Media Release. February 24th 1999.
Prisoner Support Group calls for Urgent Talks between all
stakeholders.
It is now two months since the Casuarina 'Lockdown'. No one has been
charged.
Police are investigating prisoners. An Inquiry by the Ministry for
the Ministry has yet to make its findings available, and then only if
it suits them.
The community of Western Australia, including Victims of Crime, ought
to be asking what is happening to make the community safer.
Prisoners can't be taught community skills whilst locked down in a
cell for up to 23 hrs each day.
The Ministry of Justice now has to be Just. People are sent to
prison by the court process. No judge in WA has yet sentenced anyone
to be held without due process, to be locked down for so long. This
is unjust, and irresponsible to all stakeholders. If WA has a Prison
Act that enables the Ministry to punish prisoners before they are
charged, then the Prison Act needs to be challenged by Parliament. If
Prisoners are to be held in lock down because the Prison staff can't
cope, then provide the resources.
If the Ministry can spend money on looking at What Works, and Best
Practice Principles, and yet fails to deliver these to the Community,
then perhaps we are looking at the wrong leadership of the Ministry.
Best Practice and What Works are cheap talk while the prison system
is so overcrowded. The community wants to see things happen so that
offenders are challenged, educated, and able to return to the
community with positive living skills. Prisoners need the
opportunity to make reparation. None of this is happening at
Casuarina. Community safety is an outcome that is neglected. Both
Victims and Offenders are being pushed aside by a Minister who has
failed to provide the outcomes except more crime, more prisoners,
less justice and less resources.
Victims of crime, ordinary citizens of WA, Offenders and their
families, together with Ministry Staff are all the latest victims of
the inability of this government to resolve issues in a positive way.
Mr Foss, get to it. Dare to talk about reform. Dare to speak about
outcomes that include lower muster numbers, lower recidivism, and a
socially just Prison Act. Look at staff and Prisoner Morale. Fund
alternatives to more of the same.
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