Inquiry an opportunity for Queensland Government to prevent abuse behind bars
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and human rights organisations are calling on the Queensland Government to guarantee independent oversight over all places of detention and to implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol to prevent abuses occurring in over-crowded adult and youth prisons.
Queensland’s prison system is in crisis with the rate of imprisonment increasing by 60 percent in the last decade despite declining crime rates. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women and people with disabilities are being over-imprisoned.
The explosion in the number of people in prison has increased the risk of human rights abuses, including the over-use of solitary confinement, the harmful treatment of people with disabilities, the warehousing of children in watchouses and the high numbers of deaths in custody. The deadline to implement the UN’s anti-torture protocol is January 2022.
A parliamentary inquiry into the Inspector of Detention Services Bill 2021 will commence today, with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (Qld), the Change the Record Coalition and the Human Rights Law Centre all giving evidence.
Cheryl Axleby, Co-Chair of the Change the Record Coalition said:
“Devastatingly the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and children, continues under the Queensland Government which has just this year passed some of the most draconian and punitive youth justice laws in the country. If the Queensland Government is serious about closing the gap it must radically rethink its reliance on outdated and harmful ‘tough on crime’ policies, implement and adequately resource independent and transparent oversight of all places of detention and commit to the UN’s anti-torture protocol by the January 2022 deadline.”
Ruth Barson, Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, who will give evidence to the inquiry today, said:
“Successive Queensland Governments have created a mass-imprisonment and overcrowding crisis. The government must reduce the number of people being forced into prisons and end the human rights abuses that happen within them, like solitary confinement and routine strip searches. This Bill is a crucial opportunity for the Palaszczuk Government to improve on its track record by implementing and resourcing independent and transparent monitoring and oversight of all places of detention.”
A number of reviews into the Queensland criminal legal system since 2016 have also recommended the establishment of an independent inspector to cover police and prison cells, police vehicles, youth justice facilities and other closed institutions.
Read the Change the Record, ATSILS and Human Rights Law Centre’s submission on the Inspector of Detention Services Bill 2021 here.
Media contact:
Evan Schuurman, Human Rights Law Centre, 0406 117 937 or evan.schuurman@hrlc.org.au
Sophie Trevitt, Change the Record, 0431 843 095 or sophie@changetherecord.org.au
