Fix the prison mess

THERE should be no excuse for prisoners to fail to show at court.

They are, after all, a “captive audience”.

Not enough seats on the bus and not enough room in the court cells are problems that a functioning Justice and Corrections system should be able to overcome.

Worse than those causes is this one: prisoners refusing to board transport.

Inmates due for a court date should have no say in the matter. If they refuse to attend they should be restrained, transported and presented before the judge or magistrate — in leg irons if necessary.

Our justice system cannot run on the whim of whether an accused criminal deigns to keep his court date or not.

If the problem is cultural, our Corrections officers (we used to call them wardens) need to do the job they are paid to do. If it is a legal problem, they need to be given the legal backing so they categorically have the right to transport such inmates against their will.

In a strange way such reforms should have bipartisan support.

It is not only people who want to see a tougher approach taken on law and order who should care about fixing all the causes of prisoners failing to appear at court. Some prisoners on remand who have not had their guilt or innocence determined by a court could actually be wrongly accused innocent parties spending days behind bars they will never get back. Civil libertarians should care about this.

The Opposition’s policy to “take Muhammad to the mountain” and station a magistrate at the jail is a creative one. Insiders say such ideas have been resisted in the past.

But the legal profession and the judiciary, in particular, need to wise up to the standards expected of them. Other professionals — medics for example — are not above going to where they are needed.

We need solutions to this issue. The constant cost to the taxpayer and the general appearance of malaise in the administration of justice cannot and should not be tolerated.