The Corrections Amendment Act 2008 (Vic) passed in September, which aims to benefit victims of crime , is fatally flawed because it seeks to draw on the payments prisoners receive after their claims for wrongful treatment and abuse at the hands of prison authorities are upheld.
By perversely linking crime victims` rightful claims for compensation by the State with prisoner compensation funds, which will be quarantined for at least 12 months and publicised in the newspapers and on the internet so that victims can lodge claims against the prisoner receiving compensation, means that the victims must rely on their abusers being abused in turn while in prison and who then willingly claim compensation knowing that they may never receive it.
This abhorrent Corrections Amendment Act fails to assist the victims of crime and makes our prisons even less accountable as prisoners who have been badly treated will be reluctant to complain and seek compensation. Two wrongs don`t make a right.
To The Editor, The Age
Keith McEwan, Bendigo. Vic