Neil Holm
The inaugural meeting of the Community Justice Coalition:
Date:       Wednesday 4th February 2009
Time:      6 pm sharp
Venue:     NCOSS, 66 Albion Street Surry Hills 2010

Promoted by
Kep Enderby Q.C.   Elizabeth Evatt A.C.   John Dowd A.O., Q.C.   Kevin Cook

Wendy McCarthy A.O.   Anne Deveson A.O.   Joan Bielski A.O.   Brett Collins

The purpose of the Coalition is:

• to make the criminal justice system not just punitive but through greatly enhanced prisoner education and rehabilitation programmes, educative and restorative;
• to ensure better results for the money spent;
• to create a fairer, safer community;
• to oppose privatisation of the State’s prisons.

Rationale

• In the last decade, after years of ongoing media ‘law and order’ campaigns, political posturing andincreased expenditure on prisons and police, the number of adult prisoners in NSW has risen by 50%.There are now 10,000 prisoners in the state’s jails, each costing taxpayers over $70,000 - almost $1 billion each year.
• The return rate to prison is 44% within two years. This makes a mockery of any claims of rehabilitation.
• Indigenous people are being jailed at 14 times the rate of the general population, way out of proportion to their numbers in the population.
• Women prisoners, in most cases mothers of dependent children, are growing at the fastest rate. This is destructive of family ties and may lead to further anti-social behaviour by children who areinstitutionalised and deprived of family relationships.
• Prisons have become holding centres for the mentally ill who need professional services rather than isolation, but the present prison health services are grossly inadequate.
• Many prisoners are young, semi-literate and innumerate. The inadequate provision of remedial education services is a lost opportunity to upgrade their skills. Instead they become institutionalised and dependent rather than developing a capacity to support themselves and their families and to make a contribution to society on their release.

Privatisation of prisons

The protection of society from the threat of crime, from internal or external danger is the duty of government. Privatisation of prisons is an abrogation of government responsibility and against the public interest. It originated in the United States where the prison system is a disgrace.

There is no convincing evidence that management based on the profit motive improves prison systems or makes them more enlightened, humane, reformative or a less expensive option than Government-run prisons.

Leading international expert Stephen Nathan has said: “privatising prisons requires more people in the criminal justice system for longer and is squarely at odds with the public good.” (Independent Monitor March 2008)

The Victorian Government resumed public control of the Metro Women’s Correctional Centre in 2000 after widespread drug use, deaths in custody, poor training and cover-ups were exposed by the Armytage Inquiry.

A UK report disclosed in the Independent Monitor in March 2008 placed ten of the UK eleven private prisons in the bottom quarter of the performance register of all UK prisons and showed they are consistently worse than their publicly run equivalents.