OARS Offenders Aid And Rehabilitation Services Of S.A. Inc.

OARS SA recently commissioned SACOSS (SA Council of Social Service) to prepare a research report in relation to the escalating costs of incarceration. The report, entitled Incarceration: Unsustainable Costs and Diminishing Benefits was launched at the OARS 121st AGM in November.

Figures provided in the report state that:

At current rates we can expect an increase of an extra 120 pris-oners per year. Therefore in 2018 there will be approximately 3082 prisoners in South Australia. To accommodate 3082 prisoners at an annual cost of $124,633 per prisoner, will amount to $384 million of the Law and Justice Budget.

The report goes on to say that:

Incarceration in South Australia is escalating, and our already overextended criminal justice system is beginning to shudder under the weight of prison overcrowding and the skyrocketing costs of over incarceration and longer sentences. There is significant reliance on a retributive focus both to control and deter criminal behaviour, without any corresponding evidence demonstrating its effectiveness. Unfortunately, and despite the lack of empirically sound underpinning evidence to the success of any such system, the current South Australian Government is maintaining and promoting an increasingly punitive criminal justice system.

The system's failure to acknowledge and address the sociological contributors to criminal behaviour is only exacerbated by these increasing pressures. The current approach ignores well researched and defined issues of the cycle of crime and disadvantage, increased incidence of poor physical and mental health, and risk of communicable disease. The system is also reticent in providing early intervention and prevention strategies to reduce the development of criminal behaviour (Sanson, Montgomery, Gault, Gridley and Thomson 1995). This is a frightening indictment of the state of our current system, and testament to why introducing more and more prisoners into this environment is both dangerous and inhumane.

The cost associated with the criminal justice system will continue to rise, affecting government expenditure in other areas, and shaping future public policy. The "tough on crime" approach upon which South Australia has embarked is affecting our communities now, with the potential for negative financial and sociological effects extending well beyond the current Government's term in office.

Projections of prisoner numbers & associated costs up to 2018:

In 2006 it cost $170 per day to house a prisoner in South Australia. By 2007,that figure had risen over 8% to $185 per day and $67,525 per annum. The percentageincreases in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were 1.9%, 5% and 8.82% respectively giving a three year average of 5.24%. Therefore a conservative estimate to house a prisoner in 2018 will be approximately $124,633 per prisoner per year. This means that the dollar amount to house a prisoner annually will almost double over the next ten years. At current rates we can expect an increase of an extra 120 prisoners per year. Therefore in 2018 there will be approximately 3082 prisoners in South Australia. To accommodate 3082 prisoners at an annual cost of $124,633 per prisoner, will amount to $384 million of the Law and Justice Budget.

There needs to be a balance between protecting society from the worst offenders and the implementation of more appropriate restorative and diversionary punishments which have a much greater chance of reducing recidivism and promoting greater reintegration to the community. Directing public money to prevention rather than increased capacity for incarceration would seem logical and fiscally responsible, and one would hope, politically attractive. It is our hope that the report will provide a basis for sensible policy dialogue and public debate about the effectiveness of imprisonment as the foundational justice response in SA.

OARS is in the final stages of a 14 Point Plan that we intend to submit to Government in the near future to provide alternatives to the status quo.