Updated June 1999 Juvenile Detention Campaign

People's Justice Alliance(PJA) evolved out of the Save Fairlea Women's Prison Coalition. The Save Fairlea Women's Prisons Coalition was formed in April 1993 to oppose the Coalition State Government plan to transfer all women and their children from Fairlea to Jika Jika, the sensory deprivation unit located within Melbourne's Pentridge Men's Prison.

Who are the People's Justice Alliance?

People's Justice Alliance is an alliance of groups and individuals who are opposed to the privatisation of the criminal justice system, specifically prisons. In addition PJA is concerned with struggles to ensure the rights of people within the criminal justice system.

Our aims :

• Educate the community about issues which surround imprisonment and the criminal justice system.
• Stop the private sector building, managing or owning prisons or prison services.  Focussing on, but not limited to, women's prisons.
• Develop and fight for the implementation of humane alternatives to prisons. Prisons are soul destroying places. Women and their children in the criminal justice system are particularly disadvantaged by the eagerness to use prisons before exploring other options.

Since early 1996 we have been particularly involved in the formation and support of the Women and Imprisonment Group. It was the Women and Imprisonment Group who organised the 1996 Wring Out of Fairlea. This Wring Out was the largest ever held in Victoria with over 2500 people participating on the outside and many women participating on the inside. Unfortunately we were not able to stop the women and their children being transported to the first private prison in Victoria and the first private women's prison in the world outside of the United States of America. This new private prison is called the Metropolitan Women's Correctional Centre which is located in Deer Park.

We are working towards the achievement of the above aims through a diverse range of methods and actions. We attempt to increase community awareness of issues surrounding imprisonment and raise alternatives to imprisonment through the distribution of information, leaflets, public speaking andpublications. We also undertake extensive research into prisons, prisoner rights and privatisation of corrections. This is undertaken through the education and research working groups. People also participate in PJA through contributing and organising fundraising activities, producing media information and press releases and taking part in actions. A PJA newsletter is produced and is free.

Other contacts

Brimbank Community Legal Centre
822 Ballarat Road, Deer Park, 3023, Victoria, Australia

Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic) Inc
GPO Box 1139K, Melbourne, 3001 or email

 
Corrections Working Group
of the Federation of Community Legal Centres
Postal address : C/- 78 Bell Street, Coburg, 3058 Victoria, Australia

Justice Action
Sydney, Australia

Want to join the PJA mailing list?

You will receive our newsletter which is distributed four times per year throughout Victoria, Australia and overseas. Let us know by email or by writing to us at PO Box 1567, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 3066.

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