The behaviour of Prisons Commissioner Woodham in taking 107 prisoners from Cessnock Prison without notice in the middle of the night and removing them to other parts of the state, as part of a strategy to force privatisation, exemplifies why he should be stood down. It is the desperate action of a failed manager sidelining his own team and not even recognising those he affects.
Every human being is entitled to climb into bed and expect to be there in the morning. To summarily lose all neighbours, possessions, job, course notes and access to visits for those families who have moved close by — is an extreme abuse of power. For many prisoners who still have hopes for a meaningful and productive life, and resettlement into the community after imprisonment, this trauma will be the last straw.
The Corrective Services Commissioner shows his callous disregard for those he should be “correcting” and their families. NSW has Australia’s highest failure rate of recidivism at 43.7% – which represents a real cost to victims, and us all. When the Commissioner presented his justification for privatisation to Parliament on 23/2/09 he didn’t mention recidivism or the State Plan promise to reduce it by 10%. That is no surprise as private corporations increase their profits by return business.
Justice Action has begun a state wide prisoner consultation to establish the prisoner strategy to confront the threatened privatisations. It will confront any corporation that wishes to increase their profit from more crime and more citizens being in prison for longer periods. Prisoners remain citizens with families, not slaves as stock for an overseas corporation.
Brett Collins
Justice Action
