Thread by @KirstiMiller30

Who are the 43,000 people locked up in our prisons in Australia?

Australia's prisons are a transitory population.

Over a third are serving a short sentence of less than 2 years.

For females the average is just a few months. 

More than half of all prisoners are released into homelessness.

Disproportionately, they are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from the poorest communities in Australia

The majority have underlying illnesses and disabilities.

Most are non-violent offenders and a third await sentencing.

Many are locked up for “crimes” we never used to imprison people for, like traffic violations and low-level drug offences.

In the last decade, Australian states and territories have locked people up at a rate not seen since the 1890s.

andrewleigh.org/pdf/SecondConv…

This has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with winning votes by seeming “tough on crime”.

The 43,000 people in our prisons are part of our community. They were sent to prison to lose their freedom, not their lives. For the majority of prisoners who are not a danger to the community, coronavirus changed the nature of their punishment, making it manifestly unjust.

Imagine what social isolation would be like with no smartphone, no internet, no visitors and many of your fellow inmates falling desperately ill and dying. Victoria even has a cruel, unjustified ban on pen pals.

The Australian government acknowledged almost two years ago that the 43,000 “people in correctional and detention facilities” are the “most at risk of getting the virus”.

health.gov.au/news/health-al…

We have seen prisons act as vectors for transmission to the wider community, particularly to marginalised groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Disproportionately, they are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from the poorest communities in Australia. The majority have underlying illnesses and disabilities. Most are non-violent offenders and a third await sentencing.

Prisoners, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners, are an especially vulnerable group in this pandemic. Our prisons have shocking track records of failing to provide even basic medical care, let alone managing virus outbreaks.

Across the country, prisons continue to struggle to cope with coronavirus. Visitors have been banned. Many prisons are experiencing huge staffing shortages & industrial action. Most have resorted to drastic measures, such as quarantine units for new arrivals,

solitary confinement for suspected cases, and indefinite lockdowns.

Other countries acted rapidly to release prisoners. States across the US. They are released non-violent offenders and anyone with less than six months remaining on their sentence, and granted emergency clemencies to elderly and sick prisoners.

Iran released over 85,000 prisoners. Northern Ireland also released offenders. Scotland, Ireland and the UK have have also released non-violent offenders.

In Australia we are lagging behind. Encouragingly, NSW & others states passed legislation in 2020 that allows the Corrections Commissioner to release prisoners who do not threaten public safety. However, no meaningful reduction in numbers has happened yet.

Australia’s Premiers & Chief Ministers need to release prisoners who don’t threaten public safety, and make legislative changes to prevent the continued imprisonment of people who aren’t dangerous.

The $4.7 billion or $302 per prisoner, per day that we spend on imprisoning people should be redirected to supporting those released to isolate safely in the community.

Critically, these changes should not be temporary. Our prisons should never have been this full in the first place.

End