The Government will reverse the privatisation of NSW correctional facilities in a positive signal that the for-profit model of prisons is not welcome and recognition that the State has a duty of care for inmates. Junee Correctional Centre and Parklea prison, some of the most notorious and poorly run facilities in the state, will be the first two that will return to public management.
Greens MP and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said “The privatisation of prisons in NSW has been a decades long push by the Liberals and Nationals that has had disastrous impact on progress towards a rehabilitative justice system, the move by the NSW Government is a good start, but there’s a long way to go,”
“The privately run and for-profit facilities June, Parklea and the Clarence have been at the centre of complaints from inmates, their families as well as the workers. Despite mountains of evidence, these private operators have been allowed to get away from this for too long under Governments that wanted to divest from justice completely,”
“This change means that we can now focus on genuine reform across the whole corrections system that puts rehabilitation and recovery at the core of the justice system and ensures that people in state custody are protected by the state’s duty of care. The Government should never seek to outsource the care of people to profit motivated corporations,”
“The State has a responsibility to bear the costs associated with the criminal laws that are in place and the privatisation model in the United States has demonstrated the extreme dangers of creating market opportunities for the over criminalisation of people and profiteering from interference in the legislative process,”
“The aim of a prison must be to rehabilitate not just punish and, if done right, the cost benefit analysis to the state is that vulnerable and damaged people are healed and return to their community to contribute positively never to return to prison – this is a true cost benefit analysis,” Ms Higginson said.
