Australian Prison Reform
Journal is a quarterly publication that
examines all issues
related to the reform of
Australian Prisons and how
people are treated after
exiting from prison. When
we look at prisons around the world, Australian prisons are
among the better ones, but
there are numerous things that could be done better and at
no greater cost overall (and often with considerable savings). For example, the
incarceration rate in
Australia could be much lower; the
death rates in custody
could be much lower; the
recidivism rate could be dramatically decreased;
people exiting prison could
be reintegrated in society much more effectively;
and the healthcare provided
to prisoners could be improved, especially for
prisoners with mental health issues.
Australian Prison Reform
Journal believes that the ultimate prison
reform needed for
Australia is massive
decarceration. Imprisoning more and more people is a highly
ineffective way of dealing
with crime,
and in many cases is actually criminogenic.
We advocate for justice
reinvestment, which is redirecting the billions we spend on
prisons to alleviating the
causes of crime, including poverty and lack of opportunities in
training, education,
mentoring, health, play
and community resources, accommodation,
employment and leadership.
Any articles in the journal that are not directly related
to
decarceration are related
to temporary improvement in prisons while we wait for the
inevitable dismantling of
most prisons (and the
conversion of these huge tracts of land
in poorer neighbourhoods to
public housing, public parks and community amenities,
thereby reversing the spiral towards prison).
