Page 3114 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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utilisation of the existing transitional release centre, and that they are also assessing the current and future infrastructure needs of the AMC.
In that case, why did they announce the reintegration centre at all? Did they not think about these issues before committing $30 million to the project in the first place? The underperformance of the transitional release centre was an issue well before the announcement of the centre, and assessments of future infrastructure needs at the AMC should be constantly ongoing. Their excuses are thin, but if they insist on sticking by them, they should at least support them with a time line for when the public can expect them to be finished with their delaying tactics.
One other example of the government’s poor rehabilitation effort is in the supports they give to people working on the front lines with detainees. One of these key frontline workers is the case manager. The case manager personally meets with a detainee and plans out their time within the prison to ensure that the detainee leaves the prison better off than when they went in.
For the case managers to perform effectively, they need support. In previous years they have had access to a forensic psychologist, who could provide advice on complex cases. The program ended, and case managers have had to go without this specialist advice for some time now. In response to a recommendation to expand the forensic psychologist services at the AMC to the case management unit, the government agreed in principle, although the paragraph afterwards did not exactly fill me with confidence that this would happen. I will continue to follow up on this very important issue.
Another area of major concern is education at the AMC. Last year I spoke about the education contract at the AMC. I said that, with the expiration of the previous contract in June 2021, we had a golden opportunity to improve the delivery of education and programs to better help our detainees to reform their lives and succeed outside the prison walls.
The government is squandering this opportunity. As of the estimates hearing, there is no new provider. Apart from some ad-hoc programs and a handful of detainees in higher education, there has been no formal or ongoing education provided at the AMC for over a year.
To anyone, it would be clear where such inaction will lead. Often people offend because they are in hard circumstances. Education and meaningful employment are some of the best ways to better one’s circumstances. When you lock someone up for extended periods of time and provide no means for them to improve themselves while they are behind bars, you release that person in circumstances worse than they had before. Which is the most likely outcome: (a) they come out as someone more likely to find meaningful employment; or (b) they reoffend and are back within two years?
One example of this from just this year is a man who, while on parole, went on an overnight burglary spree that involved four premises on one street. The government must step up in this area. Studies have consistently shown that correctional education improves inmates’ outcomes after release. There are many studies, but I will refer to
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