First private jail in NSW opens

First private jail in NSW opens

By John Duff

NSW's first privately run jail was opened at Junee on March 19. The curious could pay $100 per head for two days of opening "celebrations" that included a jail meal, a ball, a night in a cell and a game of sentencing for pretend offences.

For those who have experienced prison life for free, the opening of the was no joke. Members of the Prisoners Action Group staged a protest outside the jail.

"The move towards privatisation is disturbing", prison activist Brett Collins told Green Left. "The search for profits which would be necessary for a privately run institution will add further pressure for a continued expansion of the jail system.

"The Liberals' truth in sentencing concept has overburdened an already flagging system, and now they've brought in their big business mates to share some public money and sanitise the barbarism of incarceration.

"I guess capitalism has always made money out of suffering", Collins added, "but a prison for profit is pretty shameless. We are running away from the need to totally reassess our inadequate justice system."

From GLW issue 94