of those executions, inmates have cried out in pain and repeatedly gasped for breath long after they were supposed to have been rendered unconscious.</p>
<p>In September 2020, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/21/793177589/gasping-for-air-autopsies-reveal-troubling-effects-of-lethal-injection#:%7E:text=Most%20states%20use%20three%20drugs,as%20cruel%3F%22%20says%20Zivot.">an NPR investigation</a> helped explain the high rate of bungled executions. It found signs of pulmonary edema fluid filling the lungs in many of the post-lethal injection autopsies it reviewed. Those autopsies reveal that inmates’ lungs failed while they continued to try to breathe, causing them to feel as if they were drowning and suffocating.</p>
<h2>Responding to lethal injection’s problems</h2>
<p>Alabama now joins <a href="https://sanquentinnews.com/gov-mike-dewine-halts-executions-in-ohio/">Ohio</a> and <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2022/05/02/tennessee-governor-pauses-2022-executions-lethal-injection-review/9612950002/">Tennessee</a> as states that have paused executions and launched investigations after lethal injection failures. Other states <a href="https://account.thestate.com/paywall/subscriber-only?resume=251151894&intcid=ab_archive">have resurrected</a> previously discredited methods of execution – like electrocution or the firing squad – and added them to their menu of execution options on the books. </p>
<p>Lethal injection’s problems also have contributed to <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state">the decision of 11 states to abolish the death penalty since 2007</a>.</p>
<p>Reviewing the history of the different execution methods used in this country, Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/16-602_n758.pdf">wrote in 2017</a>: “States develop a method of execution, which is generally accepted for a time. Science then reveals that … the states’ chosen method of execution causes unconstitutional levels of suffering.”</p>
<p>And, referring specifically to lethal injection and its problems, she observed, “What cruel irony that the method [of execution] that appears most humane may turn out to be our most cruel experiment yet.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Austin Sarat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alabama has paused the carrying out of death sentences after a series of cases in which the state struggled with the procedure.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.