Fri, 07 August 2009. 2:56 pmThe revolving door of recidivism among prisoners in Tasmania is largely due to knee jerk responses from police and politicians.Not only is it deflecting taxes away from healh,education,agedcare,public housing,and mental health it is actually cultivating more customers who are institutionalised and require ongoing services from the very areas just mentioned.....$250.00 a day to wharehouse 1 prisoner. It would be cheaper to fly them to a resort on the Gold Coast. It has become a gold mine for some and a nightmare for many more others. Families torn asunder,relegated to below the poverty line. Children without fatherly influences and relationships destroyed. For what ?For low level shit,drugs,fine defaulters,and mentally troubled. We DARE the Minister to publish the categories of offences for which prisoners are currently held at Risdon Prison. We further challenge to publish any and all rehabilitation programmes currently running at Risdon Prison . The cost to the community is horrendous both socially and financially.
Now how can that be smart ? Tasmailbag has long crusaded for alternative sentencing to imprisonment. It seemsT/M has a likeminded thinker in the Impressive form of Judge Crispin J, formerly of the ACT Court of Appeal. A learned Australian,Jurist and Lawyer he holds a Phd in ethics and law reform. Instead of listening to bull shit artists from the political scene here in Tassy,we invite readers to have a decko at Justice Crispins farewell speech when he retired from the bench in 2007.......(the following is only part of his speech)Much of the rhetoric is misleading. Crime is not out of control, the streets are not full of criminals who escape conviction on silly technicalities and sentences are not evermore lenient. In fact, the prison population of Australia has increased from 62 per 100,000 members of population in 1975 to 163 per 100,000 in 2005. Crime is driven substantially by drug dependency and mental illness. Neither of these problems are amenable to correction by simplistic slogans and we as a society have often failed to address them adequately, or even sensibly.
I have been concerned about the plight of mentally ill people and the paucity of facilities in Australia has long been a disgrace. In 1973 New South Wales had 12,700 psychiatric patients or 317 per 100,000. In 2005 there were 1,902 or 28 per 100,000. At the same time the prison populations have burgeoned. A report in 2003 revealed that 78% of male prisoners and 90% of female prisoners suffered from a serious psychiatric disorder within the previous 12 months and 5% have attempted suicide.
The much lauded revolution in community based care has apparently involved a substantial transfer of responsibility from hospitals to prisons. I suspect that even the most ardent law crusaders would rather see dangerously ill people treated and supervised than left at large until someone is killed and the bereaved relatives are left to draw cold comfort from the ensuing prison sentence.
Western politicians have learned to talk tough whilst meekly surrendering freedoms that earlier generations fought and sometimes died to protect. ...
Couldn't agree more me' ol son!!!