Page 3113 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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I welcome the long overdue move to finally phase out smoking at the AMC. All jurisdictions, barring WA and the ACT, have already done this years ago. It is about time that the ACT joined them.
Banning smoking, if handled well, will bring several long-term benefits to detainees at the AMC. Obviously, we should see increased health outcomes among detainees. Additionally, if detainees kick the habit while in prison and do not pick it back up again once they leave, they will be more financially free. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average Australian smoker smokes 10.7 cigarettes a day, or just over half a 20-pack. With a pack of cigarettes being about $23, the average smoker is paying around $4,200 a year for smokes. This is money that could otherwise be going towards renting a stable home, buying a car to get to work or learning a skill.
Another benefit is that there will be less capacity for troublemakers to cause damage. I have frequently been told by people experienced in the corrections field that the practice in the ACT to allow detainees to freely carry cigarette lighters is madness. This practice has enabled detainees to set fires virtually at will, and caused millions of dollars in damage just in the past couple of years. These fires destroy AMC property, contributing to overcrowding. They also destroy personal property, causing general discontent in the population.
While I welcome the decision, the phasing out of smoking must be handled carefully. Communication with staff and detainees is paramount. It is also imperative that addiction counselling supports be increased, as well as nicotine replacement therapies, such as patches and lozenges.
Banning smoking at the AMC should ultimately improve rehabilitation outcomes at the prison, but it is just a small part of the puzzle. The overall rehabilitation efforts at the prison are debilitating to detainees in many ways, try as they might to conceal it.
The government’s appalling performance in this area is being put under the spotlight. In recent months the media has been full of stories of offenders on bail and parole reoffending and causing great harm to property and people. If the government were doing their job properly, we would be seeing far less of this kind of behaviour. Their commitment to rehabilitation is hollow, and they can no longer keep it hidden behind the prison walls.
A perfect example of this hollow commitment is the decision to delay the reintegration centre without a commitment to a transparent timetable. The reintegration centre was supposed to be a dedicated facility that focused on rehabilitation and getting detainees back into the community with new skills and better behaviour. Shortly after its announcement, the government shelved the project and has not been forthcoming on whether development will commence. Without committing to a timetable, the government can effectively sit on this for decades to come.
The estimates committee recommended that the ACT government publish a time line for the construction of the reintegration centre. The government did not agree to this recommendation and merely noted it, explaining that they are working to optimise the
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