Category Archives: Prisons

‘Public anxiety’ no justification to override Human Rights Act on youth crime laws, Queensland MPs told

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Human rights commissioner Scott McDougall warns against making breach of bail an offence for children at tense parliamentary committee hearing

Queensland’s human rights commissioner has told a parliamentary committee that “public anxiety” is no justification for overriding the state’s Human Rights Act to make breach of bail an offence for children, warning that doing so could set a precedent.

In a tense back-and-forth during a hearing into the proposed youth crime laws, Scott McDougall said he was deeply concerned about the impact that the suspension of the act could have.

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El Salvador moves suspected gang members to 40,000-capacity ‘megaprison’

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Around 2,000 inmates transferred on Friday as part of president’s crime crackdown

El Salvador’s government has moved thousands of suspected gang members to a newly opened “megaprison”, the latest step in a controversial crackdown on crime that has caused the Central American nation’s prison population to soar.

“This will be their new home, where they won’t be able to do any more harm to the population,” the president, Nayib Bukele, wrote on Twitter.

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Indigenous prisoner spent less than an hour in medical unit after emergency, Victorian coroner told

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Inquest hears Michael Suckling struggled with drug addiction, back pain, mobility issues and significant weight gain in prison

A First Nations man who died in a Melbourne prison was the subject of a “code black” medical emergency two days earlier, but spent less than an hour in a healthcare unit before being returned to his cell, an inquest has heard.

Michael Suckling, 41, died on 7 March 2021 at Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Melbourne’s west from an enlarged heart.

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‘Changing the justice system’: Victorian Liberal Brad Battin goes from tough on crime to keeping people out of jail

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Exclusive: former police officer says those who commit low-level crimes should not be in prisons

After years of tough-on-crime policies being pushed by the Victorian Coalition, Liberal MP Brad Battin is pursuing a different goal: using money currently spent locking people up to keep them out of prison.

After his appointment as the opposition’s criminal justice reform spokesperson, Battin – who worked in prisons and later became a police officer before entering politics – said it was possible to prioritise community safety while also finding alternative punishments for people who should not be in jail.

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‘Recipe for disaster’: Queensland bail law that overrides children’s human rights won’t work, experts say

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Legal groups also criticise the push to override the state’s Human Rights Act to create the offence

Experts say there is zero evidence to support Annastacia Palaszczuk’s controversial decision to pursue criminal charges against Queensland children who breach bail.

Human rights organisations have also delivered scathing criticisms of the government’s bid to override the state’s Human Rights Act to legislate the offence for children, warning that it likely won’t reduce offending.

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Victorian government must overhaul bail laws to create ‘meaningful’ change, legal groups say

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Advocates concerned after Daniel Andrews suggested looking at offence types rather than scrapping controversial 2018 changes

Changes to Victoria’s bail laws would be nothing more than cosmetic if the government does not scrap the “reverse onus” bail provisions that have led to a near doubling of Aboriginal women in custody, legal groups have warned.

The Victorian government has committed to reforming the Bail Act after a damning coroner’s report into the death in custody of Veronica Nelson found it was “incompatible” with the state’s charter of human rights and discriminatory towards First Nations people.

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Queensland magistrate grants bail to teenage girl after raising concerns over adult watch houses

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Eoin Mac Giolla Ri in a separate case last month said children could be exposed to ‘drunk, abusive, psychotic’ detainees

A Queensland magistrate who previously raised concerns about children being held in “harsh” conditions in adult watch houses has granted bail to a teenage girl after saying he was “conscious” that she may otherwise end up in one.

Mount Isa magistrate Eoin Mac Giolla Ri last week said the 15-year-old girl would probably be held for an “extended” period in a watch house if bail was refused, as all three of the state’s youth detention centres were at capacity. Bail was initially refused for the girl on Friday, and the matter adjourned until Monday, in the hope that the parties could find a solution as to her placement. She was subsequently granted bail on Monday.”

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Unsentenced prisoners make up a third of Australia’s prison population as bail refusals boom

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Advocates urge overhaul of strict bail laws in Victoria and elsewhere to ensure people aren’t needlessly funnelled into jail

The number of unsentenced people in Australian jails has risen more than 120% over 10 years, to account for more than a third of the total prison population, as human rights advocates urge reforms to ensure people aren’t needlessly funnelled into the criminal justice system.

More than 15,000 prisoners, or about 35% of the nation’s prison population, were unsentenced – awaiting trial, sentencing or deportation – in 2021. In 2011, when there were 6,723 unsentenced prisoners, that cohort accounted for less than 25% of the prison population.

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‘Complete, unmitigated disaster’: inquest into Veronica Nelson’s death urges overhaul of ‘discriminatory’ Victorian bail laws

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Coroner refers prison health contractor to Director of Public Prosecutions over death in custody

A Victorian coroner has declared the state’s controversial bail laws discriminatory and a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, using landmark findings into the 2020 death in custody of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson to recommend urgent reforms.

Coroner Simon McGregor on Monday handed down the highly anticipated findings into the death of Nelson, a 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who was in prison after being arrested for shoplifting and refused bail.

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Immigration detainee not given new food because maggots ‘just on the vegetables’, report finds

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Advocates say ombudsman’s findings lay bare ‘inhumane’ treatment in Australia’s detention centres

An immigration detainee served a contaminated meal was not offered an alternative because the maggots were “just on the vegetables”, a report by the federal watchdog has found.

The claims by the commonwealth ombudsman – which are denied by the Australian Border Force – come in a report into conditions inside federal detention centres as part of Australia’s obligations under a UN anti-torture treaty – the optional protocol to the convention against torture (Opcat).

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Australian researchers identify genes that cause sarcomas – as it happened

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First genetic map to identify important genes that cause one of most common cancers in children. This blog is now closed

Five-year $41m maintenance contract extension for army’s fleet of Chinook helicopters

The government has announced a $41m extension to an army helicopter maintenance contract.

The CH-47F Chinook fleet is an important capability for Defence, providing critical lift capability on several domestic and regional operations, including Bushfire Assist in 2020, and Tonga and Flood Assist in 2022. This contract extension will expand the maintenance and training support for our Chinook fleet, while boosting opportunities for defence industry in Queensland.

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‘People before profits’: Victoria to ditch private health providers in women’s prisons

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Corrections minister Enver Erdogan to confirm transition to public services, in move welcomed by Indigenous advocates

The Victorian government will take over health care across women’s prisons across the state, in a move described as “a prioritisation of people before profits” by a respected Aboriginal leader.

The state’s corrections minister, Enver Erdogan, will on Friday confirm the contract for providing primary health services at Tarrengower Prison and the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre will transition from private firm Correct Care Australasia (CCA) to Dhelkaya (Castlemaine) Health and Western Health, respectively, on 1 July.

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Banksia Hill: autistic teenage girl ‘treated like a dog’ at detention centre, class action alleges

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Girl, first detained at 13, suffered ‘extremely traumatic’ restraining with handcuffs, leg shackles and spit hoods, court document claims

An autistic teenage girl detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre was forced to use underwear stained with menstrual blood and sleep on a mattress covered with “excrement and saliva”, according to a legal document filed in support of a class action against the West Australian government.

The affidavit by lawyer Stewart Levitt alleges the girl was fed meals through a grille and was forced to “earn” her bedding. She felt like she was being “treated like a dog” and responded by sleeping on the concrete floor of her cell and pretending she was a dog, the document states.

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NSW government to ‘review’ proposal to make judges consider needs of children when carers seek bail

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Bipartisan recommendation that would bring Australia in line with UN standards and is backed by advocates ‘noted’, but not supported

The New South Wales government says it will “review” a bipartisan recommendation to force judges to consider whether refusing bail to a parent accused of a crime would harm their children.

A NSW parliamentary inquiry last year called for the attorney general to change the law and “mandate” judges and magistrates to consider “parenting and caregiving responsibilities” when making bail decisions.

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Advocates call for urgent action after two ‘incredibly tragic’ Aboriginal deaths in custody

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Linda Burney says rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody 30 years after royal commission are a ‘national shame’

Advocates say the “heartbreaking” deaths of two Aboriginal people in custody within days of each other in Western Australia over Christmas should jolt state and federal governments into urgent action.

A 41-year-old First Nations woman died in a Perth hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a “medical episode” in Wandoo rehabilitation prison 13 days earlier.

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Queensland accused of ‘kneejerk’ response in announcing new penalties for young offenders

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Annastacia Palaszczuk announces ‘tougher’ youth crime penalties three days after death of Queensland woman Emma Lovell

Youth crime experts have criticised the Queensland government for announcing a suite of “tough” penalties for young offenders in response to the alleged killing of a woman in her home north of Brisbane on Boxing Day, describing it as a “kneejerk reaction” that will not reduce crime.

Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement on Thursday, amid media calls for action in response to the death of 41-year-old Emma Lovell.

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‘Only fit for a bulldozer’: nurse alleges children in distress and clinic ‘crumbling’ at Don Dale

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Exclusive: Some young detainees are so anxious about lockdowns they request anti-psychotic medicine, ex-employee claims

A nurse who worked at the Don Dale youth detention centre alleges it is an unsafe environment for staff and that children detained there are so distressed they ask for anti-psychotic medication.

The nurse, whodoes not want to be named, says Don Dale is “only fit for a bulldozer” and feels that not enough has changed since a royal commission into the notorious Northern Territory facility.

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Bahraini death row prisoner pleads with pope to aid his release

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Exclusive: Mohammed Ramadhan, who alleges he was tortured into confessing to deadly bombing, urges pontiff to act on visit to Gulf state

A former airport security guard who is on death row in Bahrain for a crime he alleges he was tortured into confessing to has urged Pope Francis to call for his release during the pontiff’s visit to the Gulf state.

In a letter shared exclusively with the Guardian through the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird), Mohammed Ramadhan, who has been in prison for nine years, asked the pontiff to “ask the king of Bahrain to release me and reunite me with my family and children”.

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Growing prison populations in Australia are costing $4.2bn a year despite falling crime rates, Labor says

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Government would have saved $2.6bn if incarceration rate had remained at 1985 level, assistant treasury minister Andrew Leigh says

Taxpayers are each forking out $140 more a year for prisons than would be needed if Australia maintained its 1985 rates of incarceration, according to Andrew Leigh.

The assistant treasury minister will reveal the cost of Australia’s rising incarceration rates in a speech to the Australian Institute of Criminology on Monday.

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UN accuses Australia of ‘clear breach’ of human rights obligations as it suspends tour of detention facilities

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New South Wales and Queensland have blocked access to some facilities with NSW corrections minister saying people can’t just ‘wander through at their leisure’

The United Nations has suspended its tour of Australian detention facilities and accused the country of a “clear breach” of its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (Opcat).

The New South Wales government has refused inspectors entry into any facilities in the state and Queensland has blocked access to mental health wards.

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