The Wollongong suburb of Towradgi has just expelled a released prisoner relocated to the community. That ex-prisoner was a sex offender who viciously murdered a young child - and who spent the past twenty-five years in prison. The release was controversial as the prison people who observe and know prisoners were certain that he would promptly re-offend. Within weeks, he was back in prison, having been observed sunbathing naked in the company of homosexual men on a Sydney beach.
A second release followed and in that instance the offender was required to wear an electronic anklet 24/7 - and observe rules that precluded using alcohol or being in proximity to any school or place where children gather.
Unfortunately for the ex-prisoner his face has been in every newspaper and on every TV channel for weeks - and hence it was not long before the citizens of Towradgi realised that a notorious sex offender was now a member of the community. Their reaction prompted Corrective Services to remove him.
This raises an unanswered question. Is it fair to inflict a person likely to cause a sex crime on any community, anywhere in Australia ? There are some crimes for which a prisoner should never be released. The courts have the option of decreeing that an inmate must die in gaol, but if it decides not to implement that option who has the responsibility to see that no harm comes to the public on release ?
Those that have the view that a released prisoner has served his time and should be a free man usually don't happen to live in the suburb where he will live when released.
In this instance, the problem has rebounded onto Corrective Services. The people of Towradgi are free of him - but somewhere else the unsuspecting citizens of a suburb or a country town are about to get an unwelcome visitor.
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