One day, 12 arrests, as police continue crackdown on alleged repeat offenders

Wow! So it costs $190,000 per year to imprison a criminal.

I feel like your arguement that prison is expensive and not effective is a poor arguement for expanding it.

No nobody the ACT does not have the highest recividist rate in Australia. If you have figures for that claim show me. In July 2022 the ABS released its most recent Crime and Justice Statistics. The statistics reveal that Victoria and the NT have the highest rates of crime in Australia. This is over a range of offences. While crime has increased in all jurisdictions during this period, the report states that restrictions due to Covid have impacted the level of crime. Police PROMIS statistics released in July 2022 reveal that recidivist bail breaches in the ACT have reduced by 25% since 2017-18. You appear to be critical of the positive programs the prison is currently undertaking. The prison was built in 2008 with the best of intentions, to be human rights compliant. It did not have a proper framework to be human rights compliant when it was built. No such framework exists. There is no other prison in the world that is human rights compliant because there are no frameworks to build such a prison. The ACT government has been playing catchup ever since. Jon Stanhope who was chief minister at the time and championed the prison as well as the opposition have been sniping and bitching from the sidelines ever since. Jon Stanhope has labelled the goal an appalling failure and embarrassment. I wish the media would challenge Jon Stanhope on its shortcomings and his legacy in its creation.

Every prison in Australia is human rights compliant. If they weren’t then Amnesty International would be all over them.

Jack, the recidivism rate was report by Riotact just last week, I’m sure you noticed. I’m not critical of the positive programs the prison undertakes, I’m critical of the poor results achieved by this government. Stop blaming Stanhope, he retired over a decade ago, it’s the current Minister who needs to explain why the outcomes are so poor.
https://the-riotact.com/pilot-specialist-taskforce-curbs-canberras-alarming-recidivist-crime-rate/595568

wodenresident, I’m asking for the Minister to explain why the current programs cost the most yet still deliver the highest recidivist rate.

Oh to be so gullible Gary Stuart!! You’ve got me started. The statistics say it all. Human Rights Watch reports that about 50% of Australia’s prison population has a disability, whether physical, cognitive or a mental health condition. Many young children are incarcerated in adult prisons particularly in Queensland. High levels of Indigenous incarcerations and deaths in custody. Not to mention Don Dale in the Northern Territory and the terrible and hostile conditions faced by (mostly young and Indigenous) detainees. Media reporting of the appalling conditions at this prison prompted a Royal Commission. Or Goulburn’s maximum security prison where prisoners spend 16 hours a day in their cells, change cells once a month and are x-rayed after every visit. All mail and conversations are monitored and prisoners are prohibited from speaking non-English languages. In Queensland’s Lotus Glen prison prisoners are locked in small and sealed cells in solitary confinement and no meaningful social interaction for typically 22 hours or more. These are just a few of the prisons and the conditions prisoners face. I am sure there are many people in the community who would consider this treatment of our prisoners acceptable Gary Stuart but I don’t.

I prefer to rely on statistics from reputable sources nobody not some alarmist media reporting

Jack, stop trying to deflect at every angle, and just explain to us why the ACT’s recidivist rates are so high.

Didn’t you say nobody that ACT’s recividist rates are the highest in the country because you believe everything you read in the media? I say that is wrong because the statistics I have are from reputable sources (ABS, Police, National Crime Authority etc). These statistics indicate that the ACT does not have the highest recidivism rate in the country. In fact, my statistics show the ACT has very low crime rates compared to the rest of Australia. As I have stated before, the latest police statistics released in July 2022 (PROMIS no less) indicate that recidivism in the ACT has reduced by over 25% over the 5 years.

Jack, and the Productivity Commission says the ACT has the highest recidivism rate. But again, stop trying to deflect, and just explain to us why the ACT’s recidivism rates are so high.

I don’t take such a simplistic or ignorant view of law and order and specifically recidivism nobody. Law and order is broad and recidivism is just a part of the legal process. I have read the Productivity Commission report. No it doesn’t say that the ACT has the highest recidivism rates in the country. The ACT’s recidivism rates are the lowest in the country coming only behind SA. But the statistics have to be read in the broad context of how they are presented. You don’t seem to understand that. The ACT recidivism rates are declining and I don’t consider them high. Recidivism occurs all over nation. If you want to get yourself all worked up over the ACT’s recidivism rates rather than the broader context of law and order that is your problem.

No Jack, the Productivity Commission says the ACT recidivism rate is the highest at 63.4% (SA is 39.3%). They also show the ACT rate is consistently higher than all the States, and higher than the NT about half the time. The average across Australia is 45.2%. So stop with the denial and deflection, just explain to us why the ACT rate is so high.

nobody, you have such a narrow, ignorant outlook on law and order. You have found a figure in the Productivity Commission’s report into Australia’s prison dilemma that suits your narrow argument. This 2021 report made special mention of the ACT, NT and Queensland as having the highest recidivism rates in the country. However, the report did caution readers in reading too much into the figures. Measuring recidivism rates in Australia is difficult due to the differences in the way offences are measured in each of the states and territories. The Productivity Commission report also made special mention of the ACT’s throughcare model which provides continued support to prisoners for 12 months after their release and is unique to this jurisdiction. This has had results as the latest ABS Corrective Service statistics released in June 2022 reveal that the ACT has led the country in reducing repeat offending.

Sorry for the delay in responding Jack D – I have finally stopped laughing at your comments.

You read articles, you look up statistics and look down at us realists, but you have no idea about real life policing or prisons.

I suspect you spent your life as a career public servant – and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I suspect that now that you’ve retired, you’re spending a lot of time watching Aunty, being inspired by the antics of Extinction Rebellion and hang up posters of Greta Thunberg. All this in between tie-dying rainbows on old T-shirts.

Leave the crime fighting and incarceration to the experts (like moi) and have a Bex and a good lie down.