Inaugural Professor Tony Vinson Memorial Lecture: Whatever happened to ‘Prison as a Last Resort?’ Time now to consider the path to abolition. Peter Norden AO FANZSOC Honorary Fellow School of Humanities & Social Sciences University of New South Wales 11th September 2018 Recent memories of Tony Vinson would recall a man of humanity and great understanding…. or as an Emeritus Professor at the School of Social Work at UNSW or with Graduation ceremonies at the University of Sydney…. (Graduation clip) Recent memories of Tony Vinson would recall a man of humanity and great understanding…. or as an Emeritus Professor at the School of Social Work at UNSW…. or as Honorary Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney…. There were many aspects to the professional life of Tony Vinson….…. Chairperson, Foundational Director, New South Wales NSW Bureau of Crime Corrective Services Statistics & Research Commission 1971 - 1976 1979 – 1981 Criminal Justice Reformer Professor of Social Work and Head of School of Chairperson, Social Work at UNSW Independent Inquiry into and inspirer of two Provision of Public generations of social Education in NSW work students 2001-2002 1981-88, 1996-97 In 2002, Tony Vinson was appointed the Chair of an Independent Inquiry into Public Education in NSW. His inquiry conducted 28 pubic hearings, more than 150 schools visits and received 770 submissions. The Vinson Inquiry’s in depth report identified where additional funding could be found to improve the public education system over 10 years. As a result of the Inquiry, education became a major issue at the NSW 2003 State Election. In 2008 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to social welfare through academic, government and community roles, as a contributor to State and Federal policy formulation, and as a champion of social justice’ Emeritus Professor Tony Vinson AM Meritorious Service to Public Education, Minister for Education and Training, New South Wales, 2003. Honorary Doctor of Letters in Social Work, Sydney University, 2005. The Nagle Royal Commission into brutality in the NSW prison system compelled then Premier Wran to be seen to implement the recommended changes and reforms…. Wran appointed Tony Vinson Chair of the Corrective Services Commission of New South Wales Bathurst Prison, Morning of 24th August 2018 There are a large number of available default SmartArt diagrams available from the SmartArt placeholder, grouped into nine categories. SmartArt behaves the same way a Justice Nagle criticised the development of the ultra security prison unit, Katingal. There was no clear evidence for its construction provided. Similar developments were occurring in other parts of Australia, including the systematic brutality within Pentridge’s H-Division and the construction of the ultra security unit, Jika Jika. Vic Simms: ‘It took so long to produce any change at all, following Nagle’. John Paget: former inspector of NSW prisons. ‘the prison experience is a blunt tool… the more it is used, the more we see an increase in crime’ ‘Penal policy remains a key component of wedge politics’. Charles Sturt University Bathurst Welcome to Country…. 23rd August 2018 40 years after Nagle…. What has changed in New South Wales? or throughout the country? Tony Vinson took a rational, humane, even compassionate approach, treating all prisoners with respect as people…. However, he did not fully appreciate the strength of the forces of resistance, especially from the NSW prison officers union. He recounted the story in his later publication: Wilful Obstruction in 1982. He resigned after two and a half years. Emeritus Professor Tony Vinson AM Head of School of Social Work 1983-88; 1996-1997 Educated two generations of social work students…. In last decade, our national imprisonment population has increased at about 8% every year. Similar increases can be seen in the community corrections population. Access to Justice: prominence of people with disabilities, indigenous, GLBTI people The financial costs of imprisonment: $104,000 per prisoner per year The costs of juvenile detention: $541,000 per young person per year. Imprisonment Rates by States & Territories: how to explain the variations, especially between NSW & Vic? It is now time for us to demand a radical change in the use of imprisonment in Australia which rejects incarceration of the marginalised, the disabled and those who pose no physical threat… ‘Imprisonment ceases to be the incarceration of individual offenders and becomes the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population’. David Garland (2001) Mass imprisonment: Social causes and consequences Van Gogh, The Exercise Yard, St Remy-de-Province (1890) February 2018 Human Rights Watch report following their investigation of 14 Australian prisons: ‘People with disabilities, particularly a cognitive or psychosocial disability, are overrepresented in the criminal justice system in Australia - comprising around 18% of the population, but almost 50% of people entering prison. They are at a higher risk of violence & abuse’ Interventions must begin with young offenders: Remand Population is now more than one third of total: Most remanded persons are not serious offenders but impacted by insecure accommodation or a disability. Most will not eventually be given a custodial sentence… The widely recognised over-representation of indigenous persons in Australian prisons is well recognised. Less recognised is a similar over representation of persons from disadvantaged localities and neighbourhoods. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Imprisonment Rate by State & Territory: Four major locational studies in which Vinson analysed the concentration of disadvantage by postcode • Unequal In Life 1999 • New South Wales and Victoria • Community Adversity and Resilience 2004 • New South Wales and Victoria • Dropping Off The Edge 2007 • National study • Dropping Off The Edge (DOTE 2015) National study 2015 Unequal In Life NSW and Vic 1999 In New South Wales postcodes: ‘Unemployment, low income, long term unemployment, leave school before 15 years, unskilled workers, and court convictions, correlated with the general disadvantage factor at the 0.70 level or higher’. Community Adversity and Resilience 2004 This second report not only outlined the growing entrenchment of social disadvantage, but highlighted the importance of social cohesion in neighbourhoods. Dropping Off The Edge 2007 1st National Report ‘When disadvantage becomes entrenched within a limited number of localities the restorative potential of standard services in spheres like education and health can diminish. A disabling social climate can develop that is more than the sum of individual and household disadvantages and the prospect is increase of disadvantage being passed on from one generation to the next’. Tony Vinson DOTE 2015 2nd National Report Proposed a National Centre for Community Strengthening and Program Evaluation…. ‘Imprisonment by its very nature disrupts individuals’ and families’ life opportunities. It can reflect and help to sustain limited education, unemployment, poverty, homelessness and associated social difficulties’. Tony Vinson New South Wales’ most disadvantaged postcodes 2015 as measured by 22 disadvantage factors (listed alphabetically) ‘In NSW, 1.5% of postcodes accounted for 12-14% of the top 5% ranks on 22 indicators’ ‘In two-thirds of those 37 NSW localities, criminal convictions were a dominant characteristic’ ‘A long established relationship exists between social disadvantage and high rates of imprisonment … two-thirds of prisoners are functionally illiterate in NSW’. JUSTICE REINVESTMENT CAN PROVIDE HOPE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE The financial resources spent on imprisonment in many parts of the U.S. are now being redistributed to local communities to improve their social and economic conditions. We need to understand what finally brought about this change, resisted in the U.S. over the last three decades since 1988? In 1988, Californian prison reformers and criminal justice activists changed the focus of their efforts to the financial costs of imprisonment, instead of their human rights focus. Similar approaches were undertaken in Australia during the 1988 so called ‘Bicentennial Year’ by the combined Christian churches, in a massive community education campaign…. ‘Prison: The Last Resort’ 500,000 copies distributed. Persons in Custody rapid growth over 5 years: In the last five years (June 2013 – June 2018) the number of persons in custody has increased by 39% (12,043 persons) What might be required to change this pattern of over imprisonment of indigenous persons in Ceduna, South Australia, or equivalent disadvantaged areas in other parts of Australia? Ceduna, postcode 5690, was ranked as one of the most disadvantaged areas in South Australia by the Vinson 2015 study. It has the highest rate of imprisonment of indigenous persons in South Australia Windale, postcode 2305, identified as the most disadvantaged neighbourhood in New South Wales. NSW Premier’s Department established a ‘strengthening communities’ project…… JUSTICE REINVESTMENT MUST PROVIDE HOPE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE By early 2016, 27 U.S. States had developed JR programs Insight: Most people in prison came from narrowly defined neighbourhoods. Bourke, New South Wales: Postcode 2840 ‘Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Program’ ‘Pathways to Justice’ Australian Law Reform Commission Report 2017 Social determinants of incarceration of indigenous Australians: • Education and employment