The World Rejects Punishment

ICOPA Conference Report

Punishment has failed! Community reconciliation is in! Communities have taken control of justice!

These were the ideas accepted during ICOPA 8 and which initially excited JA in the realisation that there was a worldwide movement already working out there. The Eighth International Conference On Penal Abolition, entitled 'Pathways to Penal Abolition', was held in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand on 18-21 February 1997. Five members of Justice Action joined a strong Australian delegation with representation from Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

While participants at the conference came from a diversity of cultures and interactions with criminal justice, all were bound together in their rejection of the global plague of punitive and retributive justice systems. During four intensive days, delegates from 17 countries on four continents upheld viable alternatives to the imprisonment of human beings based upon recognition of underlying social inequities and restoration grounded in community responsibility.

In 1981, the Canadian Quaker Committee on Jails and Justice planted the seed that grew to become ICOPA when they issued a powerful statement that read in part: "The prison system is both a cause and a result of violence and social injustice. Throughout history, the majority of prisoners have been the powerless and the oppressed. We are increasingly clear that the imprisonment of human beings, like their enslavement, is inherently immoral, and is as destructive to the cagers as to the caged."

Penal abolition conferences were held in Canada, the United States, Poland, Costa Rica, Barcelona and the Netherlands during the 16 years prior to this ICOPA in New Zealand This first gathering to be held in the Asia-Pacific region had a strong emphasis on the victimisation of indigenous and minority peoples by the penal systems of the world.

A profound sense of urgency emerged in the earlier hours of ICOPA VIII that would define this conference and galvanise the participants to action. The passionate voices and concerns of many community activists and former prisoners joined the core of academics, judges, lawyers, and justice workers who have sustained ICOPA since its inception. Following opening remarks by David Lange, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, the words of a vibrant young African-American from Los Angeles became the clarion call.

Dorsey Nunn coordinates a program for minority youth in Los Angeles. Each day, he battles the inevitable collision of the most disenfranchised members of society with the criminal justice system of the majority. He called upon ICOPA to issue condemnation of incarceration policies towards minorities and indigenous peoples and to organise active opposition in all countries.

Mark Piteri, a Maori exprisoner of 26 years experience spoke realistically about the need for action at ground level. He emphasized the importance of prisoner and ex-prisoner involvement in future ICOPAs.

These powerful words ignited a growing momentum that spread to all of the presentations, workshops and plenaries. Each session and topic began to consider and establish recommendations to be offered for adoption by all delegates to the conference. Consensus was established with a decision to issue concluding conference resolutions, enabling ICOPA to speak to penal injustice with a truly united international voice.

Justice Action and the Australian delegates were vocal and highly visible throughout, highlighting the criminal injustice system in our country to the world community. Many amongst us who had experienced imprisonment in Australia could better speak for the voices of those held silent behind the walls of local prisons. Through our constant refrain, we found many others who believe that discussion of penal abolition is only valuable as a basis for action.

Each of over 20 workshops dissected a different criminal justice issue following a presentation by speakers. Every workshop reaffirmed the dysfunction and failure of penal systems around the world, irrespective of differences in government, laws and culture. The ideas were seen as poorly exposed in the mainstream media due to profit-making agendas.

Speakers from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Brazil and Canada presented strong and successful working models of restorative/transformative justice programs. While differing in implementation, all of the programs placed responsibility for restoration in the hands of the community. Any definition of community must include both victims and offenders in equal partnership with members of the community-at-large. Use of imprisonment only defers, ignores and exacerbates the underlying problems.

The workshops on Prison and the Mentally Ill and Juvenile Justice found that the majority of countries are unwilling to address the needs of those citizens beset with illness or victimised by the adult world. As the world's criminal justice system removes these citizens from the community, prisons are increasingly the de facto warehouses. The mentally ill, like children and youth, are least able to speak for themselves and are the most easily victimised by the institutions of imprisonment.

Depenalisation and decriminalisation was a common thread of discussion in many sessions. In the countries represented, penal systems are primarily filled with people convicted of drug possession, sale, use or offences where illicit drugs were involved. Amanda George of Victoria declared that decriminalisation of illicit drugs would immediately 'abolish' the need for 70 percent of the prison cells in Australia. Dedication of resources for drug education, prevention, and treatment must be prioritised on both sides of the prison walls.

Singh of The Peoples Justice Alliance of Victoria and Amanda George highlighted the cancerous growth of for-profit management and ownership of prisons by private corporations and corporatised government agencies. While the US and Australia lead the way, many developing countries with large incarceration 'markets' are being seduced by multinational corporations. Without international resistance, corporations rather than governments will dictate both imprisonment and criminal justice policies in a 90's version of slavery.

Perhaps the most empowering day of workshops was held on the Hoani Waititi Marae, a Maori community on the outskirts of Auckland. Moana Jackson of Maori Legal Services condemned the obscenely disproportionate imprisonment of indigenous peoples as the imposition of colonial society and law by people of European descent. Ray Jackson of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in Australia declared that any discussion of prison abolition or reform must acknowledge the principles of self-determination of native peoples and minorities.

Dr. Pita Sharples, chairperson of the Marae, described Maori efforts to negotiate acceptance of their system of justice with the New Zealand government. The Maori model embraces the best principles of restorative justice. Offenders join program staff and community members in equal partnership in the management of community justice facilities.

Justice Action believes ICOPA VIII represents an important step in the evolution of the movement to abolish prisons. For sixteen years, the heart of international penal abolition has beat loudly only at conference events held every two years. A small but dedicated group of impassioned believers has nurtured and maintained the lifeblood of the movement to this point.

Instead, participants of ICOPA VIII left New Zealand as part of an ongoing process based upon the creation of an electronic network of communication and a commitment to coordinated action. As evidenced by the resolutions drafted by the conference, every country shares the same systemic problems of injustice. We will confront those problems with the power of a clear and united international voice. Advocacy of the principles of penal abolition is not enough. Even as we initiate and uphold community-based alternatives, we will also condemn and oppose punitive incarceration, using every available tool at every turn.

Jim Mellor, Brett Collins and JA Delegation

- end -

To top of page

It is now about two weeks since I returned to Canada from Australia. As I talk about what I saw and learned in Australia and New Zealand, I am constantly reminded of the reality that so many of the issues that we are fighting here with and for women imprisoned in Canada are issues for women prisoners world wide. On the day had the opportunity to visit Mulawa, Emu Plains and the Parramatta Transition Centre, women's prisons in NSW, our government in Canada was announcing its decision to move women into maximum security units in men's prisons. That announcement was just the latest example of why we continue to be extremely concerned about the future of correctional programming for women and how it is being managed in Canada. This announcement came within a little over a year since the opening of four new regional women's prisons and a national Healing Lodge. These new prisons were built on a similar model to that utilised at Emu Plains, and were supposed to accommodate all of the women sentenced to prison terms of two years or more in Canada.

Canada has traipsed around the globe selling its technology, training, security and programs internationally, pretending they are on the vanguard of progressive correctional reform. Meanwhile, the situation of our prisoners in Canada is absolutely appalling. Ironically, few correctional authorities internationally are aware of the Arbour Report, which chronicles the results of the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events in the Prison for Women in Kingston.

A number of Australian states are purchasing programs and following invalidated ÔresearchÕ conducted by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), without any apparent knowledge of the findings of Madam Justice Arbour during the Commission of Inquiry. While CSC is telling the world about all the wonderful things it is supposedly doing, back home in Canada the reality is vastly different. Arbour provided extensive documentation of the extent to which the Correctional Service has shown blatant disregard and disdain for the law, let alone its own policies.

Until I visited Australia, I really thought of privatisation as essentially an American phenomenon. After visiting the private prison for women in Victoria, and hearing about other private men's prisons throughout Australia, I then returned to Canada to face headlines heralding the plans of the Ontario government to privatise 'boot camps' for youth. The prospect of some of the horrors down under, not the least of which include the cloak of commercial law secrecy under which private prisons are operating, has rendered chills to our collective spines here. As a result, at Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) we have now re-positioned our social action priorities to focus more urgently on the prospect of private prisons. This issue, like strip searches and the use and abuse of segregation, are issues for women [and men] prisoners around the globe.

What did I learn that was new? I met wonderful people who are working hard for women, prisoners, truth and justice and I look forward to continued collaboration with these new activist friends. Near the end of our trip my 6 year-old son, Michael, provided a succinct and precise assessments of my work. While we were at the International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA) he was talking to a fellow activist about what I do in Canada. Apparently, after agreeing that I worked hard trying to get women out of prison in Canada, Michael stopped short of agreeing with a positive evaluation of the quality of my work. His response to the assertion of how well I do, was to respond, "no, she's not very good; there's still lots of women in jail."

The reality is, Michael is right. The challenge for all of us, and certainly for me, is to try and maintain the linkages between like-minded advocates and activists, as we strive to arrest the encroachment by the neo-conservative capitalist forces in your country and mine. CAEFS is a federation of 22 autonomous societies across Canada which works with, and on behalf of, women involved with the justice system, particularly women who come into conflict with the law.

To obtain copies of CAEFS' position papers or additional information, please contact Kim Pate directly at kpate@web.net, visit the CAEFS home page at http://www.web.apc.org/~kpate, phone international carrier + (613) 238-2422 or fax : international carrier +(613) 232-7130.

by Kim Pate, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

- end -

To top of page

The Legal Aid Commission of NSW has received special funding from the NSW Government to assist people who wish to challenge criminal convictions on the basis that the conviction was obtained on corrupt or false police evidence. The special funding has been made available because of the clear evidence of police corruption uncovered by the Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service.

Over the last two years the Royal Commission into the Police Service has disclosed an extensive and entrenched system of police corruption. A number of police officers have given evidence of a wide range of illegal conduct carried out by police over many years, for example: the theft of money from alleged drug dealers, the planting of evidence on suspects, the fabrication of confessions, the taking of bribes, and the giving of perjured evidence in criminal trials.

While people convicted of crime can and do lodge appeals, the appeal process was often unable to delve into issues of police corruption and illegal evidence. Usually such issues were canvassed in the actual trial proceedings, although juries, judges and magistrates were often thought to have difficulty in accepting that police witnesses were actually lying in order to secure a conviction. This apparent acceptability of police evidence has clearly led to wrongful convictions and also prompted many accused people to plead guilty, in the knowledge that the law in NSW required a court to impose a lesser penalty following a guilty plea.

Until the receipt of the additional funding from the State Government, the Legal Aid Commission was not generally able to grant aid to assist people who were complaining about being falsely convicted in this fashion. The Legal Aid Commission has not had the financial resources to do so. The Legal Aid Commission has now established a Royal Commission Unit located at the Commission's head office in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The Unit is part of the Appeals Section of the Commission and two solicitors will be conducting the case work full time. The Unit has access to the evidence of the Royal Commission into the Police Service by way of CD Rom and the necessary computer equipment to analyse the evidence.

People who seek legal aid for Inquiries will go through a two stage process. The first stage will involve an assessment of whether the case has reasonable prospects of success. In doing this, the transcript of the original court proceedings will be located. An analysis will be carried out of the prosecution case, together with the evidence that has come from the Royal Commission into the Police Service. In prosecution cases that substantially relied upon police evidence and where the Royal Commission into the Police Service has heard evidence confirming corrupt behaviour by police or naming particular police as corrupt, there would appear to be very strong grounds for a case to be re-opened.

The law in relation to Inquiries has recently been amended. The provisions relating to Inquiries are now contained in Part 13A of the NSW Crimes Act 1990. Put simply, a person seeking an Inquiry can make an application to the Supreme Court or a petition to the Governor. If the request is made to the Governor, the Governor acts on the advice of the Attorney General and determines whether an Inquiry should be held. If the request is made to the Supreme Court, the decision as to whether an Inquiry should be held is made by a Justice of the Supreme Court. The test as to whether to order an inquiry is whether the material causes the person considering the matter "unease or a sense of disquiet" in allowing the conviction to stand.

The initial stage of any case will involve the preparation of an application or a petition for an Inquiry. The decision to hold an Inquiry is out of the hands of the person seeking it or his/her solicitor. It is essentially an administrative task that will be undertaken by either the Governor or his delegate or the relevant Justice of the Supreme Court. If an Inquiry is ordered, then a second stage of Legal Aid will commence. Legal aid will be available for representation at Inquiries, subject to a means and merit test.

Inquiries in recent years have been extremely detailed investigations into the acceptability of the original conviction. They have been presided over by either a Magistrate or by a District or Supreme Court Judge. With the amendments to Part 13A of the NSW Crimes Act 1900, it is anticipated many of the cases will be referred for decision to the Court of Criminal Appeal. The Court has the power to quash a conviction, order a re-trial or dismiss an application.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has already heard a number of cases where police misconduct exposed by the Royal Commission has led to the quashing of convictions. Among those cases were the appeals of two young women who in 1985 had been charged with conspiring to import cocaine. Both women had been convicted after a jury trial and sentenced to jail. In 1996 evidence was called at the Royal Commission from a police witness who stated that a substantial part of the case against the two women had been fabricated by the police. Commissioner Wood observed at the time: "At the very highest that the police case could be put, there was never a basis for an arrest and an interviewing of the ... accused".

The Court quashed the women's convictions. By then both had completed the sentences originally imposed. In two other cases in 1996, the CCA quashed the convictions of Messrs McBride, Selewski and Gudgeon. All three had been convicted in 1994 over the manufacture of amphetamines. All had received long gaol sentences, however the Royal Commission heard evidence from police that Mr Gudgeon and Mr McBride had been verballed by police. Mr Selewski was arrested many miles from the house where the drugs were allegedly manufactured. Police planted drugs on him and claimed to have arrested him at the property. Clearly the damage done to people convicted of serious crimes on false police evidence can have devastating consequences and may result in compensation claims.

Several important points need to be remembered: a) There is no time limit on applications. An application can still be brought even if a person has served the sentence or received a penalty other than full time jail. b) This remedy is available with regard to convictions in Local Courts as well as higher courts. c) Legal aid will only be available if the benefit of running the case outweighs the costs likely to be incurred and where the case has reasonable prospects of success.

Any people who would like to have information or who wish to make an application for legal aid are invited to contact David Barrow at the Legal Aid Commission on (02) 9219-5058. Alternatively, people can approach their own solicitor to make an application for legal aid on their behalf. At this stage it is anticipated that the cases will be dealt with on an in-house basis by the Legal Aid Commission solicitors, unless either work-load or conflict issues arise.

observations from a member of NSW Legal Aid Commission

- end -

To top of page

The latest cliché to enter youth and justice policy is 'zero tolerance'. After the NSW Police Royal Commission the 'new broom' police managers are said to have 'zero tolerance' for corruption, just as on the streets they will have 'zero tolerance' for the drug dealers, the car hoons, the cricket streakers, the youth gangs ... what?! What sort of 'new broom' is this? It should be no surprise to find this new cliché is yet another US idea, imported and aped by Australian policy makers.

In the US 'zero tolerance' policies have sought to co-opt community support to eliminate graffiti, extend the 'war on drugs', ban youth drink driving and eliminate weapons from schools. President Clinton's 1994 Presidential Memorandum Zero tolerance for guns in schools seems understandable. What place do guns have in schools, anyway? It is less clear how this objective will be met by withholding funds from schools which "fail to comply".

The Just Say No anti-drug campaign, launched by Nancy Reagan in the 1980s, has formed the basis for newer 'zero tolerance' campaigns. With the nation's youth in his sights Clinton (who once smoked marijuana but claims not to have inhaled) now says: "You must say no to gangs, no to drugs." New campaigns have based themselves on similar slogans of ÔnoÕ to crime and ÔnoÕ to youth drinking.

'Zero tolerance' to youth drink driving in the US now means automatic loss of licence for any young person found driving with any amount of alcohol in their blood. Many US states allow those over 16 to drive but all states now ban the sale of alcohol to those under 21. However this combination of policies is now under attack.

Catherine Prescott, National President of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, suggests it is dangerous to totally ban youth drinking, as it is a message ignored. University researchers also say the Just Say No campaign to drinking just doesn't work, and does nothing to develop responsible drinking patterns. Those from non-drinking Mormon families, for example, are "much more likely" to become alcoholic than those from wine-drinking Jewish families. Detroit journalist James Tobin asks: "US teenagers are taught safe driving. Some of them are taught safe sex ... why not safe drinking?"

Complaints about heavy handed and racist policing have also been linked to the policy of 'zero tolerance'. After heavy criticism last year of police actions against black youth a Texas newspaper, the Fort Worth Star, admitted that "the potential for abuse is inherent in the zero-tolerance policing concept", because it fails to respect civil liberties.

Many studies in the US have shown that young black men are already heavily targeted by police. African-Americans are 12% of the US population but 39% of drug arrests and 74% of those serving prison sentences for drugs. Mandatory minimum sentences and increased policing have led to the creation of the world's biggest prison population. There were half a million US prisoners in 1980 but over 1.5 million by 1995. 'Zero tolerance' is helping build this alarming trend. ÔZero tolerance' in Australia will have a similar impact on already disadvantaged minorities. For example, the Sydney Morning Herald of 13 February reported:

ÒThe Queensland Premier Mr Borbidge has requested an urgent report ... after allegations that Aborigines in the north of the state were being treated favourably by police. This came after a barrage of calls to a talkback radio program alleging police were reluctant to apply the full force of the law to Aborigines.Ó

- start pull quote-

Never mind that Aboriginal people are already arrested at 20 times the average rate and jailed at 10 times the average rate! NSW is similar to Queensland. Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended less use of prison, the indigenous prison population has almost doubled: around 860 of NSW's 6,300 prisoners are Aboriginal. As songwriter Paul Kelly says, ironically, they certainly do get 'special treatment'.

- end pull quote -

There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy in today's 'zero tolerance'. Just as the non-inhaling Clinton says Òjust say no", NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan has sacked several junior police, who admitted minor drug use, in the course of assisting the Royal Commission. It seems that, while confession may be good for the soul, in the NSW Police it may also be a career hazard. With intolerance the response to openness, we can expect more cover ups.

Taking responsibility for its misdeeds has never been the strength of the NSW Police Service. It has yet to admit corporate responsibility for the organised perjury revealed by dozens of its members at the Police Royal Commission. Large numbers of police admitted fabricating drug evidence and 'confessions' in past criminal trials. The government then instituted a Police Integrity Commission, but this does nothing to exonerate the many people convicted and jailed through this fabricated evidence. Police Royal Commissioner Justice Wood, who supports 'zero tolerance' of corrupt police, has similarly failed to address this problem.

Additionally, with the current moral panic over paedophilia, Sydney solicitors have reported large numbers of prosecutions for old and dubious sex 'offences'. A number of gay men now face charges for sex with 16 to 18 year olds (legal for heterosexuals) many years ago. A photographer is charged over old photographs, including one (now sold as a postcard) showing a 14 year-old girl's breasts. 'Zero tolerance' to paedophilia has meant police now believe they have no discretion not to prosecute, and must also now prosecute with little or no corroborative evidence.

'Zero tolerance' policing has become a slogan of British Labour leader Tony Blair, as part of his grab for the law and order vote. But Professor Rod Morgan, the University of Bristol, calls 'zero tolerance' policing a "misnomer". It promises an impossible total law enforcement, yet in the end produces "discriminatory intolerance of vulnerable nuisance groups, operating in symbolic locations". It is simply old fashioned 'law and order' politics, in new, jingoistic clothing.

We have to wonder at the stupidity of local policy makers who slavishly copy the youth and justice policies of the US: a country with the highest rate of violent crime, the biggest prison population, a rising rate of State killings and a well deserved reputation for intolerance. This is a path we are led down by dopey clichés like 'zero tolerance'.

by Tim Anderson

To top of page

Women Who Kill: The Heather Osland case

On 19 February 1997, a public forum was held in Melbourne titled 'Women who kill in self defence'. This forum was organised following the recent 14 and a half year sentence of Heather Osland who was convicted of murdering her violent husband, a campaign has been formed not only to fight for Heather's release from prison, but also to initiate legal reform to self defence to incorporate the issues surrounding women who kill their violent partners. Currently legal definitions of self defence seem only to apply to men in the classic 'bar room brawl' situation. The day before the forum, we were informed that Heather was denied legal aid for her appeal against the conviction and sentence. Yet again Heather has been let down by the legal/justice system! Heather is not alone, many other women have found that there is no justice for them.

"In 1994 Margaret Raby stood trial for murder. She had been subjected to every form of degradation that one human being can inflict on another ... The jury was told that Margaret was a victim of battered woman syndrome. They found her not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation. They could not equate her act with self defence since she stabbed him when he was drunk and a number of hours had passed since he had last assaulted her... The judge sentenced her to a minimum of eight months ..." The Thing She Loves: why women kill (Ed.) K. Greenwood 1996.

When a woman kills her violent partner the criminal justice system does not take into account her experience of domestic violence to contextualise the use of lethal force as reasonable and necessary. Instead the application of the law of self defence requires imminent danger and that force is met with equal force. Such application is clearly problematic for women who have killed in circumstances of long term and systemic violence. In many instances women who ultimately kill their violent partners have sought protection from police with little or no response. Such responses send a clear message to the community that violence in the context of a relationship will not be dealt with as 'real' violence. Further it clearly signals to the victim of domestic violence that she is alone and responsible for her own safety.

It is interesting to note that women represent a small proportion of those convicted of homicide. Of all domestic murders, an overwhelming majority are perpetrated by men with a long history of violence against their partners and often in the context of women and children trying to escape the violence. Yet when these men kill it is portrayed as a 'crime of passion' or as a result of a 'troubled marriage' rather than as the final act in control and power. We must demand that the law of self defence be reformed so that it is responsive to the gendered harm intrinsic in domestic violence and to ensure that women's experiences of violence by men are included in the equation of what constitutes immediacy and reasonableness.

For more information contact Chris Momot, Deer Park Community Information Centre, 822 Ballarat Road, Deer Park Victoria 3023. Donations to the campaign are tax deductible. Or contact People's Justice Alliance, P.O.Box 1567, Collingwood Victoria 3066. Phone (03) 9489 0149 email: pjan@vicnet.net.au

by Chris Momot, Deer Park Community Information Centre (VIC)

To top of page

An inmate's perspective

Justice Action receives many and varying letters from inmates throughout the NSW gaol system. We love hearing from you, so keep the letters coming. Here are just a few snippets from letters received.

This place isn't as good money wise (Lithgow), the Bay has contracts, quick cheap labour. So the faster you work the more money you get. Lithgow

The front yards (R.I.C) where I was and will be there no more, only strict and normal protection, the S.P.P. is for front yarders. They finally realised we get treated like or worse than animals. There was 15 or so Head Officers etc., come through and seen that we were treated like animals. Lithgow

The long list of such serious assaults, by Inmates and Prison Officers, gives credence to the inmates' concerns regarding their safety. It also highlights the Minister's claim of "palpable nonsense" as an emotional rather than factual response. Cooma

The majority of inmates here at Cooma need protection which only Cooma can provide. The Department has proven in the past that it has great difficulty protecting inmates who are seriously at risk. Many inmates who have already been assaulted and or harassed are housed at Cooma. Safety and protection has been tried and tested in other Centres, resulting in devastating consequences. Cooma

I am trying to do as much as I can, but this is stopping me from completing my pathway that was designed to help me. Industrial Training Centre, Long Bay

I got this disease (ChroneÕs) from the bad food that we get here in Junee and also from the stress etc., that I have been under while I have been in prison. Junee

I was due for release from prison on 13 August 1996, but because the psychologist here at Junee was too slack or lazy to see me before my parole hearing, they (O.R.B.) knocked me back till the 3.6.97. Junee

What ever happened to the Equal Opportunity for a human being, just because we have been incarcerated we are still human beings. Bathurst

I am greatly concerned about the failures and fallacies of our Judicial System and consider our adversarial system one of the worst (if not the worst) wrongs of our Judicial System. From what I have read in your journal and elsewhere I am not isolated in my concern. Bathurst

For your interest, my defence leader, whom I did not want, would not let me give evidence and refused my instructions repetitively. Victoria

Many people have been charged and sent to prison to suffer a complete miscarriage of justice. Many of these such people have continually appealed against their wrongful convictions and later had the errors rectified after enormous unnecessary sufferings and a waste of the taxpayersÕ hard earned money. Junee

As the present system now stands, each and every person who becomes a prisoner, convicted or otherwise imprisoned, locked up in custody etc., loses all manner of privacy under the present system of "Law and Order". They become open to all forms of public abuse and criticism and the most damaging of all is the media. They (prisoners) are treated as and given the overall feelings of a child of pre-school standards. Thus causing severs loss of confidence as human beings, forced to resign to accepting guilt so forced upon them. Rendering them full of complete confusion etc. They have absolutely no avenue of protest whatsoever against their ill inhuman treatment and injustice etc. Junee

compiled by Kelvin Willis

To top of page

News in Brief

NSW Special Branch shuts down

Members of the NSW Special Branch found the locks changed and entry barred when they arrived at work on 12 March. Following damning testimony before the Wood Royal Commission, NSW Police Commissioner Ryan terminated the unit and impounded thousands of 'dirty' files. Since its inception, community and civil liberties groups have condemned the corruption within and abuse by Special Branch. Testimony before the Wood Commission revealed that Special Branch created thousands of files and dossiers on critics, solicitors defending defendants in criminal cases and community groups. The director of the SB unit also admitted that an unspecified number of files were allegedly destroyed on the eve of the Royal Commission investigating police corruption.

Serious questions remained unanswered following Ryan's action. Will the estimated 20,000 files created by the unit be transferred to other bodies such as ICAC? As Justice Action, Council on Civil Liberties and others recommend, will the files be given to the subjects of these 'spy' activities and all copies destroyed? Will SB officers be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted for any illegal activities? Will Special Branch emerge again under a new name? The next issue of Framed will report on the aftermath of the 'shut down' of Special Branch.

Dennis Gilligan

Former Rogerson associate and notorious verballer, Dennis Gilligan, who rose to the rank of Assistant Commissioner during the Police Royal Commission, has finally been ejected from the force. Gilligan was not sacked, but his position was abolished, forcing him to leave or be seriously demoted. He chose to leave. Framed ran a series of articles, such as the one in November 1993 noting Gilligan's exposure in some notorious frameups yet his continued rise through the ranks. He oversaw the introduction of video-taped police interviews, but allowed room for police to verbal where they felt it necessary. A violent cop with a bad temper, Gilligan's removal from power - like the abolition of Special Branch - is good but overdue news.

Longer NSW Jail Terms Strongly Criticised

Dr. Don Weatherburn of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has condemned the law and order policies of the State government. The leading crime expert has issued a joint research paper with Peter Grabosky, director of research at the Australian Institute of Criminology. Their research indicates that the longer prison sentences introduced in NSW in 1989 have not cut crime and often only encouraged police to spend more money finding out what the public thinks of police. The 1989 legislation increased jail terms by up to 72 percent but have had little or no effect on crime rates, according to Weatherburn. Between 1989 and 1994, the jail population rose by nearly 60 percent while rates for murder, sexual assault, robbery and stealing stayed the same.

Record Number of Aborigines in NSW Prisons

A survey by the Department of Corrective Services indicates that the rise in rates of incarceration of indigenous people corresponds with a drop in the number of non-Aboriginal prisoners. In 1996, the proportion of inmates of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background rose from 11.5 to 12.4 percent of the state's prison population. During the same period, the number of non-Aboriginal inmates fell from 6,754 to 6,598. The Law Reform Commission has recently undertaken a study to determine whether the courts are issuing harsher sentences to ATSI defendants than to other accused offenders.

NSW Prisoners Join 'Walk Against Want' on 16

March Prisoners from many NSW jails joined fellow Australians as charitable volunteers for the annual Walk Against Want. At 10am, while thousands gathered at the Domain, hundreds of others began their 20km walk to raise international relief aid from behind razor tape. Justice Action would like to commend the sponsors, Community Aid Abroad, for recognising that prisoners remain an important part of our communities and their valuable support should not be ignored. We applaud those prisoners who chose to participate and encourage all inside to initiate future activities that will strengthen prisoner ties to the community and lower the walls of prejudice.

Victoria's Private Prison Compulsion

On March 20, officials will commission the second private prison to be opened in the state within the last year. The 600-bed Fulham Correctional Centre for Men will be owned and managed by multinational Wackenhut Corporation, currently operating prisons in Queensland and NSW. The facility opens amid growing reports of disturbances and mismanagement at Deer Park Prison for Women. Victoria's first private prison and the only privately-managed correctional center for women outside the USA, opened six months ago despite strong opposition from community groups. The State's opposition spokesperson for women's affairs recently declared the Deer Park Correctional Centre to be "an abject failure". In a March 3 report by The Australian, Campbell condemned the prison for failure to provide rehabilitation programs and denial of adequate care facilities for children. "If profit is your motive, you are driven by the imperative of cutting costs, not cutting recidivism rates, and not putting into place good alcohol and drug counseling programs", Campbell asserted. Meanwhile, community group People's Justice Alliance confirmed reports of high turnover of disgruntled staff and numerous disturbances over food shortages requiring outside intervention by the state's emergency services. Victoria Correctional Services Commissioner Van Groningen has denied all suggestions that facilities or services at the prison are in any way lacking.

Queensland 'Privatises' State's Jail System

Minister for Police and Corrective Services Russell Cooper recently announced that Queensland's Corrective Services Commission has split the agency into two functions. QCORR, (Queensland Corrections) will be operational by July 1 as a private corporation that will provide management of custodial and detention centres. QCSC will retain overall responsibility for policy and regulation according to Cooper. QCORR will now compete against other providers of correctional services within the state and will be able to bid for management of interstate and overseas correctional facilities. "This will create the potential for additional jobs and to earn export dollars for Queensland", said State Treasurer Joan Sheldon. Gordon Rennie, secretary of Queensland's Public Services Federation, said the plan effectively meant that Queensland is privatising their prisons. "Why is the Government moving away from that first-hand accountability, particularly in law and order?" he asked. The unprecedented move has broad ramifications for corrections management throughout Australia and beyond. Countrywide, as the percentage of inmates held by private companies approaches 50%, public corrections services are under pressure to corporatise their functions in order to compete and survive.

Justice for young people: tent embassy to be set up

Justice Action, along with other community groups, will be erecting a Tent Embassy from Sunday, 20 April to Friday, 25 April. The Tent Embassy will be located in the Domain, behind NSW Parliament House. During the week they will be holding workshops, dances and street performers will be entertaining the public. Please bring your tent, creative ideas, smiles and lots of friends. Any ideas for the organisation of the Tent Embassy will be welcome. Please contact the organisers, Kilty phone: (02) 9281 5100 or Peter phone: (02) 9514 2914.

compiled by Jim Mellor

To top of page

World Watch

Canada

In January, Correctional Services Canada publicly announced their intentions to close the Kingston Prison for Women (P4W) and to move approximately twenty-five prisoners designated as "maximum security" across the street to Kingston penitentiary for men (KP), containing primarily sex offenders. In response to public pressure, CSC began constructing regional federal facilities for women in the early 1990s to replace P4W, the only federal prison for women in Canada. Following an exercise in regressive circular logic, CSC began re-classifying P4W prisoners as maximum security and now deems the new regional facilities to be inadequate to house maximum security inmates. Activists are calling on the Chretian government to adhere to the recent Arbour Commission findings and suspend all transfers until adequate facilities for women are available.

Turkey

A Turkish court has charged 68 soldiers and policemen with manslaughter in the beating deaths of 10 Kurdish rebel prisoners during a jail riot last September. An autopsy report gave the cause of death of the 10 prisoners who were protesting food supplies as "brain damage".

Peru

The Tupac Amaru rebels continue to hold 83 hostages in the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima while seeking release of 300 comrades held in prison. Families of Peruvian inmates and international human rights organisations have verified Tupac communiqués which condemn the inhumane conditions within Peru's prisons. Daily newspapers recount stories of systemic starvation, confinement in 2 square metre 'tombs' and daily torture as told by family members. Human Rights Watch America and the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights Canada report a pattern of gross and systematic violations including torture and extra-judicial executions.

Germany

Scientists and health workers have issued a preliminary progress report on the implementation of a pilot needle exchange and drug education program within two German prisons. The two year program began in July 1996 in response to public acknowledgment of the high rates of incidence of viral infections within prisons and the subsequent impact on overall public health. The report indicates early success and wide acceptance by both inmates and prison staff. No incidents of violence using syringes have been reported and no increase in drug use, measured by drug finds, has occurred.

USA

Washington State. Prisoners Legal News reports that many of Microsoft's products, including Windows 95, are packaged at Washington State's Twin Rivers Correctional Centre. Microsoft public relations states that 'many public officials believe this type of program provides valuable work experience for prisoners.' Dan Pens of PLN disputes this. 'At best, they are providing experience in the same low-skill menial jobs that the US economy is exporting to Mexico and the developing world. After the 80% deductions authorised by Washington State law, prisoners take home less than $1 per hour, without benefits such as health insurance or worker's compensation.

Washington DC. On December 10, 1996, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) announced a contract to operate the 866 bed medium security Correctional Treatment Facility in the District of Columbia. CCA is the multinational parent corporation of Corrections Corporation of Australia, which operates facilities in Queensland and Victoria. Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry stated his intent to privatise the majority of the District's corrections system over the next four years, totalling approximately 8000 inmates. The District of Columbia, seat of the federal government, is the acknowledged US statistical leader in both high rates of poverty and crime. On December 31, 1996, CCA announced that it will begin housing 1500 Washington DC inmates in a CCA-owned facility in Youngstown, Ohio, locating prisoners half-a-country away from their families and lawyers.

The significance of these developments cannot be minimised. Previously, prison facilities managed and/or owned by private companies were located only in southern and western areas of the United States, generally considered to promote more punitive incarceration policies. Except for a few federal immigration facilities, no for-profit prisons were operating in the densely-populated urban areas of the north east, midwest or west coast. Together with Australia, the US leads the world in the for-profit privatisation of prison systems. Observers of this phenomenon predict that the Washington decision will herald explosive growth in the private industry of incarceration throughout urban America.

Philadelphia. District attorneys have asked a judge to throw out 11 criminal convictions tainted by the involvement of two former Philadelphia cops who framed suspects and committed perjury. The reversals will bring to 282 the number of cases dumped over the last two years as a result of the police corruption scandal. So far, the city has paid about $4 million to people wrongly arrested in the 39th District by just two of the corrupt officers. Note: The Philadelphia inquiry into police corruption is comparable to the Wood Royal Commission Inquiry in NSW.

New York State. Governor Pataki has proposed construction of three 1,500-bed super-max prisons for 'violent inmates' in the new state budget. The NY prison system, holding 69,855 inmates, is 130 per cent over capacity. The three new jails would have separate entrances to the prison and fenced-in prison yards and use sophisticated monitoring devices for the safety of prison staff. All the cells would be pre-fabricated and assembled by inmates at Green Haven Correctional Facility and other low to medium security jails.

compiled by Jim Mellor

To top of page