A Response to crime: prison growth past 25 years

1. PrisonBreak2008 1 A Response to crime: prison growth past 25 years Assoc Prof Eileen Baldry School of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

2. PrisonBreak2008 2 Snapshot of Australian prisoners ~27,000 in prison today ~50,000 flowing in and out of prison in a year Majority less than a year sentence 24% remand Males 92-93%; females 7-8% (sig. growth) Indigenous Australians - 25% Between 60 & 70% will return to prison at some stage 54,185 community-based corrections

3. PrisonBreak2008 3 Australian imprisonment rate increase 1997-2007 Increase from 137 per 100,000 adult pop. (1997) to 169 (2007); 23% growth

4. PrisonBreak2008 4 Growth in State imprisonment rates 1997-2007

5. PrisonBreak2008 5 Differences across Australia 10 years to June 2007, prisoner numbers increased by 42%, from 19,128 to 27,224. Increase not uniform� New South Wales and Queensland highest increases. Levels vary widely around the country. NT highest rate: 580 prisoners per 100,000 March 2008 (ABS 2008), five times the rates of ACT (72) and Victoria (102). Large similar jurisdictions: New South Wales and Victoria vary markedly. NSW 180 per 100,000 adults almost double that of Victoria

6. PrisonBreak2008 6 NZ NZ has experienced very similar growth - higher rate than Australia but equally trending up

7. PrisonBreak2008 7 Women 1997-2007: Number of male prisoners increased by 40% (from 18,038 to 25,240) number of female prisoners increased by 82% (from 1,090 to 1,984); rate increase of 15 to 24 per 100,000 adult female pop In addressing the issues central to the experience of people with MHD&CD in the CJS this study explores the links between social exclusion, impairment and disability and the systemic impacts of criminal justice and human service paradigms. Critical Criminology and Critical Disability Studies Critical Criminology seeks to locate and understand the reasons for crime within wider structural and institutional contexts including socio-economic, class-based, cultural, racialised and gendered. It sees crime and social responses to it as deeply political, cultural and critically challengeable matters. Critical Disability Studies is based on the premise that the disadvantage typically experienced by those who are disabled reflects primarily the way society defines and responds to certain types of 'difference'. Makes a crucial distinction between impairment as a condition of the individual body or mind (such as experiencing schizophrenia, intellectual disability or brain injury), and disability, which is the social experience flowing from the presence of impairment. It explores the social, political, cultural, and economic factors that define disability and shape personal and collective responses to difference. Social exclusion links the two The social exclusion perspective combines a consideration of an individual�s risk and protective factors with system and policy driven problems and accounts for what can happen when people experience a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, unstable housing, high crime environments, poor health and family breakdown needs to be an iterative process of identifying, understanding and removing obstacles to resources combined with a deeper analysis of the dynamics of both impairment and disability and the way they structure an individual�s interactions with such systems as well as a reflective analysis of the way the system in turn as well as initially structures those dynamics. In addressing the issues central to the experience of people with MHD&CD in the CJS this study explores the links between social exclusion, impairment and disability and the systemic impacts of criminal justice and human service paradigms. Critical Criminology and Critical Disability Studies Critical Criminology seeks to locate and understand the reasons for crime within wider structural and institutional contexts including socio-economic, class-based, cultural, racialised and gendered. It sees crime and social responses to it as deeply political, cultural and critically challengeable matters. Critical Disability Studies is based on the premise that the disadvantage typically experienced by those who are disabled reflects primarily the way society defines and responds to certain types of 'difference'. Makes a crucial distinction between impairment as a condition of the individual body or mind (such as experiencing schizophrenia, intellectual disability or brain injury), and disability, which is the social experience flowing from the presence of impairment. It explores the social, political, cultural, and economic factors that define disability and shape personal and collective responses to difference. Social exclusion links the two The social exclusion perspective combines a consideration of an individual�s risk and protective factors with system and policy driven problems and accounts for what can happen when people experience a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, unstable housing, high crime environments, poor health and family breakdown needs to be an iterative process of identifying, understanding and removing obstacles to resources combined with a deeper analysis of the dynamics of both impairment and disability and the way they structure an individual�s interactions with such systems as well as a reflective analysis of the way the system in turn as well as initially structures those dynamics.

8. PrisonBreak2008 8 %Growth in women�s imprisonment

9. PrisonBreak2008 9 Indigenous Australians 24% prison population Age standardised Rate of 1,787 per 100,000 adult Indigenous population; 13 x more likely to be imprisoned. Highest Indigenous rate: WA (3,554 Indigenous prisoners per 100,000 adult Indigenous population), SA (2,407) and NSW (2,363).

10. PrisonBreak2008 10 Ratio of Indigenous rate/ non-Indigenous Av. 13 x more likely to be in prison

11. PrisonBreak2008 11 Remand 6,386 (24%) un-sentenced prisoners; increase of 7% in 1 year

12. PrisonBreak2008 12 Remand Over past 22 years remand across Australia increased by 155% representing and increase from 12% of the prisoner pop to 24% Uneven growth - Vic = 50%; SA 270% Female higher remandee rate - 28%-30%

13. PrisonBreak2008 13 Recidivism National figures: Slight decrease (by 1.5%) over past 5 years from av ~39% to 37.5% re-sentenced to prison by 2 years. Mainly due to drops in Vic & Qld Again large variation - Qld lowest recidivism (~29), NSW & NT highest (~44) Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP)

14. PrisonBreak2008 14 Costs Financial and social costs increasing. Expenditure on prisons in 2006/2007 was $2.3 billion (SCRGSP 2006). The annual growth rate in expenditure between 2002/2003 and 2006/2007 was 4% and was the fastest growing expenditure within the justice area � almost twice that of police services. Most jurisdictions building more prisons - NSW 1 a year

15. PrisonBreak2008 15 Social Costs Unequal imprisonment - most marginalised (low income, high unemployment, low education levels, high levels of alcohol and other drug abuse, intellectual disabilities and mental health problems) and minority groups (particularly Indigenous people). Inability of the prison to reform or rehabilitate Self-reproductive nature: in New South Wales ~ 70% of current prisoners have previously been imprisoned (New South Wales Department of Corrective Services 2004: 20). People with disabilities are one of the most socially excluded groups in society. What makes social exclusion so pernicious for disabled people is the powerful way in which barriers interact to perpetuate exclusion eg. poor education can limit the extent and opportunity for employment and thereby restrict access to money and housing. Give example of Such exclusion can, when combined with other disadvantages, funnel people into the criminal justice system. Eg. A recent study of levels of social and psychological disadvantage among a sample of NSW Court defendants conducted by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found that nine per cent of the sample had not continued school beyond year seven, thirty per cent had not continued beyond year 10, nineteen per cent reported �difficulties learning new things� and twenty-one percent reported they had �difficulties reading and writing� (Jones and Crawford 2007:3). These rates are far above the national averages (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005). This funnelling is more evident in the prison system where disadvantage is even more concentrated. Operates differently people with mental health disorders these illnesses tend to emerge and be diagnosed in late adolescence/early adulthood. Given the usually long lead time from the development of symptoms to the point of diagnosis and presumably intervention, it is very likely that young people with emerging mental health issues whose families have little in the way of social and economic capital to support them, are likely to have experienced disrupted schooling which sets in motion a chain of events/exclusions which intensify their disadvantage beginning with disrupted school attendance. people with cognitive disabilities have compromised access to educational opportunities. In NSW the 1996 McCrae report found that only 30% of school aged children and adolescents with disabilities in NSW attended Government primary and secondary schools and that more than half of these children and adolescents were not receiving education in the classroom alongside their peers without disabilities. The subsequent Vinson reports of 2002 concluded that many teachers struggle to give students with disabilities enough opportunities in the classroom Poverty �always been the key factor in the modern constitution of disability. Problems can include debt, housing and welfare benefits, forming a cluster of issues which have the tendency to develop into further problem spirals. People with disabilities are one of the most socially excluded groups in society. What makes social exclusion so pernicious for disabled people is the powerful way in which barriers interact to perpetuate exclusion eg. poor education can limit the extent and opportunity for employment and thereby restrict access to money and housing. Give example of Such exclusion can, when combined with other disadvantages, funnel people into the criminal justice system. Eg. A recent study of levels of social and psychological disadvantage among a sample of NSW Court defendants conducted by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found that nine per cent of the sample had not continued school beyond year seven, thirty per cent had not continued beyond year 10, nineteen per cent reported �difficulties learning new things� and twenty-one percent reported they had �difficulties reading and writing� (Jones and Crawford 2007:3). These rates are far above the national averages (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005). This funnelling is more evident in the prison system where disadvantage is even more concentrated. Operates differently people with mental health disorders these illnesses tend to emerge and be diagnosed in late adolescence/early adulthood. Given the usually long lead time from the development of symptoms to the point of diagnosis and presumably intervention, it is very likely that young people with emerging mental health issues whose families have little in the way of social and economic capital to support them, are likely to have experienced disrupted schooling which sets in motion a chain of events/exclusions which intensify their disadvantage beginning with disrupted school attendance. people with cognitive disabilities have compromised access to educational opportunities. In NSW the 1996 McCrae report found that only 30% of school aged children and adolescents with disabilities in NSW attended Government primary and secondary schools and that more than half of these children and adolescents were not receiving education in the classroom alongside their peers without disabilities. The subsequent Vinson reports of 2002 concluded that many teachers struggle to give students with disabilities enough opportunities in the classroom Poverty �always been the key factor in the modern constitution of disability. Problems can include debt, housing and welfare benefits, forming a cluster of issues which have the tendency to develop into further problem spirals.

16. PrisonBreak2008 16 Why What do you think? More Crime? Detecting more crime? More dangerous?

17. PrisonBreak2008 17  Relation with crime Imprisonment rates continued to increase while crime rates have levelled or fallen in many categories of crime. Some crimes - eg murder, manslaughter - rarely repeat offenders; others - eg break & enter, assault - high repeat offending. With high repeat, prison mainly makes a difference when offender is locked up Growth in Imprisonment more likely to be associated with legislative, political, social and cultural decisions and changes Recognition of differing trajectories of impairment and disability - failure of much contemporary disability studies approaches. The connection between impairment and disability is a critical point of distinction here. Someone may experience a severe impairment (eg mental illness such as schizophrenia) but not experience it as severely disabling due to a range of factors such as having the social and financial support of their family, while another person may have what might be diagnostically only a mild impairment but experience extremely disabling consequences, again due to a range of factors such as experiencing poverty and abuse. Clearly a critical intervening factor in this relationship is �community supports� which alleviate or attenuate the impact of impairment. Failure to recognise these dynamics results in the marginalising of some impairment groups and shores up the tradition of understanding disability only in a static sense. Disability trajectories can be explored in two ways: 1. Individual report/life history research with identified individuals. In our case and broadly, this type of research is very difficult ethically and logistically as these people are difficult to identify, locate and engage in research; also importantly they are protected by privacy legislation. 2. Analysis of service systems to examine traces, pathways and disjunctures in services available in the community and CJS. Recognition of differing trajectories of impairment and disability - failure of much contemporary disability studies approaches. The connection between impairment and disability is a critical point of distinction here. Someone may experience a severe impairment (eg mental illness such as schizophrenia) but not experience it as severely disabling due to a range of factors such as having the social and financial support of their family, while another person may have what might be diagnostically only a mild impairment but experience extremely disabling consequences, again due to a range of factors such as experiencing poverty and abuse. Clearly a critical intervening factor in this relationship is �community supports� which alleviate or attenuate the impact of impairment. Failure to recognise these dynamics results in the marginalising of some impairment groups and shores up the tradition of understanding disability only in a static sense. Disability trajectories can be explored in two ways: 1. Individual report/life history research with identified individuals. In our case and broadly, this type of research is very difficult ethically and logistically as these people are difficult to identify, locate and engage in research; also importantly they are protected by privacy legislation. 2. Analysis of service systems to examine traces, pathways and disjunctures in services available in the community and CJS.

18. PrisonBreak2008 18 Explanations The Australian Prison Project. Cunneen, Brown D, Baldry, Brown M, Steele investigating the reification of the prison Contributors to increased use of imprisonment being investigated: Worldwide trend to mass imprisonment Neo-liberal state Focus on punishment - a public perception of the need for �tougher� penalties

19. PrisonBreak2008 19 Explanations Risk management (risk avoidance culture) changes to bail eligibility; changes in administrative procedures and practices; changes in parole and post-release surveillance; restrictions on judicial discretion Changes in sentencing law and practice - Between 1 January 2003 and 31 July 2006 there were over 230 major changes to law and order legislation in Australian states and territories (Roth: 2006)

20. PrisonBreak2008 20 Explanations Poor transitional planning & management - lack of integrated, holistic, appropriate support ? return to prison Homelessness Increasing drug & alcohol use Mental illness Unemployment / lack of employment skills/readiness Chaotic living Poor social skills Returning to poor/violent family & friends

21. PrisonBreak2008 21 What does this tell us? Work to change the political. legislative & cultural climate ?reduce prison population Learn from jurisdictions reducing recidivism - eg Vic transitional programs Work towards decarceration programs - eg most women; those with mental illness & cognitive impairment; in community programs Prevention programs - pre-school, school & family support. Don�t wait until caught in the system.