Canberra's new luxury resort

So I should just ask the SES guy to fix it when he next comes to clean out the gutters?

I live in Weston Creek, but also don’t watch a whole lot of tv.

Skidbladnir, is the caravan park owner or you responsible for the aerial on your van? Just climb up and tighten it.

Hmm…
I seem to have left out part of my post.
Should have read:

I use a 34cm tv which can’t pick up digital tv and has variable reception whenever the wind blows.

Does our Bill of Rights define “Crystal clear TV reception” as a right for all of us, or just prisoners?
Or can the mega plasma screens only be used to broadcast prison-media into their rooms?

Do we put people in prison as punishment or for punishment?

Isn’t it so they can put them behind glass so they can’t get broken and thrown at each other?

I don’t care if they have tvs. The staff costs in prisons are going to be way more than the furniture/tvs.

And no – I don’t have a flat screen telly either.

I use a 34cm tv which can’t pick up digital tv and has variable reception whenever the wind blows.

Does our Crystal clear TV reception” as a right?
Or can the mega plasma screens only be used to broadcast prison-media into their rooms?

What a joke. Not only spending money on flat screen tv’s but the power costs, green house emissions, etc etc. Does one not think about the kind of people placed in goals. How long will it be before the tv’s are damaged?
And lets face it, most of these crooks dont have a TV to start off with.

WELL DONE ACT GOVT, YOU KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO PROMOTE CRIME.

The gut reaction of the general public isn’t always right, it might seem like an inappropriate set-up to outsiders, but that doesn’t mean that it actually is. About 6 years ago a NZ corrections minister got caned in the court of public opinion because he had the audacity to suggest conjugal visits for minimum security prisoners. It didn’t end up happening because the public stuck the boot in, but the problem was that the minister was right – he was backed up by solid studies which showed that allowing conjugal visits had a significant positive impact on the rates of re-offending. So by acting in a Today Tonight kind of way, the NZ public managed to increase their chances of being burgled.

I like the line a bit higher about people who worked on construction of the site not being able to ever be incarcerated there. Sounds like someone has been watching a little too much Prison Break.

Score, we again scoop the ABC with news items.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/27/2174594.htm
Headline: Canberra’s new jail cells to have flat-screen TVs

Posted Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:36pm AEDT

ACT Corrections Minister Simon Corbell has confirmed that inmates at Canberra’s new jail will have access to flat-screen LCD televisions in their cells.

Who doesn’t want a Bazooka. Either that or an MG-42, to mow every possible suspect in sight, down.

Nothing beats shooting a few male youths. Right?

Flat panel tv is no luxury these days. Its the current state of technology and makes sence in a new jail as the main advantage is space utilization. Fairly soon and I predict less the 12 months it will be nearly impossible to buy a CRT tv.

It would almost be worth committing a crime to spend time in this jail, I wish I had a flat screen tv, air cond and all the mod cons like they will.

You’re even hard pressed to find a flat screen tv in a 4.5 or 5 star hotel right now unless they’re brand new. Some tvs in a common room that they have access to should suffice, but wasting money on tvs in the majority of cells of people who are supposed to be paying for their crime/rehabilitating is rediculous.

We treat crims better than their victims in this country and it has to stop.

The standard of living for those twits in the new gaol will be better than most Australians living on the bread line.

Oh and here’s a solution to your murderers etc situation. One bullet. Taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay 30 years of care for these idiots.

Nyssa76, you cannot compare a real Prison with what the Americans call a ‘county gaol’. The latter is a glorified minimum security, outdoor watch-house. The good ole boy you quote has inmates that have been incarcerated for low level drug matters, stealing, trespassing, prostitution, driving offences….the sort of matters that will only get you a fine in any Australian State. His crooks are not going to risk turning a six month stint for failing to flush a Texas public dunny into a life + 60 year sentence for attacking a guard.

Things are a little different when you have to manage genuine gangsters, murderers and those who are so permanently addled by drugs they can no longer think more than two steps ahead. Apples and Oranges.

barney, only with some things.

I 100% agree with the sheriff though.

I mean why even both getting parole? You could get 5 star luxury just by attacking a guard or another inmate – longer sentence = more ‘free’ time.

We pander too much to the criminal element.

Rain water tanks may be enough for a small vegie garden to grow grass but when it comes to ovals you would have to be joking.

But weren’t the bungalows for prisoners in the last months of their sentence, as a half-way house to de-institutionalise them and teach them how to look after themselves and get along in shared accomodation. The standard cells were pretty basic as far as I could see.

If only Australia was America.

our prison comes with its own helipad.

As for the lush green ovals, I seem to recall that the prison has state of the art rain water storage facilities, so I don’t think there’ll be much use of town water.

Bullocks.

In the US there is a sheriff who runs chain gangs (in Nevada I think).

The inmates sleep in tents, have cable TV for the weather and 1 cartoon channel, eat rations etc.

His reasoning?

If the soldiers in Iraq can live that way, so can the inmates.

Does he have problems? Apparently not.

Does he have re-offenders? Apparently not.

Being in the middle of the desert also stops escapees.

He uses the inmates as a chain gang to improve or repair public works – saving the taxpayer money.

No wonder this guy’s been re-elected several years running.

Giving the prisoners ‘things’ helps the staff to maintain discipline. If they have access to a TV screen, then it can be taken away. It’s called carrot and stick. Gaols used to be all stick till the crooks burnt them down and injured a lot of staff in the process cause they had nothing to lose.

Hate to disabuse you of your beliefs, but guards in Australian prisons do not carry batons, guns, pepper spray or any other weapon. Its part of the system and it works. (It works less when welfare wallys try and introduce syringes into the system, but that’s another story.)

Freddie281, my information is that they will have access to an Intranet, not the internet. Education, information…possibly news, sports results etc. Whether one of em manages to crack it, we’ll have to wait and see.

I worry that a government who couldn’t run a duck raffle in a country pub thinks they have the corporate memory to run a Prison after managing a run-down remand centre.

My source is a member of ACT corrections – already been briefed on the Gaol setup and what will and won’t be available. They told me about the net setup as well although I had missed it when I posted the article.

That set you straight on my TT drivel.

Facts of the matter are: the place is better than plenty of people who aren’t committing crimes have, the security set up is a joke putting corrections officers at high risk, and as far as punishment goes it isn’t one and rehabilitation is a joke.

Pink jumpsuits, 1 tv with the disney channel only, hard labour and tents surrounded by razor wire costs about $179,000,000 less than the current set up.

I have no objection to gaol being about rehabilitation as well as punishment.

[SIMON CORBELL: There’s no reward to be locked up behind a very large security perimeter fence for 15, 20 years. Or even five or ten years. You don’t get a choice about when you come and go, you don’t get a choice about your clothing or your food, within reason.]
1. How often do ACT magistrates give sentences that Corbell refers to?
2. I doubt a lot of the crims are faced with much of a choice on what clothing they where or food they eat when they are not locked up. I’ve never heard of a heroin dependent burglar choosing to eat at a 5 star restaurant in his gucci suit.
Other than the deprevation of liberty, I find it hard to see our crims having any problems with the set up of the faciility.

Story with Video:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2008/02/25/2171694.htm

Transcript of Stateline:

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/act/content/2006/s2171506.htm

Its a Govt-managed site visit, so don’t expect the full story.
But it is the story without pictures.

[None of what you say is true.]

?!?!? Jemmy, I didn’t see the Statewide show to which you refer but I can assure you Special G is spot on. Work got me a tour through the prison about 4 months ago. Plasmas will be placed behind perspex panels. In addition to this, each bungalow is equipped with internet access. That is what the site manager told me anyway. It really will be a comfortable setting for want of a better word. The only fact I can add is apparently, those responsible in the construction of the facility will not be permitted to become residents there if they are ever convicted.

Hugo, I wasn’t having a go at Parra – it did it’s job for about 150 years. Many of the original 350kg metal cell doors were still being used when I worked there; a mighty old gaol she was that’s for sure. You should be proud that your family is a part of its history.

Ha! Agree re plasmas.

People suspected of even the most minor offence should be shot on site. The public should also be allowed to carry Sub-Machine Guns to enforce the law.

We don’t need Gaol’s. We need flexible heavy weaponry laws. Everybody needs at least a 9-mmm hand gun.

What has the world come to when one can’t carry a Bazooka around town.

Today Tonight drivel is right. I guess you didn’t see Statewide last Fri, when they did a walk through the gaol. None of what you say is true.

“Haha, what were you hoping for? A replica of Sydney’s Old Parramatta Gaol”?
My great great grandfather built that gaol and did very well out of it, thank you (although the trckle down effect has not even been a drip)so it is nice to see that the developers can still make a pile out of their government contracts.

And surely plasma tv screens are a punishment?

“What’s the big deal about them having an oval?”

My beef is not with them getting an oval – but with the Gov allocating water and dollars to this one when they can’t even afford to mow the crappy one we have in our suburb. This means that one of the primary schools that they decided to keep open – has no maintained playing fields!

If you’re going to spout this kind of Today Tonight drivel, then at least tell us who your allegedly in-the-know source was.

Given the current local council’s record, why on earth would anyone think they can effectively run a gaol?

Haha, what were you hoping for? A replica of Sydney’s Old Parramatta Gaol. Speaking of Parra, back in the nineties, there was a recruitment drive for NSW correctional officers. I applied. I got in. Did the 14 week training course at Brush Park, Eastwood in Sydney. Part of the training involved a week’s gaol exprience at Parramatta (a remand gaol then), and part at John Moroney Correctional Centre, you know … the $50+ million gaol out the back of Windsor. In those days, that was regarded as a modern gaol, with all the mod-cons, industry, etc. They make our clothes peg baskets. Parra had an oval for footy. At the time, the Prisons Act 1951 stated that all prisoners are entitled to 1 hour of exercise. Most of them were out of cells between 9am and 4pm. What is the big deal about them having an oval? Mind you, I don’t agree with the plasmas, even I don’t have one of those.

For what it’s worth, I lasted in the system for about a year, and returned to Canberra. I wouldn’t ever go back to that job; just not cut out for it. Too much to deal with, just like the police, and besides, it can change who you are. Anyway, good luck to all those people who are commencing work at the Alex Maconochie Centre in August.

Might as well make it voluntary attendance.

Offer it to the homeless bums in Civic- it’s win-win!

Speaking of facilities – what about that nice new sports oval that will be available to the crims? We are still waiting for our weed ridden expanse of land (that used to be maintained as a functioning sporting ground) to be mowed!

If the crims get a new oval before some of the ones that were let go by the Gov a few years ago are replaced, it will again highlight the warped sense of what’s right that our toy gov has….

If we have enough water to maintain a ground at a gaol we have enough water to maintain the ones in amongst the ratepayers….