Toyne must resign

Northern Territory Justice Minister Peter Toyne should resign.

Prison is not a solution to crime and neither does it rehabilitate offenders, genuine or otherwise.

Berrimah Prison has been overcrowded for months.

But all that Mr Toyne and the NT Government have done in response, is to ensure that it stays that way by jailing more and more people.

A war on illicit drug users; targeting of the longgrass community; zero-tolerance policing of young people; and now threats to jail petrol-sniffers.

More than 80% of prisoners are indigenous people. And the NT continues to have the highest rate of incarceration in Australia.

It is time for Toyne to go. Immediately.

Yours truly

Gary Meyerhoff
Network Against Prohibition
Rapid Creek

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 16 September 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Gary Meyerhoff (letter to the editor)
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/283