A New Approach to Prison !

It is a lasting shame to most Australians that our prison system is over represented  by the original inhabitants of this vast continent.  The statistics show that in  2016 the rate of imprisonment of Indigenous people was 13.5 percent higher than for non-Indigenous Australians.

We have just had two Indigenous prisoners die in custody, and in one case a man suffering from asthma was untreated for twenty-two minutes, a delay the Coroner believed was the cause of that fatality.   Now it is proposed to set aside a section of the District Court to specially hear cases involving Indigenous Australians.

This would be called the " Walama Court " and that is derived from the Dharug language and is interpreted as " Come back ".  It would involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander elders in sentencing discussions, rehabilitation and monitoring.

This proposal has caused the New South Wales Attorney General to express concern that this new court could be seen as  means of apartheid.  It would be disastrous if other Australians thought we introduced a form of " apartheid justice " where people who go through the stream get preferential treatment.

The objectives of the court, which would be located in Sydney include  reducing reoffending and diverting offenders from prison, but imprisonment remains a sentencing option.   The court would hear between 75 and 100 cases each year.

It is a fact of life that many indigenous people earn less than the average income and imprisonment is often for unpaid fines.  This particularly applies to Aboriginal women who are mainly homemakers and do not have paid employment.  In too many cases the courts simply hand out the customary fine for minor offences without thought to the offenders ability to pay.

This court offers a new approach.  It marshals the  wisdom of tribal elders in seeking different ways the  obligations to the state may be met other than by serving time behind bars.  We are constantly building new prisons because of overcrowding and the prison system is a major item in the state budget.  Simply locking people away for a designated period of time for minor matters is an unproductive use of state rescources.

The alternative is to do nothing and see the Indigenous prison population continue to grow.  The " Black lives matter " movement has spread across the world and the rate we imprison Indigenous people is drawing criticism.  If the main reason is the inability to pay fines the elders may be able to suggerst other ways of repaying those debts to the state.

It is quite clear that continuing without any attempt to resolve this problem is not an option !