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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-28 Daily Xml
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PRISONER REHABILITATION

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:04): I move:

That this house urges the state government to vigorously pursue initiatives which will help reduce the number of people offending and being incarcerated.

The issue of prisons and incarceration often does not feature in any prominent way in the mind of many of the people in the community, yet it is a very important issue. There are obviously several dimensions to this. I am certainly not opposed to locking up bad people who are a threat to the community. To suggest otherwise would be ludicrous. What is happening—and it is not just as a result of the present government—is that the number of people being incarcerated is gradually increasing over time. We need to tackle that issue in several different ways.

In 2005 there were 1,521 prisoners in South Australia (actually in prisons, as opposed to home detention). In 2008 there were 1,882. With changes to sentencing laws that figure has increased again. We do not do things simply because they cost money, but it costs something like close to $200 a day to incarcerate a prisoner in South Australia, so it is a very expensive exercise.

I was in Victoria a week or so ago visiting its parliament, and got information on what they are planning to do there. One of the things they plan to do—and the government has already had the bill drafted—is abolish home detention. When I have raised that issue here, Treasury got very concerned because of those cost factors I just mentioned: it is much cheaper to have someone at home with an electronic bracelet than it is to have someone incarcerated. The Victorian government will abolish home detention because they say gaol should mean gaol. That is a simplistic approach and a matter for further debate down the track.

If we look at the characteristics of our prisoners (and these are obviously generalisations to some extent), 60 to 80 per cent of all prisoners have a literacy problem. It cannot be used as an excuse for getting into prison or being there, but it is obviously a factor. If you cannot read and write, the possibility or chance of getting gainful employment is limited.

In South Australia 56 per cent of male prisoners are aged between 20 and 25, so prisons are places for young people. There is a theory that men mature over a period of time and realise that doing stupid things—breaking the law and ending up in prison—is not a smart, wise thing to do. I think women realise that much earlier. That is a generalisation, but I think they do.

The characteristics are: social and economic disadvantage, generational unemployment, drug and alcohol addictions, as well as being functionally illiterate. They are some of the pointers as to some of the issues we need to be tackling. I find it amazing that in this day and age we are still—'producing' is probably not the right word—having individuals come through their so-called school years (partly because they are not attending) illiterate and lacking in mathematical skills. That issue needs to be addressed, as does generational unemployment.

All of us here are, by definition, active people who enjoy their work and keep busy. You can imagine that if you are unemployed day after day how soul destroying and mindless that would be. It is not surprising that people who are unemployed may be tempted to do things they would not otherwise do. The argument is often trotted out that, during the Great Depression, apparently—I do not have the figures in front of me—we had less crime than we normally had. I am not sure quite how you explain that.

Also, 6 per cent of Indigenous males are in prison compared to 0.6 per cent of non-Indigenous males. Obviously there is a significant percentage of our prison population that are from the Aboriginal community, and that also should suggest that efforts and program initiatives need to be directed to helping to engage those young Aboriginal people in particular so that they do not end up in the prison.

Many of our prisoners have a psychiatric or psychological issue. Many have personality disorders, which generally cannot be easily treated. Some have an intellectual disability. I am quite surprised that even our court system does not seem to be able to deal always effectively with people who have a psychiatric illness. According to the research—and this was from a paper by Professor Rick Sarre called 'Social Innovation, Law and Justice', presented at the Social Innovation Conference in Adelaide three years ago—what is cited is that almost all male sex offenders were sexually abused as children.

I have always been puzzled as to why, if you were sexually assaulted, you would then want to do it to someone else; or likewise if you were beaten why you would then want to inflict it on your own children or someone else's children. In terms of female prisoners, obviously there are fewer of them. I guess that people could say, 'Well, women are probably a bit more sensible about their behaviour', but, generally speaking, women in our prisons are under the age of 25, so it is a youth-related thing. They, too, are characterised by social and economic disadvantage and drug and alcohol addiction.

Most are mothers of dependent children, many have experienced sexual or physical violence and many have a psychiatric or psychological illness or an intellectual disability. They are some of the indicators we need to focus on. As I say, I am not suggesting that we give everyone who breaks the law in a serious way a carnation and let them go walking around the street with that on their lapel. Some people have to be locked up because what they have done is so horrendous.

In fairness, the South Australian department of corrections has an active literacy and numeracy program, but too often many prisoners opt out or do not avail themselves of those learning opportunities; and I think that, perhaps, in prison there should be more focus on requiring them to do those things. There is some training available within the prison system. There has always been a delicate balance between people learning a trade or a skill in prison and not encroaching on the legitimate work of trade union people.

The unions are very sensitive to the fact that prisons not be used as a cheap labour alternative to what paid workers outside of prison can and should be doing. The department of corrections has programs to deal with victim awareness, anger management, alcohol and other drugs, domestic violence, literacy and numeracy and cognitive skills and prisoners have access to psychological services.

There is a sexual offenders' treatment and assessment program, but, once again, at the end of the day, a lot of it depends on whether the prisoner is willing to participate and commit to some of these programs. We cannot continue to have an increase in prison population, apart from the fact that prisons basically achieve very little other than separating out very dangerous people from the rest of the community.

There is very little evidence that they actually rehabilitate anyone. Police figures that we sourced from OARS (Offenders Aid Rehabilitation Service) were that 40 per cent of criminals released from prison on parole are committing more crimes, some of which are very serious. I think that he may be the deputy commissioner for crime in SAPOL, but Grant Stevens says that police are frustrated when they encounter the same people and 'when dealing with people who don't respond to the justice system'.

Of the 161 prisoners paroled between 1 January and 31 March 2010, 65 reoffended within 12 months of being released; clearly, prison is not rehabilitating prisoners in the way that we would hope or would want. The deputy commissioner said, 'The community needs to examine what is working and what is not,' and that is exactly the point I am making.

What happens in other countries? As happens here, there are alternatives to prison. We have fines, community-based probationary orders, periodic detention, home detention and diversionary and restorative justice processes. I think we need to look more at some of those alternatives, despite what the Victorian government might be doing. It is not just about saving money: it is about having a system that is effective and actually works.

I am a great supporter of mobile outback work camps. The Port Augusta Prison runs several. I think that is great and there should be more of that. I have seen some of the work done by these mobile outback groups and also some of the work they have done in the metropolitan area.

It is a bit of a paradox that, in order to try to make someone a member of the community, integrated into the community, we put them in a prison and separate them from the community. To me, that is a bit of a paradox, but I acknowledge that with some people you have no choice but to do that. For many of the people in prison, it actually achieves little and it does not integrate them into the community by isolating them from the community.

The increase in prisoner population seems to be happening in particular countries—England, Wales, the United States and so on. If you compare that with some of the Scandinavian countries, they take a very different approach. The statistics in Norway (which had that recent tragedy) indicate that, within two years of their release, 20 per cent of Norway's prisoners end up back in gaol compared to in the UK and US where it is 50 to 60 per cent. Something they are doing seems to be working.

In Norway, the number in prison expressed as part of 100,000, is 69. It has a total prison population of 3,300 in a population of something like five million. Even compared with South Australia, that is a very low incarceration rate. In South Australia at the moment we have close to 2,000 prisoners for a population of 1.6 million and the Norwegians have 3,300 in a population of about 5.6 million.

The guiding principle of Norway's system is that repressive prisons do not work and humane treatment boosts prisoners' chances of reintegrating. Design plays a key role in their rehabilitation efforts, with the prison looking as much like the outside world as possible. To avoid an institutional feel, exteriors are not concrete but made of bricks, galvanised steel and glass. The buildings seem to arise organically from the woodlands. They try to create a link, as it were, with nature. Prison guards do not carry guns because that creates unnecessary intimidation, and they routinely eat meals and play sports with the inmates. I guess you can go down the American repressive, harsh treatment approach but that does not seem to work because they have increasing numbers of prisoners. I think we could learn from the Scandinavians.

To conclude, I have been very impressed when dealing with the Minister for Correctional Services. Any time I have written to him he has always given a very considered response and been prepared to look at issues that I have raised with him. However, I think the community and, in particular, the government, need to look at measures to try to reduce the number of people offending and being incarcerated. I commend the motion to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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