High cost of prison

I HEARD on the radio that native people’s communities in Canada have asked that their menfolk not be imprisoned so much.

They found that prison has a brutalising and alienating effect, and it was the women and children who bore the brunt of the increased violence when the men were released from prison and returned to their communities.

I suspect it’s the same here in Aboriginal communities.

Rather than being the solution to anti-social crime and violence, prison is part of the problem.

Imprisonment has a high cost in more ways than one and should be used only as an absolute last resort.

Stuart Highway
Nightcliff

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Sat, 24 June 2006
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Stuart Highway (letter to the editor)
Copyright: 2006 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://www.ntnews.com.au/