| INDEX
POLICY STATEMENT
This Conference follows the first, held in Sydney in 1996. Criminal justice activists came together to share their work, exchange ideas, develop strategies and continue an alliance focussing on criminal justice issues and national policies. The delegates represented a wide variety of grassroots organisations from all corners of the country.
Although each participant had a specific area of focus within their own communities, all shared a common purpose. Participants were intent to establish and adopt national criminal justice policies that could be supported with one voice from within each and every community.
Representatives from organisations who took responsibility to facilitate specific focus issues are listed with their contact information. While we look ahead to the next conference, we will also strengthen our network of communication. Through better interconnectivity, we can disseminate information, refine policies, and join in campaign strategies.
This policy statement is a working document and is not intended to be a complete and exhaustive statement. It is a starting point for working towards a national approach for community based criminal justice activists and to provide a vehicle to progress issues in between opportunities to gather nationally.
The Peoples Justice Alliance of Victoria has agreed to host the Third National Conference in Melbourne, Victoria in 12 to 18 months. All are invited to attend.
PENAL ABOLITION
POLICY:
The conference supports the abolition of the penal system and calls for a community-wide focus on developing alternatives. There should be a moratorium on the building of any new prisons.
STRATEGIES:
- Lobby for changes which tend towards the abolition of prisons including raising the status of prisoners and breaking down the myths about crime and prisoners fostered by the media.
- Working towards the decriminalisation of certain offences, especially drug offences, and advocating the use of prisons only as a last resort
- The inclusion of violent offenders in all reforms.
- Form alliances with mainstream groups.
- Enter debates on the issue frequently with the certainty of the rightness of our position.
- Support the expansion of alternatives to imprisonment.
Contacts:
Brett Collins c/o Justice Action
Email: justiceaction@justiceaction.org.au
WWWeb: http://www.justiceaction.org.au
Lisa Carlton Pr. M-Q
Donna.Vic.
Email: Donna@anarki.net
BLOOD BORNE
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES: HIV/HCV
POLICY:
- Use non custodial options for intravenous drug users.
- Full access to condoms, needle and syringe exchanges and other HIV/HCV and other BBCD prevention methods.
- Universal peer education and staff education.
- Specific programs especially residential programs.
- Recognise the particular needs of prisoners with HIV, HCV and other BBCDs.
- Full access by outside support agencies for delivery of services
STRATEGIES:
- Lobby for law reform - target Health/Corrective Services ministers and departments.
- Run and publicise legal challenges e.g. Richard Lynott (Ex-prisoner, dying of AIDS, who sued NSW Government for failure to provide adequate safeguards)
- All States/Territories to find out what is happening in their States-create a national database of laws and regulations and policies.
- Public education - use media, speak at conferences, speak to other groups.
- Develop alliances with other groups and give material support, ie: pro bono lawyers - infrastructure and emotional support.
This conference recognises Richard Lynott who died of AIDS after suing the NSW Department of Corrective Services for failure to ensure his wellbeing in prison. We commend his bravery and mourn his death on 15th December 1996.
Contacts:
Ian Sanderson
c/o Queensland Aids Council
Brett Collins c/o Justice Action
65 Bellevue St Glebe NSW Au 2037
Ph: +61-2 9660 9111.
Email: justiceaction@justiceaction.org.au
DEATHS IN CUSTODY
POLICY
Death in Custody understood to be:
- Wherever occurring of a person who is in prison custody or police custody or juvenile detention.
- Wherever occurring of a person whose death is caused or contributed to by traumatic injuries sustained or by lack of proper care whilst in such custody or detention.
- Wherever occurring of a person who dies or is fatally injured in the process of police or prison officers attempting to detain that person.
- Wherever occurring of a person who dies or is fatally injured in the process of that person escaping or attempting to escape from prison custody or police custody or juvenile detention. As per Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 1991 p190.
RESOLUTIONS & STRATEGIES:
- Devise a broader definition of what constitutes a Ôdeath in custody' to include people who die within their post-release adjustment period.
- Monitor deaths in custody along the entire continuum of Ôdeaths' articulated in the broader definition. (Includes home detention, non-custodial community-based sentences and post-custody deaths).
- Set up a national working group consisting of groups and individuals working on deaths in custody issues, who are working in each State and Territory.
- We recognise that the operation of safe cells is not satisfactory and that we need to work towards a better alternative. These alternatives should always reflect the needs of the individual at risk of self harm.
STRATEGIES on safe cells:
- Peer education program
- Public awareness campaign
- Inquiry into why / where people commit suicide.
LOBBY AS FOLLOWS:-
- Move the supervision of safe cells out of the hands of Corrective Services e.g. attached to hospital unit.
- Use of culturally based support systems.
- Increase access/availability of counselling/welfare services.
- Give newly admitted prisoners unlimited access to a phone to ensure resolution of outside problems.
- Make Ôharm reduction' cell more like home (based on specific needs of specific prisoner). Provide continuity of care on release from harm reduction cell.
INFORMATION SHARING:
- Use 'prison-net' as a means to e-mail and widely distribute deaths in custody information and developments.
- Begin a national monthly mailing list of recent deaths in custody information and research to be disseminated widely.
- Organise an ÔAction Alert' National Media Network for the quick and effective dissemination of information relating to deaths in custody incidents.
- Assist and resource individuals, groups and families on any issues relating to deaths in custody and related issues.
- Engage in an intensive and extensive campaign of community education to highlight and publicise deaths in custody issues.
- Demand access to statistical and other information on deaths in custody from each State and Territory Government.
- Demand that the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody be codified in legislation and immediately implemented.
- Investigate all forms of legal action to compel State/ Territory and/or Federal Governments to implement the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and to act according to their duty of care owed to people in their custody.
Contacts:
Vic:
Singh. PO Box 1567 Collingwood 3066
(Ph) 03-9470-5058
NSW:
Solange Rosa PO Box 201 Glebe 2037
Email: solrosa@enternet.com.au
Qld:
Karen Fletcher – Prisoners Legal Service
FNQ: Jacob George – 12 Guingi St, Ingham
Ray Jackson
c/o Indigenous Social Justice Organisation
PO Box K555 Haymarket NSW
(ph) 02-9318 0947 (fax) 02-9519 2509
Email: turandot@rainbow.net.au
DRUGS IN PRISON
POLICY:
Drug laws should be reformed to end the imprisonment and stigmatisation of drug users. The use of drugs in prisons is strongly related to the boredom, hopelessness and isolation of prisoners and any strategy to address drug use must recognise this. All prisoners should be able to make informed choices about drugs (legal and illegal) in the prison system - only the person using can bring about change. Education and counselling is only of benefit if individuals trust the person offering it.
Support people should be Ôoutside the system' and be available to help after release. Punishment for drug use is counter productive, particularly restriction of access to families, which should be sacrosanct. Internal body cavity searches are rape and should be banned immediately in prisons and in the community. The continued over-prescription of drugs to females in prison reflects the over-prescription and sedation of women in society generally, thereby continuing the disempowerment of women.
STRATEGIES:
- Reform drug laws. Lobby politicians, form alliances with other groups.
- Promote real lifestyle choices in and out of prison.
- Drug prescribing in prison- changing current strategies of policy and practice - Lobby health and corrections personnel.
- Challenging the idea, and the policies based on the idea of trying to achieve "drug free" prisons.
- Challenge the mythology that prison visitors are the source of drugs entering prisons and expose the role of corrections personnel in this process.
Contact:
Wendell Rosevear
38 Gladstone Road, Highgate Hill, Qld
(ph) 07-3844-9599 (fax) 07-3846-2957
Rowena Solomon
PO Box 178, Corinda, Qld
(ph/fax) 07-3379-9210
INDIGENOUS PRISONERS
POLICY:
We recognise the massive over-representation of indigenous peoples in prisons, police custody. Juvenile detention centres and other areas of the criminal justice system and commit ourselves to fighting against the colonial, genocidal and racist policies and practices currently in operation in Australia.
RECOMMENDATIONS / STRATEGIES:
- Work towards increasing community awareness of what the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 1991 are, eg, through community workshops, etc.
- Continue to lobby and pressure governments to enshrine those recommendations in legislation and to genuinely implement them.
- Support the struggles of indigenous prisoners.
- Support indigenous organisations that are working towards implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
- Equal opportunity for jobs and education for indigenous prisoners.
Contact:
Ray Jackson
c/o Indigenous Social Justice Organisation
PO Box K555 Haymarket NSW
(ph) 02-9318 0947 (fax) 02-9519 2509
Email: turandot@rainbow.net.au
JUVENILE JUSTICE
POLICY:
This conference recognises the special circumstances and vulnerable status of young people in their dealings with all government agencies, none more so than the criminal justice system.
We therefore call for the following:
- The immediate implementation of the United Nations Agreements on the Rights of the Child across all the states in Australia.
- The abolition of Juvenile Prisons.
- The implementation of Restorative Justice and other community based measures in dealing with youth crime.
- The establishment nationally of a Youth Advocacy Service.
- The exploration of methods for political and social representation of young people.
- The division of the present police powers to investigate, question and prosecute youth to one where the prosecution of young Ôoffenders' is by a body independent of the police and whose main concern is that the law is upheld on all fronts.
This conference asserts, in the absence of abolition, that government provide minimum standards of service to young prisoners equal to if not better than those provided the society at large. Therefore:
- The departments of education must educate juvenile prisoners.
- The departments of health must provide easily accessible services, tailored to the specific needs of juveniles and juvenile prisoners.
- The departments of housing must have programs for accommodating young people leaving prison.
- Minimum standards of training and professional attainment be set for all employees dealing with imprisoned young people.
Contact:
Justice Action
65 Bellevue St Glebe NSW Au 2037
Ph: +61-2 9660 9111.
Email:justiceaction@justiceaction.org.au
John Murray
c/o Positive Justice Centre
Email: psychometre@hotmail.com
Helen
c/o Youth Justice Coalition
PO Box 70, Brisbane Roma St Qld 4003
Ph: (07)3236 5400 or 1800 177 899
Fax: (07) 3236 5411
Email: yanq@the hub.com.au
POLICING AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
POLICY:
The conference opposes the introduction of capsicum gas by police and prison services. The gas is associated with over 100 deaths in the US.. Given current police practice, it will not be a replacement for firearms and not reduce fatal shootings by police. We are concerned the gas will be used as a means of unaccountable mistreatment, harassment and torture by police and prison guards.
STRATEGIES:
- Find out about intended introduction of capsicum gas by police and prisons in your State.
- Link up with the Victorian and NSW opposition to capsicum gas use as a resource in your campaign against it.
- Gain support from medical practitioners.
- Provide information to police officers and police unions about the harmful effects for them.
- Collect reports of capsicum gas use and pass on.
- Participate in production and distribution of national poster.
- Find out which companies are involved in the international security and policing technology trade and expose them.
- Organise a National Day of Action Against Capsicum Spray.
- Develop a Touring Slide Show on policing and new technologies.
- Develop a campaign to oppose the extension of new, intrusive and dangerous repressive technologies.
- Oppose the use of semi-automatic pistols, eg, Glocks, by police.
Contact:
Damien Lawson
c/o Cop Watch Victoria
Ph: (03) 9416 4215
Email: damien.lawson@rmit.edu
Victoria Sentas
c/o Copwatch NSW
c/o UTS Community Law & Research Centre
PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007
Ph: (02) 9514 2917 Fax: (02) 9514 2919
Email: louiseb@law.uts.edu.au
Brendan Greenhill
c/o Copwatch Qld
c/o 4ZZZ Ph: (07) 3252 1555
Email: brendan@4zzzfm.org.au
POLICE POWERS AND ABUSES
POLICY:
This conference recognises that the police have enormous legal powers which they systematically exceed and abuse. In practice, this means police operate beyond the law and exercise unlimited power. Police should operate within their powers and these powers should not encroach on the human rights of Australians.
The conference calls for :
- The significant reduction of police powers (ie these should not encroach on the human rights of citizens), and violence.
- The investigation of complaints against police by an independent civilian authority at a Federal and State level.
- The prosecution of all police who abuse their powers.
STRATEGIES:
- Expose police corruption and abuses at every opportunity. Use the media and form alliances with other groups.
- Educate lawyers to properly inform their clients about their options when pleading.
- Use Australian-ratified international treaties at every opportunity to expose and attack police abuses in the state systems.
Contact:
Damien Lawson
c/o Cop Watch Victoria
Ph: (03) 9416 4215
Email: damien.lawson@rmit.edu
Victoria Sentas
c/o Copwatch NSW
c/o UTS Community Law & Research Centre
PO Box 123 Broadway NSW 2007
Ph: (02) 9514 2917 Fax: (02) 9514 2919
Email: louiseb@law.uts.edu.au
Brendan Greenhill
c/o Copwatch Qld
c/o 4ZZZ Ph: (07) 3252 1555
Email: brendan@4zzzfm.org.au
POST RELEASE ISSUES
POLICY:
We believe that a whole-of-government approach in conjunction with those operating prisons in Australia is required to guarantee that a minimum requirement is applied to every person incarcerated to ensure their survival in the community through access to realistic workable pre/post release support and resources.
Contact:
Denise Foley
c/o Catholic Prison Ministry
20 Merivale St, South Brisbane 4101
Ph: (07) 3846 7577 Fax: (07) 3846 5207
Michelle Finn
c/o QLD Independent Sentenced Prisoners Association
Ph: (07) 3288 5177
PRISON VISITS
POLICY:
Prisons must be fully open to the community and media to visit and monitor. Families and friends must be encouraged to freely visit to ensure continuation of prisoners personal supports. There should be a national minimum standard for prison visits-both in quality and quantity. This is critical to recommunalisation.
STRATEGIES:
Lobby politicians and use the media.
Contact:
Denise Foley
c/o Catholic Prison Ministry
Ph: (07) 3846 7577 Fax: (07) 3846 5207
Email: df@micah.powerup.com
Margaret Pereira
c/o PLS
Ph: (02) 6632 3094
Email: munko@wantree.com.au
PRIVATE PRISONS
POLICY:
- No private management/ownership of prisons, police cells, juvenile justice institutions, migrant detention centres and other areas of the criminal justice system.
- There must be an open public inquiry into the operation of private prisons in Australia
STRATEGIES:
- Get the transcript of Coroner's Court hearings into deaths in Australia's private prisons.
- Include a section in Framed and in other newsletters to update on private prisons.
- Upset companies profits i.e. boycott, rallies outside their offices, direct action.
- Set up a national database reporting system to document:
- (a) incidents occurring in private prisons
- (b) inmate complaints
- Gather information: history, dirt etc. on the companies involved in private prisons.
- Have a national day of action focused on demands.
- Explore taking a case to the UN Human Rights Committee re; Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- Influence shareholders in CCA, GP4, Wackenhut to use their position to dispute private prisons.
- Load all our information onto the Internet and publish it.
- Lobby for all prisoners to be paid award wages for work.
- Demand complete access to all contractual and operational information regarding private prisons.
- Gather information on and monitor the corporatisation of prison industries.
Contact:
Catherine Gow c/o Peoples' Justice Alliance
PO Box 1567 Collingwood Victoria 3066
Ph: (03) 9317 7818
Email: pjan@vicnet.net.au
Jim Mellor c/o Positive Justice Centre
Email: jmellor@peg.apc.org
STRIP SEARCHING
POLICY:
- Strip searching and involuntary urine testing is sexual assault and therefore must be abolished. Notwithstanding this policy, in the interim:
(a) Police and prison guards should apply for a court order proving beyond reasonable doubt the need to conduct strip searching and involuntary urine testing, stating the justifiable evidence.
(b) Strip searching and involuntary urine testing should only be done by medical personnel.
(c) Strip searching and involuntary urine testing should always be done in private.
(d) Strip searching must not be carried out under any circumstances on children.
STRATEGY:
- Establishment of the "National Strip Search and Urine Testing Data Base".
Contact:
Denise Foley
c/o Catholic Prison Ministry
Ph: (07) 3846 7577 Fax: (07) 3846 5207
Email: df@micah.powerup.com
Margaret Pereira c/o PLS
Ph: (02) 6632 3094
Email: munko@wantree.com.au
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS
WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
POLICY:
People with mental illness should be treated by the health care system and not prisons. This requires early intervention through adequate assessment and resources at all possible points of entry:
(a) point of arrest
(b) court proceedings
(c) prisons
STRATEGIES:
- Lobby for accommodation for these individuals when they are released, ie: accommodation appropriate to high support needs (lobby relevant Community Housing Departments)
- Lobby for more resources i.e. Federal through Minister for Health and State Health and Community Services Minister.
- Submissions to the Mental Health Review, i.e: enter the debate re: criminalisation of mental illness - rely on Burdekin inquiry.
- To co-operate, where possible, with community organisations with an interest in mental health to campaign and educate about mental health in prison.
Contact:
Judy Andrews
c/o Far North Queensland Prisoners
and Family Support
Ph: (07) 4093 7366
Email: aclafng@intemetnorth.com.au
Ted Watson
c/o ATSI Mental Health Service
Mental Health Worker
WOMEN IN PRISON
POLICY:
No women should be imprisoned.
STRATEGIES:
- A national public education campaign about who is in prison and why.
- Bridge the gap between prison and the community (more interaction between community groups and people in prison).
- Reduction in the prison populations through decriminalisation of drugs etc.
- Promotion of reform in prison through e.g.; retraining of prison guards. Lobbying politicians, forming alliances with other groups.
- Form a National Working Group to develop policy on women in prison for the 3rd National Conference.
Contact:
Michelle Delaforce
c/o Sisters Inside
Ph: (07) 3844 5066
Email: sisters@irvnet.org.au
PARENTS IN PRISON
POLICY:
We recommend that parenting status and responsibilities be acknowledged at each stage from arrest to to post-release.
STRATEGIES:
- National collaboration on research and documentation into the issues faced by parents in prison and their children.
- Engagements in a public awareness campaign about the issues facing parents in prison.
- Campaign for alternatives to imprisonment - especially for those facing short-term sentences - by raising awareness of the FINANCIAL & SOCIAL COSTS to parents in prison and their children and to society as a whole of the imprisonment of parents.
- Develop pre- and post-release programs that allow the needs and wishes of parents in prison and their children to be acknowledged.
Contact:
Judy Andrews
c/o Far North Queensland Prisoners
and Family Support
Ph: (07) 4093 7366
Email: aclafng@intemetnorth.com.au.
Denise Foley
c/o Catholic Prison Ministry
Ph: (07) 3846 7577 Fax: (07) 3846 5207
Karen Healey c/o University of Sydney
Email: Karen.Healey@social.usyd.edu.au
STRATEGIES FOR CAMPAIGNING
POLICY:
- Any work/projects/programs done in STRATEGIES need to have inmates involved at all levels of the process-identifying needs through to evaluation
STRATEGIES:
- Educating community about who is in prison e.g.
- (a) Young People
- (b) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
- (c) Non English Speaking Background
- (d) Mentally ill
- (e) Different religions etc.
- National awareness through submissions to State and Federal Public Inquiries and Parliamentary Committee's. State based activist groups to inform others on raising submissions of their own.
- Form an Australian community based criminal justice activists network based on the existing network of Conference participants.
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