Prisons in Tasmania are failing
Most people who are locked up should not even be there, writes Rob White
WE are spending a lot of money in Tasmania on an institution that has miserably failed Western countries for well over 200 years.
It is called prison. Putting people into prison is costly, whichever way you measure it. Tasmanian taxpayers spend almost $94m on prisons each year. We have among the highest per-capita prison costs in the country. Each prisoner costs us more than $120,000 a year.
These enormous sums could be better spent on housing and health. We need to address issues such as housing shortfalls, access to health services and ambulance ramping at our hospitals.
Throwing good money after bad only makes outcomes worse. It does not constitute an investment for the future (since two-thirds of people in prison in Tasmania have been to prison before), nor does it make our communities any safer (since the people coming back into the system are reoffending and hence hurting victims, again).
Community-based options and rehabilitation programs are much cheaper than the bricks-and-mortar institutions that contain our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers.
Spending time inside only makes things that much harder when persons are released outside. The fact is we have to live with those we punish. Most Tasmanians who spend time in our prisons return as citizens to live in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities. This is after time away from loved ones, diminished job opportunities, and failures to address the underlying causes of offending such as unemployment, illiteracy, personal trauma, physical and mental illness, and drug and alcohol addiction. We lock up the most vulnerable and marginalised, offer few meaningful education, training and support programs (in part due to frequent lockdowns and prison friction), then expect them to be changed individuals when they come out. The reality is that imprisonment only makes the problems worse — such as homelessness and joblessness — that were there to be begin with. Prisons fail. The evidence is there and has been there for a very long time. So why do we keep adopting policies that are not evidence-based?
Putting people into prisons does not make us safer. Aside from the few who must be incapacitated for community safety reasons, most in prison should not be there. It makes things even more difficult, for them and their families. It does nothing for the victims of crime and their families.
On the one hand, offenders need to be held accountable. Social context and background make things understandable — but don’t justify harm they have caused others. Something must be done to redress the wrongs, to repair the harms. On the other hand, failure to nurture, protect, empower and enhance people in our midst abrogates the responsibility to be accountable to all those who are likewise part of our community.
Prisons do not support people to build productive lives in our community. They breed behaviours that are destructive, inflame tempers and generate ill will.
Justice needs to be based on something done by the offender, not to the offender. It needs to be future-oriented, not simply backward-looking.
The social and financial costs to offenders, victims and communities persist. Breaking this cycle is possible. There are alternatives. They include justice reinvestment approaches that channel money from prisons to communities. They include approaches that focus on repairing harm and empowering individuals and communities, such as restorative justice. Tasmania is uniquely placed to be a world leader in these endeavours. As old prisons rot and new prisons court controversy, the time for bold vision has never been more pressing, nor more opportune.