Welcome to the first post
Welcome to the Decarceration Australia blog, a forum for discussing superior alternatives to mass incarceration and how the significant depopulation of prisons may be accomplished to the overwhelming benefit of all Australians.
Decarceration Australia is a sister publication of Australian Prison Reform Journal.
It is appropriate that the first post of this blog coincides with the start of NAIDOC Week 2023, an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginals and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which was originally National Aborigines Day Observance.
Australia has a high incarceration rate compared with many other nations. As at the end of June 2022, there were 201 prisoners per 100,000 adult population (despite a 6% decrease in the year as we came out of Covid-19). However, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander imprisonment rate was 2,330 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population (after only a 3% annual decrease). These are said to be the world's worst known statistics for a people group. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners also make up 32% of all prisoners, when their population is only 3.2% of the total Australian population. Decarceration would therefore primarily benefit First Nations Australians - those released or diverted from prison, their families and communities. Decarceration would remove the trauma of being separated from family, community and land, and it would reverse the stigma and generational downwards spiral towards prison.
NAIDOC Week is a special day of hope, with a huge number of events taking place throughout Australia. The current theme is "For Our Elders."
Cameron Russell
Editor
Decarceration Australia
ABOUT
This blog is dedicated to decarceration in Australia. Our incarceration rate is high, yet imprisonment is costly, ineffective and damaging.
There are better alternatives!
