Prisoners In Home Jail May Be Able To Keep Jobs
The Age
Tuesday May 1, 2001
Offenders charged with minor crimes will be able to keep their jobs while they serve home-based detention under a pilot scheme to be considered by State Parliament.
But prisoners taking part in the scheme could be forced to give up part of their wages as restitution to a victim if ordered to do so by a court.
Under the proposed scheme, up to 80 offenders will be in home-based detention at any one time during the three-year pilot program.
Electronic bracelets would be used to monitor prisoners, who could leave home by agreement only for work, training or rehabilitation.
They would be subject to curfew and required to submit to alcohol and drug testing and random visits from a supervisor.
The arrangements would cost taxpayers between 40 and 60per cent less than conventional imprisonment. It costs about $51,000 a year to keep a prisoner in a minimum-security jail.
Corrections Minister Andre Haermeyer yesterday stressed that not all criminals would be eligible for home detention and the scheme was designed to reduce recidivism.
People who have breached an intervention order or who have a history of violent crimes, sex offences, drug trafficking, firearms offences and stalking will not be considered. The prisoners, and other people living in the same house, must consent to home detention. A request for home detention will come from a specialised board - once the offender has been through the court system and been sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment or less - and will then be referred back to the court system for final approval.
Minimum-security prisoners serving the final third of their sentences and within six months of release will also be eligible for home detention subject to the approval of the Adult Parole Board.
Opposition Leader Denis Napthine said the Liberal Party would scrutinise the proposed changes, but said there were already concerns that people might become frustrated and violent as a result of home imprisonment.
© 2001 The Age