Dear Victorian Decarceration Network,

The June 2013 e-bulletin contains some new resources for formerly incarcerated people and those agencies working with criminalised people as well as providing some links to news relating to the decarceration movement in Victoria. Resources

Off the record: a short documentary about irrelevant criminal record discrimination ‘Off the Record’ is a short documentary that unravels the detrimental impact of the current criminal record check system in Victoria, Australia. Discrimination on the grounds that a person has a criminal record is widespread in Victoria, particularly in obtaining and maintaining employment. The documentary comes in response to the significant increase in the number of criminal record checks undertaken in Victoria, which rose from about 3500 a year in 1993 to more than 186,000 in 2011. `Off the Record’ was supported by Fitzroy Legal Service, Flat Out, Youth Law and Flemington Kensington Community Legal Service, directed and produced by former University of Melbourne students Jessica Crofts and Gemma Leigh-Dodds, edited by former VCA student Vessal Safaei, and funded by the Melbourne Engagement and Partnerships Office at the University of Melbourne.

You can view off the record at: http://offtherecordcampaign.com/ You can also sign a petition to raise parliamentarians’ awareness about this issue at: http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/change-the-law- to-end-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-irrelevant-criminal-records

Women exiting prison: cricial essays on gender, post-release support and survival edited by Bree Carlton and Segrave Women’s incarceration is on the rise globally and this has significant intergenerational, economic and humanitarian costs for communities across the world. While there have been efforts to implement reform, particularly in countries such as Canada, UK, US and Australia, the growing evidence suggests women’s prisons and the support structures surrounding them are in crisis. This collection of critical essays presents groundbreaking research on women’s post-imprisonment policy, practice and experiences. It is the first collection to offer international perspectives on gender, criminalisation, the effects of imprisonment and women-centred approaches to the short and long-term support of women exiting prison. It offers cutting-edge insights into contemporary policy developments and women’s experiences across the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and Northern Ireland. Women exiting prison contains a chapter by Debbie Kilroy, Phoebe Barton, Suzi Quixley, Amanda George and Emma Russell on Decentring the prison: abolitionist approaches to working with criminalized women. You can view more about the book or order it at: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415630764/

Everyday Abolition Everyday Abolition Movement is a new abolition website http://everydayabolition.com/ that generously featured our 2013 edition of the An End to Prisons poster.

In the news Deaths in custody The Victorian Ombudsman has commenced an investigation in the unprecedented number of deaths of incarcerated people this year. Corrections Victoria has confirmed that there have been 12 deaths in custody since January and Corrections Commissioner Jan Shuard told the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee in late May that of the 12 prisoners who had died in custody since January 1, nine deaths “appear to be by natural causes” and the other three would “appear to be by unnatural causes”. This compares with four deaths in the 2011-12 financial year. The number of incarcerated people dying has risen significantly. One activist is reported as commenting “I’ve never actually seen so many people die in such a short time”. Others have questioned what is meant by the term “natural” deaths.

Australia has one of the world’s worst prison suicide rates with an average of 70 prison deaths per annum. The average number of deaths amongst formerly incarcerated people in their first year back in the community is at least five times the prison deaths average. 350 to 500 die post release – suicide or by various self-harm including addiction to various substances per year (Georgatos, 2013).

There has been renewed interest in the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody as its 20 years since the release of the Royal Commission that made recommendations that address the disproportionality high rate of death amongst incarcerated Aboriginals. Aboriginal deaths in custody have fallen since the Royal Commission’s report however the number of deaths remains higher because there are so many more Aboriginal people in jail. A new Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) report that has looked at deaths in prisons in the last two decades found that:

 There have been almost 1,400 Aboriginal deaths in custody recorded since 1980

 14 Indigenous people died in prison in 2009-10, the highest number on record

 An increasing number of Aboriginal people are dying from heart attack and cirrhosis of the liver

 From 2008-11, 33 of the 159 deaths in prison custody were Indigenous people.

The full AIC report on Aboriginal deaths in custody can be found here: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/1-20/20.html Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wave-of-deaths-in-victorias-prisons-20130518-2jtnp.html#ixzz2UpU2kzk0 Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wave-of-deaths-in-victorias-prisons-20130518-2jtnp.html#ixzz2VDhmtwgj http://thestringer.com.au/why-are-more-prisoners-dying-from-natural-causes/

Reoffending following sentencing report Reoffending following sentencing in the Magistrates’ Court is a new report from the Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) into reoffending patterns amongst people at the Magistrates’ Court has found that jail is not a deterrent and that diversion programs are more successful at reducing recidivism rates. Professor Arie Freiberg at SAC notes that the “failure rate” of the prison system is evidence that it is “ineffective in reducing crime”. The report found that people who have been given a custodial sentence two or more times is 193.4 per cent more likely to reoffend than those people without a recent history of imprisonment. It also found that a jail sentence may actually increase the likelihood of people having further contact with the criminal justice system.

The SAC report can be accessed at: https://sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/files/reoffending_following_sentencing_in_the_magistrates_court _of_victoria.pdf Media coverage on the report: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/reoffending-rates-highamon-jailed-criminals/story-fni0ffnk- 1226656506669

Sentencing in Victoria In May the Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) released a new report on Victoria’s prison population 2002-12 which found Victoria’s prison population has increased by nearly 40% over the last 10 years. However, in 2012 Victoria still had the second lowest imprisonment rate in Australia. The report concludes that growth in Victoria’s prison population is due to a combination of factors, including:

 increased lengths of prison sentences

 increased use of custodial sentences in the higher courts

 increases in offences against the person, drug offences and offences against good order.

The report also found that there has also been a significant increase in the number of people being held on remand and that remandees now represent over 20% of the prison population in 2012. The report can be viewed at: http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/content/publications/victorias-prison-population-2002-2012

Sentencing of Aboriginal people in Victoria In April this year the Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) released a research report Comparing sentencing outcomes for Koori and non-Koorie adult offenders in the Magistrates Court of Victoria found Indigenous people sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria are more likely to receive a term in prison than their non-Indigenous counterparts. The report contains data on sentencing outcomes for Indigenous and non- Indigenous offenders who have been sentenced to imprisonment, partially suspended sentences, intensive correction orders and community- based orders. The report found that Indigenous prisoners are more likely to have problems with drug and alcohol use, to have poor education and employment histories, to have had contact with the child protection system, to have been held in youth detention or in adult prisons and to have breached previous orders. The full report can be viewed and downloaded from: http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/news/2013-04-11/indigenous-sentencing- report-released

Aboriginal women Between 1995 and 2002, there was a 58% increase in the number of incarcerated women in Australia. This contrasts with a 15% increase in the rate for men. 2012 statistics show that the number of women being imprisoned has increased at a rate 21 times higher than the number of male prisoners since 2011. Females now make up approximately 7% of Australia’s total prisoner population.

A recent report revealed approximately 20 cases where Aboriginal women were charged, and several of whom were given jail sentences because they had retreated from claims against their abuser. These women jailed for ‘public mischief’ are in reality survivors of violence and seeking a life free from domestic violence, by trying to escape their partners. Follow this link for more coverage of this issue: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/rough-justice-for-victims-too- scared-to-testify-against-abusive-partners/story-fn9hm1pm-1226635002150

Voices of dissent on the Victorian State Budget 2013-2014 What’s there to worry about?

 $131.5 million for an extra 357 prison beds

 The expansion of Barwon High Security Prison with another 40 bed unit built and expansion of Banksia Management Unit

 Lack of diversion, community supports and crime prevention programs

 Ongoing fall in allocation for VET and TAFE

 No real expansion of alcohol and drug treatment services.

This comes on top of the 519 more beds in prisons which have opened since November 2010, including:

 A 118 bed unit at maximum security Port Phillip Prison

 84 bed unit at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre

 108 beds at minimum security prisons Dhurringile and Langi Kal Kal

The Minister for Corrections, Edward O’Donohue said “the prison funding will keep Victorians safe and keep pace with the growing prison population”. He also is on recorded saying “these new beds and high security upgrades will support a safer Victoria and create hundreds of construction and permanent jobs across the state”. By promoting the expansion of prisons as a job creator, exposes the prison industrial complex at work in the Victorian political system. The prison industrial complex concept exposes the profit motive underpinning the prison expansion (eg. construction industries, privately run prisons) in Victoria rather than the government’s stated objectives of punishing or rehabilitating criminalised and incarcerated people. Many agencies working from a decarceration position have been critical of the State Budget. Smart Justice, a coalition of organisations led by the Federation of Community Legal Centres, is critical of the 2013–2014 Victorian State Budget’s renewed focus on extending the prison system, which they consider ‘an expensive approach to crime that will fail to boost community safety’ and which diverts ‘urgently needed funds from programs addressing the causes of crime’

Here is a snap shot of some of this discussion:

Drug use and criminalisation Drug and alcohol use has long been recognised as an issue that many criminalised people experience yet the Victorian State Government has shown little commitment to address this relationship by supporting the work of drug and alcohol services. The small allocation of resources to the sector in the recent budget despite increased demand for support to members of the community, and those at risk of incarceration is evidence of this. This view is shared by Sam Biondo, Executive Officer of Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA) who said “we are dismayed that the Government’s response to these complexities’ in drug and alcohol use, appears to once again to be met by increased expenditure in prisons and police, rather than those services which prevent and reduce crime”. Mr Biondo pointed to the need for increased funding to address those social issues that lead people to have contact with the criminal justice system by addressing capacity issues including waiting times and access to rehabilitation beds, and timely access to counselling and supports (VAADA News March-April, 2013). Mr Biondo notes that whilst referrals to the forensic system in Victoria grew from 2,000 in 1998 to approximately 15,000 in 2010, funding to be able deliver services in response to this demand has not materialised. VAADA had a graph showing that funding to drug services has almost experienced a ‘flatline funding when compared to other state funded health sectors’. There was only a 4.9 per cent increase in funding from 2012-13 to 2013-14.

Smart Justice and the Victorian Council for Social Services (VCOSS) has also critiqued the recent budget for increasing the spending on prisons and law enforcement agencies rather than responding to social issues and the root causes addressing criminalisation. VCOSS has also critiqued the State Government for failing to address the causes of disadvantages and focusing on consequences. It pointed out that State Government direction of funds towards prisons ‘could be better spent on rehabilitation and crime prevention’. A step which would protect the community before the crime occurs, rather than waiting to after the fact.

Social pending in the Victorian Budget VCOSS State Budget Analysis taken from: http://vcoss.org.au/social-justice/state-budget/2013-14-state-budget/state-budget-analysis-2013- 2014/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=featured-top&utm_campaign=state-budget-analysis-2013-2014#expanded

Youth justice Youthlaw said “the state budget does not invest in alternatives to prison that enhance community safety by addressing the causes of and reducing youth offending”. Tiffany Overall, a spokesperson for Smart Justice for young people said “We know detention is not very effective in addressing crime. However diverting young people away from the criminal justice system early on gives them a second chance, enhances their chances of rehabilitation and often means they are less likely to reoffend”.

Similarly, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) described the budget as “a missed opportunity for the State Government to put forward a coherent strategy to address the problems of persistent disadvantage in some of the most neglected parts of our community”. The BSL also raised concerns that the amount of funding to support young people with training opportunities at TAFEs, activities that would assist young people from disadvantaged backgrounds go onto find employment is in ‘stark contrast to the $131 million earmarked for an additional 357 prison beds’, which calls ‘into question the Government’s commitment to prevention and early intervention’.

See more by following these links: http://youthlaw.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/State-budget-2013-14-SJFYP-MR1.pdf http://www.bsl.org.au/Media-centre/Media-Releases?id=1009

Young incarcerated people A recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that on an average day almost 7,000 young people are under supervision. Of the 7,000 young people, 86% were supervised in the community and 14% were in detention. Most young people involved in the youth justice system were male (83%) and the majority (79%) were aged 14–17. Indigenous young people remain over-represented, constituting 39% of the population under supervision. The AIHW report also found that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are more likely to become part of the justice system younger and are 16 times as likely to be under community supervision and 25 times as likely to be in detention as non-Indigenous young people. The higher rates of contact between Indigenous young people and the juvenile justice system may be greater as the Northern Territory or Western Australia didn’t provide data. Both of these states have significantly larger Indigenous populations.

The Australian Youth Affairs Coalition (AYAC) has released a report on the rising rates of incarcerating young people in Australia which they argue is evidence of clear ‘failure of public policy’ to address young people’s needs. In The value of reinvestment for young Australians, AYAC condemn the over reliance upon jail by courts and state justice agencies, which places young people at risk of producing the next generation of adult prisoners. It argues that youth justice policy in Australia has not been able to assist young people ‘get on track’ and that young people from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds continue to be over represented in the youth justice system.

In Western Australia (WA) the Commissioner for Children and Young People has released a report on young people and youth justice. Michelle Scott has been speaking out against the high rates of incarceration amongst the Aboriginal young people in her state. WA incarcerates more Aboriginal young people than any other state in Australia. Gerry Georgatos in the Stringer writes that Aboriginal Australians are being incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of South Africa’s Blacks towards the end of the Apartheid years. Western Australian Aboriginal peoples are being incarcerated at near nine times the rate of South Africa’s Blacks towards the end of the Apartheid years (Georgatos, the Stringer 11/05/2013). The WA Commissioner has called for a shift towards funding programs and policies that address the underlying causes of children and young people coming into contact with the criminal justice system and increased support for diversion programs.

The report, and other youth justice publications is available for download from the AIHW website: http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/youth-justice/ The AYACreport report can be found at:http://www.ayac.org.au/uploads/JRinsightsfromcoalface.pdf A copy of WA’s Commissioner for Children and Young people on Youth Justice can be found here: http://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/content.aspx?cID=756

Disproportionality high rates of incarceration amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia 2.5% of the Australian population are Indigenous, but they make up 26% of the adult prison population (Ockenden, ABC News, 24/05/13). With National Reconciliation Week upon us, there has been high levels of media coverage about the over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian prison. Indigenous prison rates have been described as a ‘national shame’ (The Drum Opinion, Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and a 'social policy disaster'.

Other media on the issue of over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4717444.html http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/death-in-custody-report-alarms-indigenous-leaders/4712056 http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3767033.htm http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3767034.htm http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/nt-highest-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-in-australia/4711316

Update on the young people transferred to Hakea, a maximum security prison in Western Australia In early May, Western Australia’s(WA) Chief Justice Wayne Martin found that the decision to move more than 100 young people that were being held at the juvenile centre to Hakea, a maximum security adult prison was not illegal. Chief Justice Martin found that there was no other option following a riot that trashed the state’s only juvenile prison after legal action was taken by the family of one of the young people transferred. The legal team of the family has argued that the mass transfer of young people from Banksia Hill to the high security Hakea prison contravened WA’s Young Offenders Act. The parents of the Aboriginal children locked up at Hakea are reported as being heartbroken and outraged by the decision of Chief Justice Martin.George Newhouse, the legal representative, acting on behalf of a young detainee's family is quoted as saying the litigation had highlighted a crisis within WA youth justice. He noted that the “evidence at the hearing confirmed the chronic understaffing and under-resourcing and mismanagement of youth justice in WA''. Newhouse described the situation at Banksia Hill prior to the transfers as “dysfunctional” and the disturbance by the young people incarcerated there as the result of “rolling lockdowns and understaffing”.

At present, there is no date for the young people to return to Banksia Hill and advocates continue to raise concern about the treatment of young people at Hakea, including being locked down in their cells for extended periods, limited access to education and other rehabilitation opportunities.

More information can be found here: http://deathsincustody.org.au/hakea-move-not-illegal-chief-justice http://www.nit.com.au/news/2844-parents-shock-and-anger-as-court-rules-keeping-kids-in-hakea-is-ok.html http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/moving-wa-juvenile-offenders-not-illegal-chief-justice/story-fnhocxo3-1226634587229

Training opportunities The next CHRIP training is on Adult Parole Board Advocacy on Wednesday 17th July 2013 between 1pm-5pm at 52 Pin Oak Crescent, Flemington. The trainers will be Pauline Bailey and David Provan from the Adult Parole Board (APB), followed by a community legal centre advocate. The session will cover:

 Understanding the role and functions of the APB

 Relevant legislation and policies

 Self and co-advocacy for people facing the APB

 Advocating for clients who are criminalised and imprisoned

 Relevant community law and advocacy organisation. Cost for the training is $25/40 (concession/non-concession rates). To register please contact Chantelle at CHRIP by emailing [email protected]

Shout out Thank you to StreetSmart for your kind support of essentials funding for the women that Flat Out supports. You can support the work of StreetSmart by purchasing a coffee this Friday 7th June, 2013. Participating cafés will donate $1 for every coffee they sell and StreetSmart encourages you to match their donation with your own $1, 100% of these funds will then go to fund local projects.

There are over 185 cafés around the country and there are a number of ways to get involved and help make the day as big as possible. StreetSmart suggests that you could support their work by organising a team meeting or catch up with friends. Visit this website to find the café closest to you http://www.streetsmartaustralia.org/findcafe