|
Letter to Minister |
 |
 |
Mr Bob Debus
31st May 1998
Dear Minister,
Reducing Violence in NSW Jails
We write to you about the alarming levels of violence and death in the states prisons in recent times. We have discussed this matter intensively with members and groups within the Criminal Justice Coalition, but we wish to make this contribution as ex-prisoners. Together we have nearly 50 years combined experience in and study of prisoners, and this underlies our comments and emphases here.
1997 saw a record number of deaths in custody in Australia and almost
half f these (46 of 97) were in NSW; 30 were in the jails and 16 in
police custody. In addition to deaths, there are reports of many
stabbings and bashings. Here statistics do no tell the full story,
because as with all jail conditions, there is great variation between
institutions. The recent Criminal Justice Coalition tours of
maximum-security jails confirmed what many prisoners have told us:
Goulburn Jail and the new Remand Centre (the MRRC) are the worst.
Conditions in some other jails are considerably better.
It is this great variation that forces a review of the structural
causes of jail violence- the actual living and working conditions
within he jail. Prison violence can take several forms: prisoner on
prisoner, prisoner on prison officer and prison officer on prisoner.
(Unlike the first two, the department keeps no statistics on this third
category). In our view, most of these forms of violence may be reduced
by addressing the structural problems. Basic jail living conditions are
at the root of much of the tension, violence and self-harm. The major
areas we see as fruitful to focus on are the following.
1.Yarding
We have seen over many years how policies of strict yarding causes
violence. Yarding is convenient for jail administrators, but causes
great tension. Many people are thrown in together with few or no
facilities, but a lot o mindless boredom. Crowding, deprivation and
boredom breed petty disputes. Freedom of association within a jail
undoubtedly reduces these disputes. With yarding, those in conflict
with others, with drug debts, or simply being victimised, have no
retreat- as would be the case if they could return to their cell, or go
to a sportsground or library. Many jails have abolished yarding,
recognising hat this greatly reduces tensions. However in t he highly
segregated jails (with large protection populations) or the unofficial
punishment jails (such as Goulburn) yarding persists.
The first proposal to address the structural causes of jail violence is
therefore to abolish the system of yarding where it exists (such as
Goulburn and the MRRC) and to replace it with more open regimes which
incorporate individual choices, freedom of association and options of
retreat from personal conflict.
2. Absolute Poverty
Another cause of conflict and potential violence is the absolute
poverty imposed on prisoners. The vast majority of prisoners are from
very poor backgrounds, with two-thirds unemployed. Most prisoners have
no savings. Yet the minimum jail wage has remained at around $9 to $12
a week for the past15 years. Meantime, prices have doubled. A pouch of
tobacco now costs more than the minimum wage, and this can have serious
implications. There have been several cases where prisoners have been
stabbed or bashed fro a pouch of tobacco, or a pair of shoes. Desperate
poverty breeds desperate measures.
Therefore an attack on the absolute poverty of many prisoners, by
raising the minimum weekly wage to at least $25, is appropriate. This
must include non-industrial wages, such as wages for students and jails
maintenance staff (sweepers).
3. Human Contact
Observations and experience over many years tell us that attempting to
deal with self-harm through isolation, observation and the denial of
all possible means of hanging, has been a great failure. The notion of
suicide proof cells should be abandoned. Even though such proposals
came from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and
from the Waller Inquiry, they are expensive failures which focus too
much on the duty of care of custodial study, and on physical control,
and not enough on the psychological need of the distressed or depressed
prisoner. Control and surveillance can so easily displace simple human
concern and compassion over anothers anguish. Suicides have occurred
in safe cells, while there have been very few in relaxed-regime
jails, despite easily accessible hanging points. We have also seen
suicides and suicide attempts immediately after isolation and
observation. So almost any sort of human contact is preferable to
entombment in a pink-painted, video-monitored, perspex enclosed and
suffocating box. Decent human and social contact is far more important
than attacks on hanging points.
Therefore the appalling safe cell model should be replaced with human
contact and properly resourced and trained peer support programs.
Access to telephones and visits with family and friends should be
prioritised. Rather than limit the time of hone calls (in the name of
equity) more phones should be installed and visits provided for each
and every day of the week. This outside support is universally
recognised as valuable for the prisoner, and costs the department very
little. Peer support systems should be capable of being activated at
any time of the day or night. The development of responsible peer
support programs (as part of the wider development of a responsible
prisoner community), in the area of self-harm, is also a valuable
rehabilitative program, and might be seen as an extension of the
current Aboriginal mentor scheme.
4. Strengthen Grievance Procedures
Frustration at petty injustices and an unresponsive bureaucracy can
generate great tension in jail. The fact that official statistics on
jail violence include prisoner-to-prisoner officer, but not prison
officer-to-prisoner, simply underlies the wider fact that prisoners
complaints against officials are not listened to, and on the contrary
are buried, trivialised and ignored. The clear lesson for prisoners is
that you have to exact your own justice, including by violence. The
irony of this is that most prisoners are held for breaching social
codes, and are expected in some way to learn a lesson, through
imprisonment, that social codes are to be respected. However lack of a
descent civil complaints procedure sends the opposite message. Further,
unresolved complaints breeds legitimate resentment at injustice, and
this often spills over into petty, or more serious, violence.
A clear charter of prisoner rights, and an effective complaints
mechanism, would help defuse widespread frustration at and reaction to
a system which is widely perceived as unjust and unresponsive. Such a
process could include independent community members and be coordinated
through the office of the Ombudsman, but also requires strengthened
local feedback mechanisms, through elected Inmate Development
Committees. Many of these IDCs are currently ineffective. Conciliation
training for those in IDCs would develop a valuable human resource
which could help resolve many local conflicts.
5. Certainty in Placement and Classification
The Department of Corrective Services is well aware that uncertainty in
classification and placement creates tension and frustration, and that
this can lead to self-harm and other violence. Self-harm takes place to
prevent movements, while general uncertainty and denial of lower
classification is a constant source of serious tension.
Therefore greater certainty in jail location and classification must be
established, as a matter of simple justice but also as a violence
prevention measure. A commitment to jail placement within case
management and classification regimes, and to firm schedules of lower
security ratings, could greatly ease this tension. Classification
procedures should build in a presumption that all long-term prisoners
(serving sentences of 12 months or more) will reach the lowest security
rating (C3) and so be eligible for some form of pre-release scheme,
such as works release or study leave.
However to bring about certainty in placement, overcrowding also has to
be dealt with. For example an excess of remand prisoners, and
subsequent overcrowding at the MRRC, has forced the placement of remand
prisoners in other jails. Overcrowding must be dealt with by sentencing
reform and expanded back-end conditional release schemes. However in
dealing with overcrowding (and bearing in mind the universal policy
objective of using jail as a last resort and reducing rates of
imprisonment), expanding cell capacity (eg. Through new jails) must be
resisted.
6. Reduce the Remand Population
Associated with the overcrowding problem is the need to deal with and
reduce the currently swollen remand population. Half of these 1100
people will not go on to receive a jail sentence (other than their
remand period) yet they live under uncertainty and in the poorest
conditions in the entire prisons system. It is well known that there is
greater tension in remand jails, and that the death in custody rate is
high there.
Reduction of the remand population through regular and frequent bail
hearings at the MRRC (either by a visiting magistrate or by video-link,
and after consultation with the Chief Magistrate) is therefore highly
desirable. Bail all reform to restore a presumption for bail for all
categories of offence, as is required by our international human rights
commitments, is also highly desirable.
7. Responsible Choices
Finally we draw your attention to the need to foster the capacity for
prisoners to make responsible choices within jail regimes, while this
at times cuts across control and contain regimes, it is essential
that responsibility be encouraged through access to responsible,
day-to-day choices- such as the preparation of food, choice between
education and work, and participation in peer support programs. With
responsible choices removed, people ultimately become childlike and
irresponsible. This is one of the deep effects of institutionalisation.
A minimum standard of 12 hours out of cell- in maximum security
institutions, with firm minimum and reasonable times for access to
exercise, education and welfare- should be set and adhered to.
Increased voluntary association, exercise and education activities,
peer support activities and human community contact reduce the stress
and tension that underlies much jail violence
We would appreciate hearing your response to these proposals. Your
administration has been characterised by its openness and we believe
you are genuinely concerned to look for and find real solutions.
Yours sincerely
Tim Anderson
& Brett Collins
cc. Assistant Commissioner Catriona McComish
|
|
Justice Action Team login
|
