Right: Victorian Corrections Minister Ben Carroll: more emphasis on rehabilitation and mental health to lower recidivism.
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Background information
The information below has been drawn primarily from a Wikipedia entry titled 'Punishment in Australia'. The full text can be accessed at
Where information is drawn from other sources, these are indicated next to the material being cited.
Prisons in Australia
Punishment in Australia arises when an individual has been convicted of breaking the law through the Australian criminal justice system. Australia uses prisons, as well as community corrections (various non-custodial punishments such as parole, probation, community service etcetera). The death penalty has been abolished, and corporal punishment is no longer used. Prison labour occurs in Australia; prisoners are involved in many types of work with some paid as little as $0.82 per hour. Before the colonisation of Australia by Europeans, Indigenous Australians had their own traditional punishments, some of which are still practised.
Prisons are a state responsibility
Prisons in Australia are operated by state-based correctional services departments, for the detention of minimum, medium, maximum and supermax security prisoners convicted in state and federal courts, as well as prisoners on remand. There is no separate federal prison infrastructure, only state prisons. In the June quarter of 2018, there were 42,855 people imprisoned in Australia, which represents an incarceration rate of 222 prisoners per 100,000 adult population., or 172 per 100,000 total population. This represents a sharp increase from previous decades. In 2016-2017 the prison population was not representative of the Australian population, for example 91% of prisoners were male, while males were only half of the population, and 27% of prisoners were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, while indigenous people were only 2.8% of the population. In 2018, 18.4% of prisoners in Australia were held in private prisons.
Growing prison numbers and expenditure on prisons
In the 2016-17 financial year, Australia spent $3.1 billion on prisons and $0.5 billion on community corrections.
In November 2017, annual expenditure had reached $4 billion and Australian prisons were the fifth most expensive among 29 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands made up the top three.
An Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) report released in November 2018 found incarceration rates are growing rapidly. As of November 2017, there were 36,000 prisoners in Australia, up 39 per cent from a decade before. The report states, 'Over the past five years, international figures show Australia's incarceration growth has outstripped that of many comparable countries. Fellow common law countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand all reduced their incarceration levels over the [same] period.'
The report also found Australians spent more per capita on police than many other OECD countries. In 2015, Australia is estimated to have spent $427 per person on police services - ranking ninth highest in the OECD. Australia's level of policing was now higher than all other common law countries apart from Ireland, at 295 police per 100,000 citizens for the year 2015-16.
Growing community concern over crime
Despite the growth of spending on prisons and police, Australians are increasingly concerned about crime levels. Australia now ranks 50 (from a previous high of 37) among all countries for how safe its citizens feel in their communities, according to Gallup's 2018 Law and Order Report. Australia ranks behind most other English-speaking countries such as Canada, Ireland, UK, US and New Zealand - as well as behind unexpected countries like Indonesia, China, Egypt, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Serbia.
The results are based on interviews in which more than 148,000 adults from 142 countries were asked the following four questions: In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force? Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live? Within the last 12 months, have you had money or property stolen from you or another household member? Within the past 12 months, have you been assaulted or mugged?
Countries were then given a score from 0 to 100, with 0 effectively meaning 'not safe at all' and 100 effectively meaning 'completely safe'.
Australia scored 82 compared to the relatively similar score of 84 the year before. The highest this year was Singapore with 97 and the lowest was Venezuela with 44.
Data from the independent government advisory body, the Productivity Commission, confirms community concern about safety. In 2015-16 only 51.7 per cent surveyed said they felt safe walking home at night, while less than a quarter felt safe on public transport at night.
Bail, remand and parole
Bail: This involves the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. Bail involves a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that s/he complies with the judicial process. For example, a person on bail may have to surrender his or her passport, have a fixed address or guarantee to reside within a designated area. The requirement that a bail recipient have a fixed address is a factor that generally disqualifies the homeless from receiving bail.
An undertaking of bail is a promise to appear at court on a certain date to answer the charges. Bail can be granted with special conditions or no conditions.
A surety is a person who pays or promises to pay money to the court if the accused person fails to comply with his or her undertaking of bail. A surety must prove they can provide the amount fixed by the court. This may be done by providing money or proof of assets such as real property.
A deposit can be made by an accused person to provide security that s/he will attend court. A deposit is like a surety, except the deposit is given by the accused person rather than someone else.
Remand: Alleged offenders on remand are held in custody before and during their trial (on criminal charges) by order of a court. Generally, remandees will be held in special remand facilities and will have fewer restrictions placed on them than convicted prisoners.
An alleged offender is remanded in custody by a court if they: have not applied for bail; have been refused bail; cannot meet bail or provide a surety or are unable or unwilling to meet the conditions set out in the bail bond
Remanding an offender in custody is intended to ensure that the alleged offender attends their trial.
Research shows 50 per cent of people on remand are eventually released without conviction.
According to evidence from the United Kingdom, remandees are more likely than sentenced prisoners to be homeless, unemployed or have some form of mental disorder. There appear to be increasing levels of drug and mental health issues affecting those in custodial remand populations. Victorian data indicates that remandees demonstrate statistically significant declines in seriousness of criminal history at the same time as there were indications of increasingly severe drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems.
Parole: This involves the early release of a prisoner under set conditions. If a prisoner applies for parole, Corrections Victoria will prepare reports for the Board to provide it with relevant information to make a decision. The Board may also receive information from other sources, including Victoria Police.
If the Board decides to release a prisoner on parole, the prisoner will be supervised by a Corrections Victoria parole officer, who will meet regularly with the parolee. The parole officer may also visit the parolee at home and may direct the parolee to do certain things, such as to do community work or to take a drug test.