The State Government in Western Australia has really gone for the simplistic and populist approach to law and order. The Police Minister, Rob Johnson said they were elected to take a firm stand against anti-social behaviour.
And so they have proposed variable no-go zones where police can stop and search without having to justify the decision. They have extended some of the move-on provisions that generally exclude young people from gathering places that are pulic space. And ... and ...
And they have argued with both the judiciary and the State Parole Board about their involvement in reducing the impact of sentences for people convicted of criminal offences. As a result judicial discretion is being eliminated in more and more areas of sentencing law and Parole Boards are discouraged - opposed by the DPP - in any attempts to release prisoners on Parole - conditional release - before they have quite finished their sentence.
"Truth in sentencing" provisions actually do society a disservice because they mean that when a prisoner is finally released the state has no power to supervise them during the reintergration in society.
Add to all this a complete lack of planning about the building of new prisons and it is not surprising that the 20% increase in prison populations over the past 12 months can only be supported by double-bunking - putting two people in a cell that was designed for one.
It is not hard to imagine what might happen in cells where two men are "locked in" for 12 hours or more a day.
So why is the Attorney General so quick to dismiss a report just released that has gathered evidence of widespread rape and violence in prison. If it is criminal to rape someone outside of prison, why do we tolerate it in prison? The Attorney General's response seems to be based on a view that it doesn't realy exist, or if it does the prisoners are simply getting something they deserve.
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The West Australian published this letter I wrote:
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed by the speed with which Christian Porter sought to discredit the report released on Tuesday about violence in our prisons. It is indeed a classic response to a report you don't like to discredit the messenger and the methodology.
One wonders how such data might have been collected other than by consulting former prisoners - one certainly can't get data from those who are in prison. And so far as Brian Steele goes, not only did he serve his time a long time ago, he has since worked tirelessly through the Institute for Restorative Justice and Penal Reform and other forums to create a stronger and better society.
This State Government has been filling our gaols faster than any other government on record, not just by removing judicial discretion in many areas of sentencing, but also by disempowering the State Parole Board from releasing people towards the end of their sentence so that they can serve the last part of their sentence in the community but on conditional release.
At the same time, they have made no commitments to building more prisons; they simply double-bunk cells (some even triple-bunked) thus exacerbating the very problem the report seeks to expose.