Prison without bars

THE first prison in Australia built according to human rights principles has been officially opened in Canberra.

The $131 million Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) is an open campus-style prison which can house up to 300 male and female inmates. It will take remand and sentenced prisoners with low to high security classifications but there are no bars on the windows. Razor-wire fencing has also been discarded and prisoners will be issued with swipe cards so they can leave their rooms, but not the facility, when they please.

It sounds like a low security prison with better facilities except the report mentions low to high security classifications. I trust the ACT has high security lockups for the recalcitrant and violent offenders and that this place is just for the non violent type. At today’s opening Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the prison is “a physical manifestation of an important philosophical conviction”.

“The conviction it makes concrete is the conviction that even those who offend against our standards and our laws retain an essential humanity and human rights,” Mr Stanhope said.

Yeah! Well, good luck with that one.