New jails ahead of crackdown

TWO new jails will be built in Victoria under a $600 million budget initiative designed to ease overcrowding in the state's prison system.

The Government will announce today a major upgrade of units built to house sex offenders deemed too dangerous to release after finishing their sentences.

It is believed the move comes in preparation for tough new sentencing laws extending powers to detain offenders indefinitely.

Plans for the prisons are among a swag of spending proposals in a budget that is expected to show Victoria clinging to its economic position at the head of the non-resource states.

The Government refused yesterday to comment on the new prisons but sources said they would be a key feature of the budget. One source said the types of prison to be announced were not known, but there was a need for an extra maximum-security prison and an extra medium-security prison, with Melbourne's outer southeast the best location.

The Government confirmed yesterday prisons were at 94 per cent capacity, four percentage points above the desired 90 per cent occupancy rate designed to allow them to run smoothly and cope with new arrivals.

Prisoner numbers have grown sharply because of a trend towards issuing longer sentences and fewer suspended sentences.

The sex-offenders wing to be upgraded at Ararat Prison houses some of the state's worst pedophiles, including Brian Keith Jones, or Mr Baldy. He and others have completed their sentences but are deemed such a risk to the community that they are housed outside the prison walls but inside its perimeter, under extended supervision orders.

It is understood the Government will widen the usage of these orders.

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu urged the Government to cut taxes to make Victoria the nation's lowest-taxing state and fix its poor record on service delivery in transport and other areas.

Quote: Why are prisoners' too dangerous to release after finishing their sentences? No rehabilitation because quote: "HIGH-RISK sex offenders who need and want treatment are released without it because the state's only rehabilitation centre is ridiculously under-resourced", says a psychologist David Bright, who worked on the program for a decade in NSW. Unquote: Much the same problems were exposed in WA quote: "It has been revealed that over the past year more than 60 per cent of sex offenders released from Western Australian jails did not complete rehabilitation programs targeting their crimes". Unquote: So what is happening in Victoria with the need to introduce draconian laws now to keep offenders in jail after their sentence has finished? And now the need to build more prisons? Taxpayers should be aware of the roadblocks in prisons in terms of systemic failures about offenders getting rehabilitation whilst in prison, hence no need to keep them there after their sentences have expired or to pay for the building of more and more prisons at taxpayers expense. Also these articles that introduce draconian laws are always used in tandem - by the authorities bringing up the worst of the worst cases - to get public support - regardless if the authorities are just broadening legislation to use on other categories of prisoners - or if the prison system is actually working properly, in terms of making sure offenders are given programs whilst in prison.

Related:

Tough new laws for sex offenders
Under the new laws, serial rapists could be made to wear electronic bracelets or be confined to houses within prisons.

Abusers free without treatment
HIGH-RISK sex offenders who need and want treatment are released without it because the state's only rehabilitation centre is ridiculously under-resourced, says a psychologist who worked on the program for a decade.

WA sex offenders missing out on rehab
It has been revealed that over the past year more than 60 per cent of sex offenders released from Western Australian jails did not complete rehabilitation programs targetting their crimes.