6 November 2013

It's easy to have a human rights compliant prison when you never check it for compliance

| johnboy
Join the conversation
16

The ABC has a drearily predictable story on the lack of resources for the Human Rights Commissioner to conduct an audit of the one place in Canberra Human Rights are at serious risk:

Dr Watchirs has told a Legislative Assembly hearing, the prison has never been subject to a human rights audit.

“There’s not sufficient resources to do a review of the male prison and the overcrowding, just the female area which is between 12 and 15 detainees,” she said.

Apparently she needs an extra $300,000.

Join the conversation

16
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

BimboGeek said :

IP maybe it would help if we actually explain what human rights are.

These are human rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Prisoners, naturally, get those temporarily cut back a little but should be given as many of those basic guarantees as possible.

Here are the issues affecting prisoners in Australia: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/prisoners-rights

As you can see the biggest problems are the right to vote (think about how that could be abused with a few laws making certain vices illegal and you’ll see why this is a serious social problem in USA) and the right to be treated with some basic manners, respect and so on. Yeah, just like in a hospital, shop or anywhere, sometimes the customer is a jerk. But prisoners can’t exactly walk out, just as the mentally ill can’t magically recover overnight, so they need extra care.

I would have thought the biggest problem was sexual attacks.. (Don’t drop the soap).

Having really good human rights (aka keeping everyone happy) is one thing, but the opposite is also good, aka having a prison that people don’t like to go to and will henceforth avoid as much as they can.

One has to balance the overall impact of a prison. A prison that is hard to live in is hard to come back to. A prison with all the features of a 5 star Hilton and the crims will just offend to book their next visit. Likely spend half of their lives behind bars.

The criminal justice system was never intended to be used to correct people, it was always intended to set an example to those that might have offended but didn’t. With the limited sentencing in the ACT we’re doing the offenders a favour having hard to live in prisons.

IP maybe it would help if we actually explain what human rights are.

These are human rights: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Prisoners, naturally, get those temporarily cut back a little but should be given as many of those basic guarantees as possible.

Here are the issues affecting prisoners in Australia: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/prisoners-rights

As you can see the biggest problems are the right to vote (think about how that could be abused with a few laws making certain vices illegal and you’ll see why this is a serious social problem in USA) and the right to be treated with some basic manners, respect and so on. Yeah, just like in a hospital, shop or anywhere, sometimes the customer is a jerk. But prisoners can’t exactly walk out, just as the mentally ill can’t magically recover overnight, so they need extra care.

smithy said :

Human rights for detainees?

Did they consider the human rights of their victims
did they consider the human rights of the general community when they committed the crime.

Yet now we the community need to consider their rights.

They have the right to conform to what the rest of us the community expect, pull your head in and stop committing crimes so then you won’t end up in an overcrowded prison.

Oh dear, another person who doesn’t qualify for the job. 30% of people in the AMC are on remand, considered innocent in the eyes of the law.

Next applicant please.

IP

Woody Mann-Caruso10:09 am 09 Nov 13

Yet now we the community need to consider their rights.

‘Rights’ only has six letters. Perhaps you could look it up in the dictionary.

Or perhaps you’re happy with your kindergarten-level ‘Nuh-uh, he dun it first so why should I?’ grasp of civilised society, in which case more power to you and your career as a mixed media* sculptor.

*y is evrybody luffing at me, smithy, 2013. Faeces and crayon on acrylic and plaster. $92,233,720,368,547,760.00**.

**ZWD

Woody Mann-Caruso10:03 am 09 Nov 13

It’s a gaol, wankers

Oh, the irony. You must be Greek.

Human rights for detainees?

Did they consider the human rights of their victims
did they consider the human rights of the general community when they committed the crime.

Yet now we the community need to consider their rights.

They have the right to conform to what the rest of us the community expect, pull your head in and stop committing crimes so then you won’t end up in an overcrowded prison.

gooterz said :

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrc.act.gov.au%2Fres%2FSubmission%2520to%2520Human%2520Rights%2520Commission%25208%2520July%25202013.pdf&ei=roJ8UqCUBeuviQeG2YGQAQ&usg=AFQjCNEa6JX58Sf-SZ6ve7TFAMSM9jfKsg

And this is why
Apparently with 15 ladies its hard to organise a soccer game unless they are forced too. So weight gain is a problem, the gym sits unused because its ‘uninspiring’ and there aren’t any vegi gardens.

Another issue is that some of the women know each other so don’t want to see each other in prison because they don’t get along. Boo goo

They want a women’s only prison, hence why the audit.

An audit of the mens prison will best serve to show what else the women are missing out on, their poor soles.

Another factor that many things aren’t available is that many women are remanded for longer than they are sentenced,.. I wonder how we could fix that?

You might be slightly trivialising the problem of women prisoners trying to rip each others’ heads off, but other than that you’re pretty close to the mark. The women’s area is a veritable palace compare to anywhere in the men’s area. If they would play nice, they could have fairly comfortable time. But only seeing the same small number of not very nice people every day for years would probably get on my nerves too.

IP

Grimm said :

I’ll do it now, and for free.

Are they fed semi regularly?
Do they have a roof over their heads?
Are they being clothed?

Yes to all those? Compliant enough.

It’s a gaol, wankers, not a day care or a holiday resort. We should be looking at the good old Black Dolphin prison for instruction on how to run the place properly.

Well you don’t get the contract, as you have no idea of what human rights are, especially in a prison. How about access to lawyers for remandees and anyone thinking about an appeal or applying for parole? Access to resources if they want to be their own legal adviser, as is anyone’s right? You don’t have to represented by John Jaczinski or whatever other incompetent Legal Aid offers you.

Then there’s contact with the outside world. Compliance with dietary requirements for health or religious reasons. Access to health care. And so on. It still ain’t 300k’s worth of work though.

IP

I’ll do it now, and for free.

Are they fed semi regularly?
Do they have a roof over their heads?
Are they being clothed?

Yes to all those? Compliant enough.

It’s a gaol, wankers, not a day care or a holiday resort. We should be looking at the good old Black Dolphin prison for instruction on how to run the place properly.

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrc.act.gov.au%2Fres%2FSubmission%2520to%2520Human%2520Rights%2520Commission%25208%2520July%25202013.pdf&ei=roJ8UqCUBeuviQeG2YGQAQ&usg=AFQjCNEa6JX58Sf-SZ6ve7TFAMSM9jfKsg

And this is why
Apparently with 15 ladies its hard to organise a soccer game unless they are forced too. So weight gain is a problem, the gym sits unused because its ‘uninspiring’ and there aren’t any vegi gardens.

Another issue is that some of the women know each other so don’t want to see each other in prison because they don’t get along. Boo goo

They want a women’s only prison, hence why the audit.

An audit of the mens prison will best serve to show what else the women are missing out on, their poor soles.

Another factor that many things aren’t available is that many women are remanded for longer than they are sentenced,.. I wonder how we could fix that?

Well at least the women and their human rights are getting looked after.

Use your time to Interview all the girls before you realise you don’t have enough to talk to the guys.

Give the job to LSWCHP. Surely there are levels of audit and even just a look around and quick interview of everyone to see how they’re feeling is better than nothing.

thebrownstreak692:22 pm 08 Nov 13

Does it need to be a lawyer? Presumably there is a standard that will be used to audit against, and professional organisations that provide suitabvly qualified people to audit against that standard.

I’d suggest the lovely Dr Wachirs doesn’t know much about auditing, given her time and cost estimates. Based on the cost, it sounds like she is planning to do it with in-house resources.

LSWCHP said :

I’ll do it for $30K in two weeks.

I’m not a lawyer or anything, but I am cheap.

30k for 2 weeks is not cheap.

IP

I’ll do it for $30K in two weeks.

I’m not a lawyer or anything, but I am cheap.

I’ll do it for $30k in 6 months.

Only an ACT lawyer could want $300k and 2 years. They appear to have no concept of time nor public money.

IP

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.