A journey through the 'belly of the beast' - Part 3

Could you please advise trade instructors in the main kitchen of this arrangement ASAP.

The significance of racism being fostered by prison authorities inside the belly of the beast was never reported in the media. The legislative tourniquet that restricted the information flow from Queensland prisons kept Queenslanders blissfully unaware of what was happening inside the taxpayer funded prison system.

B Block inside SDLCC houses 90 mainstream prisoners and is classed as the unofficial dumping ground for prisoners not wanted in other prisons. The incentive to reduce prison sentences by good behaviour had been removed and it was incumbent upon maximum security prisoners to while away time by exercising or watching TV. There was no incentive to undertake education courses. Becoming bad or mad remained a legitimate option for survival inside the incarceration process of B Block.

The psychological impact of zero tolerance incarceration and the removal of incentive systems with threats of further punishment had no merit inside the confines of B Block. You cannot take anything from a prisoner who has nothing. Prisoners began adopting other measures to while away their time in maximum security - measures that are not conducive to any concept of rehabilitation.

The emergence of the drug trade inside maximum-security prisons replaced the tobacco and SP bookmaking rackets that had been tolerated for decades. Illicit home brewed alcohol has been replaced with heroin as a prison panacea to relieve hopelessness, desperation and the sheer boredom of incarceration during the 1990s. Heroin became the unofficial remission of prison sentences.

And if prison was still the university of crime during the 1990s then the Sir David Longland Correctional Centre at Richlands, Queensland, became a new-age "Gladiator's School" where murder, suicide and unnatural deaths became the accepted norm. Release via heroin or a body bag became the preferred option to continued zero tolerance incarceration.

Despite this evidence submitted to the UnitingCare Inquiry the minister debunked the final report by claiming in the Queensland media that it contained unsubstantiated allegations that were “based on interviews with 10 ex-prisoners and submissions from 10 ex-prisoners who may or may not have been the same people …”

The fact that ex-prisoners were the only ones available from whom to elicit information is because the QDCS had obstructed the inquiry from having access to current serving prisoners. In addition Queensland Governments of both political persuasions continue to legislate against the media having access to Queensland prisoners or its prisoners. 

Where does the Hon Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services, expect the Queensland public to receive a balanced and objective insight into its prison system if she continues to hide behind restrictive legislation and obfuscation that denies that very transparency? Does the minister contend that departmental media releases are the answer to transparency in the Queensland prison system?

Is it the ministerial contention that spin doctors from QDCS and her own department should dictate the degree of transparency for the public’s tax-payer funded correctional facilities? The Queensland public has a right to know what is really happening inside its correctional facilities because what is happening in there now will eventually rebound on society in 5, 10 or 15 years time when the current minister has long gone. The Queensland public also has a right to know, free from any political spin placed on the facts.

The minister dismissed the report as “unsubstantiated allegations” which has a flip side that reads “unpalatable accusations that require immediate ventilation in a public forum”.

The UnitingCare report recommends a full and open public inquiry into the Queensland prison system. The minister has rejected that recommendation and clings to a flimsy hope that departmental and ministerial media releases will assuage public interest in continued demands for transparency of its prison system.

There is an old saying on the prison exercise yard - you can fool some of the people some of the time. But madam minister, you cannot fool all the people all the time.