Earlier this week, along with the Justice Action team, I attended a meeting at the office for the Minister for Counter-Terrorism and Corrections. While we were initially given an appointment with minister Anthony Roberts directly, this unfortunately fell through, but we were still able to speak with his advisors. We raised five topics for the minister to respond to:
The OPCAT treaty and its relation to prisons
The current lack of computers in cells in NSW, and the limitations this causes for education
The current lack of education in prison in general
The inquest into the death of David Dungay in custody
The iExpress service for inmates
Issue 3, the current status of education in prisons, was my talking point. I drew from personal experience but also raised the drop in education as per the government's own statistics, and the cost-effectiveness of prison education programs as seen overseas. We all felt very positive about how the meeting went and are awaiting the minister's response.
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