PAMPERED PRISONERS

There was an outrageous, but typical, story that went to air on 3AW’s Rumour File this morning.  Reportedly a prisoner was allowed to sleep in even though he had a jail order requesting his presence at court. He told the prison officer ‘it's too cold, I don't want to go to court, I want to stay in bed today'...  so he did! Everybody else associated with the case turned up but it had to be adjourned.

Now, the Corrections Department won’t confirm or deny the story because, as usual, they hide behind that ‘we don’t comment on individual cases’ defence which covers a multitude of sins and gets the department off the hook whenever embarrassing questions are asked.

And apparently there are two categories involving prisoners and court orders. Mandatory orders and ‘by request’.  We don’t know which category this prisoner came under. But you can be assured of one thing:  If you or I failed to appear in court there’d be hell to pay.

I’m due in both Supreme and  Magistrate’s Court later this year. And you can bet if I pull a cockamamie stunt and decline respect the court and refuse to stand up (as happened last week) I’d be charged with contempt.

Prisoners’ rights, and their obligations, are in the news again with the ACT government announcing recently that it will begin a program of ‘private family visits’, conjugal rights, for couples, including same sex couples, who have been together for six months.

In Victoria already has such a program although no other states do.  Coincidentally there’s an article in the latest issue of Spectator Australia on conjugal rights in jail and it’s worth debating.

When you commit a crime, and are sentenced to jail, your punishment is deprivation of freedom. Sure, rehabilitation is part of it but the loss of personal freedom, the loss of liberty is the punishment.

You are no longer permitted to do things available in the outside world. Can’t go to the pub, or the footy, or stay out late, or go home and have sex.

Sorry, sunshine, that’s part of your punishment. And if a married prisoner can argue that he should be able to enforce his conjugal rights (which aren’t legally enforceable at home) and have sexual visits from his wife – why shouldn’t a single man be allowed to phone a friend? Or hire a hooker.

Prison is prison. It shouldn’t to be a dungeon where prisoners are shackled and fed bread and water. But it also shouldn’t be Club Med.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2009