To Rot in Jail !

There is no doubt that Andrew Peter Garforth committed a terrible crime.  Back in 1992, nine year old  schoolgirl Ebony Simpson got off her school bus and was walking to her home when Garforth abducted her and she was raped and murdered.  Garforth tried to cover his crime by binding her arms and legs with wire - and throwing her into a farm dam to drown.

His trial shocked the nation and he was jailed for life, with his file marked "Never to be released ".  He is now 52 years old and he has served 22 years of his life sentence.    Once again his name is in the headlines because his security clearance in Goulburn prison has been downgraded from " Maximum " to " Medium " and this would allow him to be enrolled in work or rehabilitation courses.

Public outrage at this news resulted in a petition with many signatures and that clearance decision has been revoked by the Corrective Services minister.  It seems to be the will of the people that he be left to rot in jail until claimed by death.

That is understandable, but it runs against the notion that the prison system is supposed to be a place of rehabilitation.  Australia has produced many murderers who shocked the nation and names like Belanglo State Forest killer Ivan Milat and Port Arthur massacrer  Martin  Bryant regularly come to mind for mention in the news.

This "Lock ém up and throw away the key " attitude is exactly the opposite to the practice that prison officers use to control inmates under their care.   Good behaviour results in rewards being gained.  Bad behaviour results in those same rewards being withdrawn.  Small luxuries can be bought from the prison shop with the money loved ones provide or which prisoners earn in the gaol system and working side by side with this is the clearance system that controls the severity under which prisoners serve.

Prison is a microsm of life outside.  Work levels are part of that reward system.  Some are more valued than others and all have to be earned by good behaviour, and that is what makes a prison workable from a discipline point of view.  Most prisoners have a release date clearly indicated in their sentence, but " lifers " still need to tow the line and gaining small privileges is carefully crafted into the prison regime - to maintain control.

Some seem to construe this clearance change as the fore runner to release.  That was certainly not being considered, but if Garforth has earned a " model prisoner " status by being civil to guards and strictly obeying the rules it would not be usual to reward him.   That might take the form of being allocated work in the jail kitchen or gardening in the kitchen garden, but it would be impossible while that prisoner is still classified at the extreme level of clearance.

We are not seeing the riots in Australian prisons that are common in some jails overseas. Prison is not a pleasant place, but ours are far better than the " hell holes " run by some regimes.  New South Wales is bracing for trouble next month when a smoking ban is imposed on prisoners, and this follows damage in Victoria when the tobacco ban came into force there.   Prison order balances on a fine edge - and when something that is seen as a privilege is withdrawn it can quickly tip that balance.

There is also a clash between the need for the media to get a good story and how the prison system works.  Any story depicting what some see as luxury living will bring public outrage and pressure on the politicians involved to clamp down on excess - and that is precisely what has happened in this Garforth case.

Twenty-two years is a long time behind bars and the people who really know if he is feeling remorse and if he has changed his ways are certainly the men and women who observe him on a daily basis.  It seems that he is destined to spend the rest of his years in some strict sort of isolation - and that is the demand that the public is insisting must be preserved.

That old "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth " still prevails in many minds.  Surely we have progressed from the days of burning witches at the stake to solve our crime problems.   If we just remove all rewards for good behaviour - then the sort of prisons we deserve are the sort of prisons we will undoubtedly have  !