Greens welcome voice of sanity on prisons

“The Government and Opposition have both been shameless in their pandering to shock-jock-driven clamour to increase penalties, to deny parole, and to lock up yet more people.

“Regrettably, we can expect even more law-and-order tub thumping by the Government and Opposition in the lead up to the 2011 State elections.

“It is very timely that judges, academics and lawyers, who daily see the effects of the State’s punitive bail and sentencing policies, speak out publicly to call for a reconsideration of where the State’s criminal justice system is heading.

“Imprisonment rates in NSW are manifestly excessive and higher than the Australian average.

“On narrow budgetary grounds alone, spending more than $1 billion a year on keeping 10,000 people in 57 correctional centres across the State does not make sense.

 “The costs of warehousing people in prisons are so great that there is almost no money left over for programs that help people stay out of jail.

“The State’s harsh bail laws mean that even innocent people who are subsequently found to be not guilty of an offence may spend months in jail, and lose their jobs and even their families in the process.

“There is ample evidence that the majority of prisoners have mental health or drug and alcohol problems. Locking them up is probably the most self-defeating approach imaginable.

“It’s time to call a halt to the law-and-order auction and for the public, prisoners, and legal experts to engage in a reasoned, cool-headed discussion of the way forward for the criminal justice system,” said Ms Hale.