Page 3819 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 27 August 2008
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These new powers are partly necessitated by the Chief Minister’s opposition to a needle-exchange program and his fanciful belief that he will be able to provide the world’s first drug-free prison at the same time as he delivers the human rights compliant prison which focuses on rehabilitation. These aims are incompatible. The level of coercion which will be applied in pursuit of a drug-free environment will defeat the far more important aim of fostering a rehabilitative environment.
Echoing experts in corrections and drug addiction issues, I have said before in this place that the effectiveness of a coercive, authoritarian regime in healing drug addiction problems is dismal compared to the effectiveness of an approach that encourages the detainee to take responsibility for their own drug issues and helps him or her to find the self-worth and motivation necessary to overcome their addition.
What does a strip search involve? A university study describes it thus:
After having her clothes inspected, a prisoner is told to open her mouth for inspection, run her fingers through her hair, lift up both arms for inspection, as well as to spread her fingers and lift her breasts for inspection. She is then asked to turn her back to the officers, lift up one leg at a time and wriggle her toes to dislodge any hidden material. Finally, she must spread her legs and bend over for a vaginal and anal inspection. If an inmate is menstruating she may be required to take out her tampon and show it to the guards before placing it in a bag and being issued a new one.
The Human Rights Commission describes the process in the ACT as being very similar, except that the detainee will be half-clothed. I doubt that that will make the experience much less humiliating, traumatic or disempowering. This is what the Assembly is now being asked to authorise where a corrections officer considers that it is prudent. In reality, corrections officers will treat this power as reinstating their power to order routine strip searches.
And how often is it likely to be prudent? According to the Canberra Times, the Human Rights Commission reports that ACT detainees are subjected to numerous strip searches. If regularly visited, for example, it would be possible that a detainee could be subjected to 10 strip searches a week. Five visits in one week would involve 10 strip searches, one before each visit and one afterwards. Three visits in one week, a court attendance and a cell search would involve nine strip searches. Detainees who were receiving regular visits from family members said they were strip-searched several times each week. Prisoners at high risk of self-harm are to be strip-searched every night before they are locked in their cell. Taking of urine samples for drug testing, which occurs on a routine, random and compulsory basis, involves further stripping. The detainee is strip-searched and then has to urinate in the presence of two officers.
The minister holds out the hope that the SOTER X-ray body scanner, when finally approved, will obviate the need for strip searching. That would indeed be an improvement, but I fear that he is overly optimistic. During its trial, concern about radiation limited its use to only a fraction of the times required for male detainees. Women were excluded from the trial out of concern for radiation injury to foetuses and unfertilised ova.
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