The New South Wales prison system is at breaking point. It presently holds 10,800 prisoners and these numbers are expected to swell to 12,500 by the end of March, when new bail laws come into affect. Experience in other parts of the world illustrate the danger that prison overcrowding has for both prisoners and those who are tasked with guarding them.
As usual, the state is locked in a battle to find the money to pay for it's prison system and recently gaols at Parramatta, Berrima and Kirkconnell were closed - with the loss of 900 beds. There is a plan to replace this prison accommodation with temporary demountable cell blocks, as and where necessary. These will be built by prisoners - and staffed by "casual "officers replacing full time officers who retired when the closures took effect.
"Temporary "is a term that causes many people to shudder. Decades ago we solved our shortage of school rooms by installing temporary "demountable " class rooms and most of those are still housing students, hot as hell in summer and freezing in winter. If what happened to our education system is transposed to the prison population it can only be at the expense of security - and breed serious prisoner discontent.
Prisons are often termed the "University of Crime ". Dumb prisoners are sent to prison by the courts and in due course much smarter criminals emerge and commit more serious crimes, using the knowledge they have gained from their associates. It takes seasoned prison officers to keep the lid on the lurks and perks that prisoners engage to communicate with the outside world - and in many cases continue to run their crime activities from behind bars. The move to use "casuals " to be the guards must fill senior prison governors with dismay.
Prisons are a necessary evil. In the Scandinavian countries a much more relaxed attitude to locking up people has evolved. Only those who have committed the most heinous crimes find themselves locked away behind steel bars. Most prisoners leave the prison for their day job and only sleep in a cell overnight - and usually for a short sentence by our standards.
In other parts of the world, prisons are notorious hell holes. Riots are frequent - and human life is cheap. A career as a prison guard is perilous and we often view the nightly news to hear stories of hostage taking and payback murders.
Up until now New South Wales prisons have been grim places, but very civilized by world standards. The measures being implemented to provide more accommodation are retrograde steps that will lead to overcrowding and reduced standards, and in particular - the replacement of professional prison officers with lower paid casual staff will be a disaster in maintaining prison discipline.
Sadly, what is proposed within our prison system is a knee jerk reaction to criticism of our bail laws. There has been public disquiet because some crimes have been committed by people who many consider should not have been given bail freedom and this has caused the politicians to amend and tighten bail laws. At the same time, our contrary drug laws see many casual users locked away for short periods - and there is a constant population of " remand " prisoners waiting for inordinate periods of time for their case to come to court. In some cases, this remand can run to years and be far greater than the sentence imposed if the offender is deemed to be guilty.
This plan to embrace both demountable cell blocks and staff them with untrained casuals will lead to disaster. Far better to sit down with the prison administration, the police and the judiciary and rework the entire justice system, lock, stock and barrel. The old approach is not working - and now would be a good time to bring new thinking to the problem !
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