In preparation for this blog, I was reading James Hume’s blog post, dated 20 August, 2010, as he delineates imprisonment within an Australian context. He stated that the prison system could be separated into two extremes from a media perspective; “prison as a holiday camp, or prison as dangerous and violent.” The main aim of his argument was to analyse the latter, and therefore I will contrast this blog to focus on the dull, mundane and at times ‘holiday like’ perception the public receive purely from the media in regard to the prison system within Australia. As reinforced by Alyce throughout this semester, factual depictions and representations of the criminal justice system are hard to come by, and in turn, most information the public are subject to, is derived from the media (Marsh and Melville, 2009, p.128). Yousman believed that whilst cases such as the Carl Williams death in prison as mentioned by Hume receive some media attention, the real experiences of those in prison and the conditions in which they live, are inadequately detailed through the media (2009, p.9).
As prisons remain one of the most hidden facets of the criminal justice system, the coverage throughout the media ultimately comes down to the discretion of the guards and/or ex-prisoners who speak out upon release. This ultimately leads to the common myth that prison guards are corrupt as Detailed in the Sydney Morning Heralds report ‘ICAC slams prison security’ on August 1, 2010. It analysed the 6th Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation in regard to security standards within NSW prisons and particularly contraband trafficking by prison officers. The ICAC found that “senior corrections officer Sebastian Wade had supplied prisoners at John Morony Correctional Centre in Windsor with drugs and other contraband for up to $1000 for each delivery.” With Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham saying there had been a ''total breakdown of procedures'' at Windsor. The ICAC found security measures with NSW prisons “seriously deficient”. A former prisoner who spoke to The Sun-Herald confirmed “To put it simply, it's not very hard to get anything inside. The drugs are shared with close friends”.
As outlined by the Sydney Morning Herald, An investigation into a Queensland work camp, which closed after a former prisoner claimed inmates had easy access to drugs, pornography, mobile phones and were allowed out unsupervised, affirms the notion or the misconception rather, that prisons are holiday like. The former inmate had claimed life inside the Innisfail prison work camp, was "better than being on the dole” with comfortable conditions including air conditioning, flat screen televisions, DVDs and access to pay TV. "I couldn't believe it was happening, it was an absolute holiday camp," he told The Cairns Post. Is this the daily functioning of the prison that we, the public have little too no access of or is this a ploy by a former inmate to gain media coverage and attention.
Finally, I would like to go back to the core purposes of the criminal justice system and in particular the prison system in which their main outcomes are deterrence, rehabilitation and/or punishment. In respect to the ABS figures reported in SMH’s article dated August 30, 2010, Australia’s prisons are not being presented as a deterrent because of the amount of people that reoffend, with “
Re-imprisonment strongly associated with being young, being indigenous or having been previously imprisoned with the re-imprisonment rate being highest in the Northern Territory, where about 68 per cent of prisoners had been jailed before. These recidivism rates also deny the facet of rehabilitation and punishment. I would like to conclude by posing a multiple of questions in response to Hume’s blog. If the harsh media portrayals of prisons could be viewed as a deterrent, why in Australia’s case, are the recidivism rates so high for male and especially indigenous males? This leads me to believe that prison could be easier for some people and is not about time Australia’s criminal justice system provide adequate assistance to convicted individuals upon their release to assist their integration back into society by providing practical life skills, educating them to live a life free from criminal activity? And how without these necessary skills are individuals expected to live outside of the institution?Reference ListHume, J., 2010, ‘How the mainstream media has distorted the actualities of prison life’
Kennedy, L., 2010, ‘ICAC slams prison security’, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 August 2010,
Marsh, I. and Melville, G. (2009). ‘Crime, Justice and the Media’ 1st ed. Routledge, London.
‘No evidence of drug use at prison camp’, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 2010,
‘Re-offending rates up: prison study’, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 August 2010,
Schwarten, E., 2010, ‘No evidence of drug use at prison camp’, Sydney Morning Herald, 3 September 2010,
Yousman, B. (2009) ‘Prime time prisons on U.S TV: Representation of incarceration, Peter Lang Publishing, New York, (Online)
This is an interesting blog - how often do you hear red-neck comments such as "criminals have a bed to sleep in, no bills to pay and can watch TV - What a life!"
ReplyDeleteThe points made about recidivism and the role of pre and post release are very true, particularly in the NSW context. Most criminals 'churn' in and out of the system, and because they are constantly going through the system, albeit for fairly short sentences - they are not eligible for adequate support services nor are they included in the statistics you mentioned. The reason for this is because such statistics are gathered from census data which occurs once a year. These 'stock -figures' dont take into account those 'churners', and this represents a need for 'flow-through'figures, which requires data on prisons to be collated multiple times a year in order to receive adequate measures. This is a whole seperate issue but nevertheless an important one.
What I really thought when I read this blog, was how the view of prison as a holiday fits amongst Australias Indigenous people's. There are studies by the Australian Institute of Criminology which discuss that amongst some Indigenous communities, prison is seen as a rite of passage amonst young men. This obviously raises great concerns but is an interesting take on this notion of prison as a holiday.
Great blog post Emma. I do recall reading that story on the Cairns prison and wondering how accurate it was. And Nemat's post is right, I think the issues are more complex than sometimes they are put across. For example, the prison as rite of passage article Nemat refers to has been argued against by others who say that we really need to be looking at the sorts of issues that 'intersectionality' literature puts forward in terms of the complex problems and needs of prisoners.
ReplyDeleteDespite these 'holiday' images that are often asserted by the media in relation to prison, I know I still would not be keen to spend time inside!
Alyce