Punishment - and the Death Penalty !

Plans are being drawn up to to build a mini "Supermax " within the existing state prison at Long Bay.  The problem with the original Supermax at Goulburn is that it is a two hour drive from Sydney and that is costing both time and money transferring dangerous prisoners to and from for court appearances and medical evaluation.

This work will be purely a temporary measure.   The Long Bay prison is on valuable housing land needed to expand the Sydney housing stock and it will be demolished once a replacement is built in a yet to be decided rural location.

Many people will be wondering about our policy in housing the ever growing number of Islamic State terrorists held in our prison system.  It is necessary to keep them separated from one another - and the general prison population - because their efforts to plan terrorist attacks are ongoing and they actively try and convert others to their religious point of view.

A case raging in the media concerns Australian Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash who was a front man in Islamic States drive to recruit followers in Australia.  He openly urged radicalized youth to slit the throats or decapitate ordinary Australian men, women and children in the streets and he achieved a degree of success.   Two radicals were shot to death by police after attacks, and in one instance a police accountant was brutally murdered.

Prakash was caught slipping out of Syria into Turkey and now Australia is seeking his extradition to Australia.   To many people that sounds insane !  Half a dozen other countries want to deliver justice for his crimes and some of them still condone the death penalty.  If we bring him here and put him before a court he will get a life sentence and that will cost us millions housing him in a high security prison for the rest of his life.

Perhaps we need a re-think on that death penalty question.  A century ago that  "a life for a life " attitude still prevailed, but the courts were starting to look closely at the events that led to acts of murder.  Today, murder usually brings a twenty year sentence.  It is only the most depraved of killings that now attract a "whole of life "sentence with the case marked "never to be released ".

We abandoned the death penalty for a number of reasons.  High on that list was concern that an innocent person might be convicted - and executed.  Can there be a more despicable crime than trying to create an army of killers willing to snuff out the life of innocents simply because they do not follow the form of religion favoured by their host ?

We may find it repugnant to even consider reintroducing the death penalty in this country but many of those following terrorist regimes are on the "wanted " list of other countries.  In many cases they have fought in foreign wars and are responsible for atrocities on foreign soil.   We would do our country a service by acceding to deportation requests even where the outcome may lead to that persons execution.

Perhaps it is time to retreat from refusal to grant deportation to countries that retain the death penalty.  There is no doubt that the presence of Islamic State terrorists in our prison system is both creating tensions and increasing costs - and there is the expectation that this will be ongoing.

This terrorist creed welcomes martyrdom and death.    Removing them from our prison system delivers mutual benefits !