Advantages Of Incarceration In Australia

There are currently around 37,000 prisoners in Australia and over 2, 200, 000 in

America, populations that have both been increasing greatly in the past decade. 1 2

Therefore more people every year face the immediate concern of rebuilding life, upon

release from correctional facilities, and the stigma that will follow them forever. It is the

government’s duty to make the transition from prison to society as effective as possible,

and to help prisoners become active members of society. Although both America and

Australia have strategies that function both inside and out of prisons there are many

flaws that are present in these systems.

One thing both countries have realised is that it is important to start the process of

reintegration

6

As well as educational programs, prisons also give the opportunity of work to inmates. 7

In Australia this is seen as a helpful method of rehabilitation, allowing for the formation

of work habits and new skills. 8 The possible 60 hours of work a fortnight are non-

compulsory and consists of work in kitchen, laundry, cleaning, maintenance or

gardening industries, following trends. 9 Alternatively, community work is available to

minimum-security prisons. 10 In America, however, the legitimacy of work for prisoners

is constantly questioned. It has been labeled as “slavery reinvented” and it has been

speculated that inmates have been blackmailed into work. 11 This is because the work is

mainly for the profit of privately run prisons, the amount of which has increased by

2000 percent in the past decade. 12 13 These prisons are allowed to lease out inmates and

their employers rarely care about their health or safety, using them for hard manual

labor. 14 15 Although this issue is not apparent for the entirety of America it has been

widely overlooked.

The systems in place during the release of an inmate in Australia and America

Australia and America have entirely

opposing strategies to prevent this, however, both lack effectiveness. Discrimination on

the basis of a criminal record can precede a complaint under the Australian Human

Rights Commission Act but this can only lead to an apology or the payment of lost

wages. 26 27 Discrimination is also only illegal in the Northern Territory and Tasmania,

where legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of irrelevant criminal records. 28

Although it has been illegal in American since 1964 discrimination is unprovable. On all

employment proposal forms a citizen must say whether or not they are a felon. 29 If they

tick yes they can be subject to discrimination and the affects of something that may have

happened decades ago. There is no process in which a felon can describe what offense

the committed or prove how they have changed and this form of categorization places

all felons on the levels of murderers. 30 Even if the employer contradicts it this is often

why someone may be denied a job.

America and Australia both have comprehensive strategies for the reintegration