Prisons like ‘petri dish’

CONVICTED criminals are getting “discounts” on their jail time and proceedings are being delayed in an effort to keep coronavirus away from the state’s prisons.

One prison has gone into lockdown after a guard tested positive to COVID-19.

A barrister this week described jails as “cruise ships without the cruise” when it came to spreading infections, while another lawyer called them “Petri dishes”.

During almost every sentence heard in Southport District

Court this week lawyers discussed the delicate balancing between protecting society and the now dangerous conditions in prisons.

“Going to jail should not be a death sentence,” Potts Lawyers director Bill Potts told the Bulletin. “People are in prison to be removed from society, they are not there to die.”

Mr Potts said prisons were “petri dishes” when it comes to viruses and infections.

Prisons are an ideal place for the virus to spread with many of the state’s prisons operating at overcapacity and inability to social distance.

Due to the pandemic, courts are only dealing with sentences were the defendant is already in prison or the defendant is not at risk of going to prison.

During one hearing in the Southport District Court this week Judge Julie Dick, who is visiting from Brisbane, said circumstances were “extraordinary”.

“We are getting a lot of pressure to get people out of the overcrowded jails,” she said. “If it gets into the jail system it’s just going to be diabolic because people who have finished their sentence have to be released back into the community. So decisions are being made which are completely out of kilter.”

During another proceeding this week, defence barrister David Funch, who appeared via video link as he was feeling unwell, said the relevance to sentencing of COVID-19 should not be underestimated.

He said prisoners were already not able to go to work duties, do leisure time or receive visitors in an effort to prevent spread of any infection.

“It is difficult to create social distancing without further depriving people of their liberty,” he said. “It’s perhaps like a cruise ship without the cruise.”

Judge David Kent asked Andrew Monks, who was being sentenced for robbery, if he was able to social distance while in Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Brisbane.

“In all honesty it’s quite difficult just down to the fact of mustering … we have 30 to 50plus people you have to stand next to twice a day,” Monks said. “As far as the unit, there is no escaping, we are right next to each other.”

Monks said he was in his own cell but had been warned that they would have to double up in the coming days, making social distancing even more difficult.

Queensland Corrective Services commissioner Peter Martin yesterday signed a declaration putting all correctional centres into stage three restrictions, which includes no visitors. Wolston Correctional Centre, where a guard tested positive to the virus was put into stage four restrictions, which allows prisoner isolation. Mr Martin also ordered all staff undergo a health check and temperature check as they entered the prison day.