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The AAT decision on the Secret Police Files is available in Casewatch.

Current estimates are of the order of $30,000 to $70,000 per year. Is it worth it?

Someone commits a crime. They get convicted. Who pays? The prisoner "pays" by being in prison. We, the taxpayer, pay to keep them in prison.

What are the results of us both paying? Is it worth it?

The prisoner often comes out not much better off than when they went in (there is a 70% recidivist rate).

We, the tax payer, often come out not much better off because there is a 70% recidivist rate.

What went wrong?

What went wrong is that we are stuck in the past. Prisons in Australia haven't changed much in the last 200 years. Some countries have a quite different regime for dealing with prisoners. Sweden works by entering into a contract with the prisoner. Here you are, when you leave here you will have a skill and an employment opportunity. Poland has really changed its prison structure in the last few years. The US hasn't. The Northern Territory in Australia has gone backwards by increasing the number of prisoners by the atrocious mandatory sentencing legislation

Why are we stuck in the past?

We are stuck because we cannot accept that we are wrong. We do not know how to fix crime. The models about how to deal with crime are steeped in a confused mess of attitudes that reach back at least 2000 years.

Retribution, revenge, deprivation.

Where is healing, education, encouragement, personal dignity, self determination?