Dear friends and colleagues,
Re: Corrective Services Bill 2000
The Queensland Parliament will be debating a new Corrective Services Bill
in early August 2000. It was tabled in Parliament on 19 July, 2000.
Several aspects of the Bill are of grave concern to the Catholic Prison
Ministry, Sisters Inside, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
Corporation for Legal Services, Prisoners Legal Service and Second Chance
Foundation.
Some of the proposals in the Bill which concern us are:
Abolition of parole, home detention and release to work for prisoners
serving two years or under;
Prisoners only to be entitled to non-contact visits;
Further reductions in the powers of Official Visitors to investigate
complaints;
Removal of the requirement for prisoners charged with a breach of prison
discipline to be given written notice of the breach and its particulars.
We have made extensive submissions to the Government on these and other
points but have, to date, been unsuccessful in bringing about most of the
changes we see as necessary. (We are pleased to note that on 19 July the
government agreed to remove the provision which made strip searches
mandatory after every contact visit)
A full copy of the Prisoners' Legal Service submission on the bill is
available on the PLS website: www.lrvnet.org.au/pls/
Following is the text of draft letters to both the QLD Premier and the
Leader of the Opposition setting out in more detail the problems we have
identified with the above proposals.
We encourage you to use these to write your own letter of protest in
support of our campaign to amend the bill. If you agree with the issues we
have raised you are also welcome to simply insert your own name, address
and signature on the draft letters and post them. If you do send your own
letter we would appreciate a copy.
We understand that the bill will be debated in the Parliamentary sitting
which commences on 4 August. It is therefore important that your letter be
sent as soon as possible if it is to assist the campaign.
Please forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in this
campaign and please feel free to contact us if you would like any further
information.
Regards,
Karen Fletcher
Coordinator
Prisoners Legal Service Inc.
PO Box 5162
West End Q 4101
tel 3846 5074
fax 3844 2703
--------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
----
[sample letter]
Hon Mr Peter Beattie/ Rob Borbidge
Queensland Parliament
George St
Brisbane Q 4000
Dear Mr Beattie/Borbidge,
Re: Corrective Services Bill 2000
I write to express my concern about certain provisions of the above bill
and to ask you to consider changes to the bill which would address the
following points:
1. Abolition of parole and home detention for minor offenders
The Bill proposes to exclude all offenders sentenced to two years or less
(minor offenders) from eligibility for "post-prison community based
release" such as parole and home detention.
Prisoners sentenced to two years or more (more serious offenders) will be
eligible for such release after serving one half of their sentence.
[section C38] Minor offenders serving 2 years and under will only be
eligible for (unsupervised) "conditional release" after two thirds of their
sentence. [section 76]
Response:
This proposal means that young, minor and first time offenders will spend
significantly more time in a high security prison environment and will not
be supervised on their release.
In 1999 it cost QLD taxpayers around $118.00 per day to keep a prisoner in
prison and around $3 per day to maintain their supervision in the community.
Apart from being cost-effective, post-prison supervision of offenders is
proven to reduce re-offending rates and assist with successful
reintegration. Community supervision programs for young, minor and
first-time offenders should be extended, not reduced.
2. Family visits to be non-contact
The Bill proposes that prisoners will "only" be entitled to one non-contact
visit with their family each week. [section 123(1)(b)].
Response:
Non-contact visits should only be ordered where reasonably necessary for
the security of the prison. The standard visit is now, and should remain, a
contact visit. The vast majority of prisoners and their families
(especially children) who pose no security risk should not be deprived of
contact. Prisoners should be entitled to at least two family visits each week.
3. No entitlement to assistance from community visitors
The Bill proposes that prisoners will "only" be entitled to personal
(family) and legal visits. [section 123]
Response:
Prisoners should be entitled to visits from appropriate community
organisations and professionals for the purposes of rehabilitative
counselling, treatment, support and assistance to reintegrate. Prisoners
should be entitled to visits from agencies such as Second Chance, the
Catholic Prison Ministry, Sisters Inside and the Queensland Aids Council.
4. Official Visitors made optional and powers reduced
The Bill proposes to make the appointment of two Official Visitors to each
prison optional rather than mandatory and to severely restrict their powers
to investigate complaints, question DCS officers and access documents.
[compare proposed Part 6 of Bill with current Part 2, Division 3 of the
Corrective Services Act 1988]
Response:
Official Visitors powers should not be reduced in any way and their ability
to investigate prison complaints independently and impartially should be
extended. Official Visitors should report directly to the Parliament and be
administered by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative
Investigations (Ombudsman's Office) rather than by the Department of
Corrective Services.
5. Unfair process for prosecuting breaches of prison discipline
The Bill proposes to remove the requirement that a prisoner must be served
with written notice of an alleged breach of prison discipline before a
breach hearing. The proposed breach process is entirely verbal. [compare
section 87 with existing section 101 of Corrective Services Act 1988 ]
Response:
The proposed procedure is unfair and open to corruption and manipulation.
It should be mandatory that a prison officer charging a prisoner with a
breach of discipline must detail the charge and particulars of any
allegations of fact, in writing, so that the prisoner can prepare her or
his defence.
Thank you for taking into account the above views. I look forward to
hearing from you at your earliest convenience regarding your response to my
submissions.
Yours faithfully,
------- End of forwarded message -------
Green Left Brisbane
upstairs, 122 Barry Pde,
Fortitude Valley
Ph: 3831 2644
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
