Justice reinvestment: a community driven process to tackle root causes of crime among Aboriginal youth

THE HON. ROBYN LAYTON AO QC

Agood news story. The Justice Reinvestment project Tiraapendi Wodli is addressing the high rates of Aboriginal people in incarceration from the Port Adelaide and Enfi eld suburbs (PA&E).

The journey began in South Australia in 2012. It is based on the concept of justice reinvestment originally conceived in the United States in 2003 but is so far being adapted and applied in Australia by more than 21 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, mostly rural.1 In South Australia it is being implemented by the PA&E Aboriginal2 community (Tiraapendi Wodli) with three way support: non-fi nancial support and advocacy from Justice Reinvestment South Australia (JRSA);3 major funding from the SA Department of Human Services (DHS); and critical support in money and kind by the Australian Red Cross (ARC). Premier Steven Marshall has also lent his political support and endorsement for government funding up until 2023.4

WHAT IS JUSTICE REINVESTMENT?

Justice reinvestment is not a program but a process. It addresses high incarceration rates by tackling the root causes of crime to reduce incarceration and invest money into services and supports instead of prisons. It commences by collecting and analysing criminogenic and socio- economic data to identify communities with high incarceration rates and then developing and applying strategies that address the underlying causes. In Australia it differs from US approaches which are now government led, to instead enable an Aboriginal community itself to identify and implement strategies to tackle causes of crime in its community and strengthen public safety and social cohesion over the long-term for future generations. It is a preventative and supportive approach - a transformative approach that is “bottom up”5 and not “top down”6 .

Evidence from Australia and worldwide shows that prison entrenches and deepens disadvantage rather than allowing people to turn their lives around. Many who enter prison are already homeless and jobless and when they leave prison, their prospects of fi nding a home or a job further deteriorate. Poverty, and poverty of opportunity, makes reoffending and returning to prison more likely. Failure to invest properly in strategies to reduce reoffending means that prisons can end up making communities less safe.

Aboriginal community - controlled organisations have a unique capacity to develop and implement localised, tailored solutions and provide culturally appropriate services that have the support of the community. Responding to the needs of community is critical to reducing incarceration and recidivism. This includes assisting with homelessness, improving health and mental issues, improving education, strengthening cultural knowledge and pride, linking people to culturally appropriate services and giving tools to Aboriginal people to improve their lives and employment opportunities.

In South Australia the Aboriginal leadership organisation Tiraapendi Wodli does just that.

The basic facts in South Australia:7 • 2,986 people are in South Australia’s adult prisons. • 7.9% are women. • 23.5% are Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander people. • 57% have already been in prison before - the revolving door - the highest in a decade. • 223 persons per 100,000 South

Australians are in prison which is above the Australian average (215 per 100,000) and well above most comparable jurisdictions across

Western Europe and Canada. • More than 4 in 10 people in prisons are unsentenced and this remand population is proportionately higher than any other

Australian state or territory. • 42.3% of people exiting prison receive either another prison sentence or a community corrections order within 2 years of their release. • Over half of the youth prison population are young Aboriginal people –10 - 17 years old • Young Aboriginal people are 22 times more likely to be in prison than non-Indigenous young people – the beginning of the revolving door.

Premier Steven Marshall, Human Services Minister Michele Lensink and the Sparrow family at the launch of Tiraapendi Wodli

COMPARATIVE COSTS OF PRISON ORDERS AND COMMUNITY ORDERS

The direct cost to South Australians per adult prisoner per year is $86,213 or $236.20 per day.8 The SA Government is also spending an additional $187 million on new prison beds (Yatala Labour Prison and Adelaide Women’s Prison), at a cost of half a million dollars per prison bed.9

In 2018 the Australian Institute of Criminology published research on the costs associated with community corrections orders in Victoria in comparison with the cost of prison sentences over a fi ve-year period.10 The research compared 804 people entering the prison system matched11 with

804 people with community corrections orders. The research showed that the net cost of a prison order was almost three times higher than a community order (an average $144,480 for prison and $49,633 for community). Direct prison sentence costs were by far the largest single cost item followed by loss of quality of life for prisoners, their partners and families, and lost productivity due to loss of paid work and lost earnings.

Similar results have also been demonstrated in South Australia in an evaluation undertaken by researchers from the University of New South Wales published in 201912 of the costs of two forms of home detention13 compared to the cost of prison detention. The costs of home detention of $1,808 per month, were 22% that of prison costs, that is, prison costs were almost four times higher than home detention costs. This Evaluation also showed that recidivism rates were signifi cantly lower for prisoners who completed their sentence on home detention than prisoners who served the whole of their sentence in prison (20% compared to 34% return to prison).

Even higher are the costs of youth aged 10 – 17, $3,125.25 average per young person per day for detention-based services compared to $96.59 average per young person per day for communitybased supervision.14

In short, just from an economic cost and community safety point of view, money spent on providing services and support to offenders in community or on home detention instead of imprisonment is clearly the most effective way to both prevent crime and reduce recidivism. Imprisonment should be reserved for the most serious crimes such as serious offences of violence and community safety.

TIRAAPENDI WODLI - JUSTICE REINVESTMENT

After JRSA and ARC had collected the criminogenic and socioeconomic data that revealed high rates of incarceration, the PA&E Aboriginal community were fi rst

consulted about whether they wished to implement a justice reinvestment process. Their first request was for a safe and cultural space.

After two years of discussion, in 2018 the Aboriginal community elected an Aboriginal leadership group chaired by the late Elder Syd Sparrow, and called themselves Tiraapendi Wodli.15 They developed a comprehensive “Port Adelaide Aboriginal Families Thrive Action Plan 2019 – 2021” and established a culturally safe place - “The Hub”. After moving to Daly Street Port Adelaide, the Hub was officially opened by the Premier and Minister Lensink, the Minister for Human Services, in July, 2021

FAST FORWARD - THE HUB TODAY

The Hub is the place where Aboriginal people can safely connect. The role of the small number of paid staff and volunteer Aboriginal Community Advocates, is to maintain a ‘walking alongside’ approach to ensure individuals and families who come to the Hub are well supported to access the services they need.

The Hub services include providing small financial supports to assist people to take next steps.16 A major component of the daily activity and support is providing coordinated and intensive one-to-one and family supports. This regularly requires complex family coordination involving housing and homelessness, mental illhealth, trauma, family safety, reconnection with community following prison release, disengagement from services, chronic health issues and poverty.

The Hub programs include men’s music and yarning group; ‘family tree’ discussion group; young men’s health and fitness workshops; women’s fitness group; men’s individual life skills education; financial counselling workshops; access to a psychologist co-located at the Hub; Learner driver accredited workshops; traditional arts and crafts workshops; cultural awareness workshops and a range of other one-off sessions as needed.

“Occasions of Support” continues to increase with more than 346 individual occasions per month and “Regular Service Users” of 118 per month. The complexity and regularity of individual service users returning for increasing levels of support is also rising. In addition, local service providers and government agencies are increasing the referrals and are also seeking support and advice to improve their own service engagement with Aboriginal families. The volunteer Aboriginal Community Advocates are indispensable.

RESPONDING FLEXIBLY TO NEW CHALLENGES

New challenges emerge such as responding to increasing numbers of people ‘living rough’ in local parks and shelters in Port Adelaide, contributed to by COVID. The majority have come from APY Lands, WA remote communities and Far West communities. The health, safety, food security and housing needs and levels of vulnerability of these groups are complex and required a multi-coordinated response.

NEXT STEPS

Tiraapendi Wodli with support, is collecting data both quantitative and qualitative, to demonstrate how the justice reinvestment approach at PA&E is building community strength and safety and reducing incarceration. This is multilayered in its approach and will additionally assess their community data from an Aboriginal perspective. For example, the importance and impact of feeling culturally safe and secure; knowing family history; connecting with Aboriginal people across ages and backgrounds; having a sense of community and respect; engaging in storytelling and yarning; having education not only in the curriculum but in the strength of Aboriginal cultures and traditions; locating supports and mentors to both prevent offending and assisting with re-connecting with community after incarceration.

These next steps are a vital to ensure the journey of success of Tiraapendi Wodli continues. B

Endnotes 1 Some main examples are Maranguka Justice

Reinvestment Project in Bourke NSW (rural and the most advanced); Just Reinvest NSW in

Moree (rural); Just Reinvest in Mt Druit (urban); the Olabud Doogethu Project Halls Creek (WA) (rural); Katherine NT (rural town); Justice

Reinvestment ACT (statewide government led - not limited to ATSI communities); Tiraapendi

Wodli SA (urban); ARC Ceduna SA (rural town and is justice reinvestment in style). 2 As most Aboriginal persons living in South

Australia are not from Torres Strait, it is culturally acceptable to refer to Aboriginal persons and not

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. 3 JRSA is an organisation with a Board of 11 persons, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal which supports and advocates for justice reinvestment initiatives in South Australia. 4 A further $850,000 over two years. 5 Developed and implemented by the community, 6 Lead and driven by government or non –

Aboriginal organisations. 7 ABS, Prisoners in Australia Reports 2020. 8 Productivity Commission.2021. Report on

Government Services. Table 8A.2 9 South Australia Budget Paper 2021-22 Agency

Statement Vol.1 p103. 10 AIC Research Report 05. 2018. How much does prison really cost? Comparing costs of imprisonment with community corrections. 11 Ibid. They were matched by demographic fit, current offending, offending history, and risk of offending. Fifteen elements were considered. 12 Cale, J., Zmudzki, F., Hilferty, F., Lafferty,

L, Whitten, T., Doyle, M., and Valentine, K. (2018). Evaluation of Home Detention in South

Australia: Final Report. SPRC Report /18. Sydney:

Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney.

Pp 7, 11. 13 Court Ordered Home Detention - COHD and

Release Ordered Home Detention – ROHD. 14 Productivity Commission.2021. Report on

Government Services. Tables 17A.09 and 17A.10. 15 The words Tiraapindi Wodli mean “protecting home” in Kaurna language. 16 Such as access to ID, school uniforms, basic home-wares to set up home, course fees, basic clothing etc.