Greens want to buy off prison guards with overseas junkets

Grail said :

Tooks said :

And what about families of the inmates? Would they prefer the needle exchange, or perhaps zero tolerance for people smuggling in drugs?

Who the heck do you think is smuggling the drugs and paraphernalia into the gaol in the first place?

Obviously (at least I thought it would be obvious) I’m not talking about family members doing the smuggling. Don’t assume that all crooks have family members who are crooks. Those who care would not want their son, daughter etc taking drugs at all.

chewy14 said :

Mental Health Worker said :

Is it appropriate for a mental health worker to be a five post nutbag?

Hey, it’s just a tag. Is GrumpyOld Far really a grumpy old fart? Is Ben_Dover really a serial picker-up of soap in communal showers? Is mac87 really using a 24 year old computer? Is Colourful Sydney Racing Identity really an underworld crime lord? Is wildturkeycanoe really a, well, what IS a wild turkey canoe likely to be? I could go on, and I probably will, but not now…

MHW

Tooks said :

And what about families of the inmates? Would they prefer the needle exchange, or perhaps zero tolerance for people smuggling in drugs?

Who the heck do you think is smuggling the drugs and paraphernalia into the gaol in the first place?

chewy14 said :

Mental Health Worker said :

Is it appropriate for a mental health worker to be a five post nutbag?

+100

A couple of points (some already mentioned) and as always, I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong on any of these:

Around 60% of inmates have Hep C. Most, if not all of them, contracted it on the outside. It’s a fair assumption to say they don’t practice safe needle use even when they have the opportunity to do so.

Has anyone asked the inmates whether they want the needle exchange? What inmate is going to ‘out’ themselves as a drug user and leave themselves open to more scrutiny (knowing their visits will be watched more closely; more frequent ‘random’ searches; their cells probably searched more often; more attention on their associates and visitors etc)?

And what about families of the inmates? Would they prefer the needle exchange, or perhaps zero tolerance for people smuggling in drugs?

I can understand why people support a needle exchange in the jail, but my sympathies lie with the corrections staff who are being asked to allow illegal acts right in front of their noses.

Given many of the inmates are there directly or indirectly due to drugs, wouldn’t it make more sense to make it harder for drugs to get in?

mac87 said :

Mental Health Worker said :

ImagineThat said :

I don’t understand why we are asking prison officers to effectively condone an illegal act. Surely the ACT government needs supporting legislation to remove any liability from a prison guard who knowingly ‘aids and abets’ a person in this regard.

Assuming the government passes this, then surely the next step is to also provide safe injection rooms for all ACT residents regardless of their curent accommodation situation.

And assuming we make it legal for everyone to safely inject themselves, we should probably also just bit the bullet and make it legal to take whatever drugs you like, when you like, where you like, with whomever you like.

Geez, crisis over…

that was easy!

Great point. We can have an injecting room in a prison but not in the community? Doesn’t make an awful lot of sense.

MHW

Because usually, in a community you havent been convicted or awaiting a trial and the issue of a community injecting room is totally separate. Jail is there for a punishment not for you to easily access the materials required for your next hit.

Mental Health Worker said :

ImagineThat said :

I don’t understand why we are asking prison officers to effectively condone an illegal act. Surely the ACT government needs supporting legislation to remove any liability from a prison guard who knowingly ‘aids and abets’ a person in this regard.

Assuming the government passes this, then surely the next step is to also provide safe injection rooms for all ACT residents regardless of their curent accommodation situation.

And assuming we make it legal for everyone to safely inject themselves, we should probably also just bit the bullet and make it legal to take whatever drugs you like, when you like, where you like, with whomever you like.

Geez, crisis over…

that was easy!

Great point. We can have an injecting room in a prison but not in the community? Doesn’t make an awful lot of sense.

MHW

Because usually, in a community you havent been convicted or awaiting a trial? Jail is there for a punishment not for you to easily access the materials required for your next hit.

A needle and syringe program shouldn’t need to be thought about at the AMC. I have personal experience of how sensitive a drug detector dog’s sense of smell is and anyone carrying drugs is going to get caught if subjected to a drug detector dog sniffing around them. Is there a logical reason why AMC doesn’t have drug detector dogs working there, sniffing around visitors and staff, much like what happens when you arrive at Sydney airport from an international flight???

I simply cannot understand why the government is even mentioning a needle and syringe program when the dogs are available.

Mental Health Worker said :

Is it appropriate for a mental health worker to be a five post nutbag?

I’m with the “no drugs in jail, no needles in jail” crowd. Stuff ’em.

Sorry, I meant to agree with PBO about the zero tolerance bit, 2 thumbs up for ya.

This is hotting up nicely, just got to read it tonight.
Go DUB, fully agree that detention is detention, not a holiday. No drugs in prisons, full stop. No need for a trip to Europe, just stop the needles and drugs getting in there and there won’t be an issue.

“Is it your considered opinion that an elected official should disregard the opinion of those very people that their misguided policy will affect on a daily basis…”

but presumably you’re not talking about the prisoners, or their families? or all the non-government and government workers who work with them in prison (other than uniformed correctional officers) and outside prison, and who support a needle and syringe program in the prison?

I’m not expressing a personal opinion, just pointing out that yours is full of holes.

MHW

Chop71 said :

Jim Jones —- You’re on report, 3 posts in a row!!!

Going for Jim Jones’ record. Hopefully no-one got in the middle…

MHW