TRANSCRIPT
Claude Robinson knows the importance of hope and connection after serving time in jail.
That experience led him, after his release, to work at a support centre in Sydney, called Rainbow Lodge.
“So one of those issues when we incarcerate people is it breaks that connection to family and community and we know that the people that do well in life, whether they've been incarcerated or the general population, the ones who thrive have a really good family setting and a really good community setting. When we incarcerate people and continually do that, we sever that connection that's so important to good outcomes. So at Rainbow Lodge, the men here say we've become like their family, you know.”
Mr Robinson says unstable housing is the biggest barrier for those coming out of the prison system.
“And as we all know, if you don't have stable housing and accommodation, you can't meet all the other issues. Most of the men we work with, deal with trauma, mental health, drug and alcohol issues. And then the First Nations men, on top of that you have the intergenerational stuff, the impacts of colonisation, and in NSW we have the highest rates of First Nations incarceration in the world so it's a real issue.”
From his own experience as a mentor, he says it's impossible to punish someone out of a behaviour.
It's a sentiment shared by the Justice Reform Initiative.
It's released a report in Victoria, pushing for support services to become the focus of the criminal justice system.
The executive director of the Justice Reform Initiative is Dr Mindy Sotiri.
“What the report really points out is that jailing is failing. It's not working to deter people from committing crime. It's not working to rehabilitate. It's certainly not working to keep the community safe. What we also point out in this report is that there are multiple, evidence-based alternatives that genuinely make a difference when it comes to actually addressing the drivers of contact with the criminal justice system."
The report found the total cost of Victoria's adult prison system in 2021-22 was $1.3 billion, with a further $220 million spent on children's incarceration.
That's more than $5,000 per child per day, or $1.8 million per child over the year.
Sara Stilianos is one of those Victorians to have been incarcerated in the past, and says she understands how people get caught in the cycle of reoffending.
“I feel like because of the consequences and criminal records and things that are attached to spending time either incarcerated or cycling through the criminal justice system, I find that that was a massive barrier to me trying to move forward and to do other things with my life, like studying and trying to find myself in employment. I found it really challenging to take those next steps because of the stigma and the criminal record holding me back and being a huge barrier.”
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, more than half of Victoria's prison population has been incarcerated in the past.
Robert Tickner is the chair of the Justice Reform Initiative, and a former Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in the Hawke Government.
He says the state of incarceration around the country is headed in the wrong direction, particularly for First Nations people.
“It's absolutely not been heading in the right direction Australia-wide, I mean the level of Aboriginal incarceration is at record levels and many of the solutions recommended by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in the early 1990s have still not been implemented. The central principle calls on the governments of Australia to invest in the underlying issues giving rise to that massively disproportionate rate of Aboriginal incarceration.”
The report calls for a $300-million 'Breaking the Cycle Fund' to invest in 'evidence-based' and 'community-led' programs.
It says at least 40 per cent of those funds should be directed to First Nations-led groups, to overcome the over-representation of Indigenous Australians in the justice system.
Marius Smith is the CEO of community services group Vacro.
“This is very specialised, evidence-based work. The evidence shows that when people are given the support they need and given hope, they grab that opportunity to create a new beginning for themselves - a new beginning as a parent, as a friend and a partner, as a worker and a valued member of our community, and that's the vision that this report sketches out.”
A Victorian government spokesperson says it's delivering a corrections system that keeps people safe and helps prisoners break the cycle of reoffending.
The spokesperson told SBS the government is investing in programs to help those in its care use their time productively and turn their lives around.
