As Disability Commissioner Graeme Innes so clearly explains, “Imprisonment can do a grave injustice to the intellectually impaired” – SMH/The Age 29/12/2011– Prisons also fail to rehabilitate many other prisoners. With boredom so prevalent and prisons inadequately staffed with qualified people to undertake the difficult task of helping prisoners turn their lives around, it is no wonder that about 43% of prisoners return to prison within two years of release. Pre-release and post-release programs seem to be non-existent.
An open, frank review of prison life and practice is urgently needed to explain whether the expenditure of now about $300 a day on each prisoner is well spent. Existing programs which offer alternatives to prisons need to be expanded to curb the growth of the prison industry which engenders the false belief that the community is being adequately protected.
– Keith McEwan, CLA member, Castlemaine Vic