Dear Friends,
Look at this! From the Northern Territory first! And from the government!
No matter what the site says it is an acknowledgement and an expression of
prisoners.
Brett
From: "John V. Wilmerding" <jvw@together.net>
To: CERJ_Resources@cerj.org
Subject: Prisoners in Australia Website
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 3:00 AM
On Wed, 08 Sep 1999, Wendy Hunter
<Wendy.Hunter@DWNMINHS.CORSERV.nt.gov.au>
wrote:
Aboriginal prisoners in Australia's Northern Territory have developed a
website that addresses culture, offending and life experience in general.
They would appreciate any promotion or support you could give the
site. The address is:
With thanks,
Wendy Hunter
The ABC site has an interview with the governor.
(http://abc.net.au/worldtoday/s49201.htm)
Darwin prison launches website for inmates
The World Today - Friday, September 3, 1999 12:53
COMPERE: Well, what's believed to be the world's first prison website has
been launched in the Northern Territory. It features the arts and music of
the inmates. The site, like any other site, can be accessed by anyone
around the world on the Internet, and you'll be able to respond to
prisoners via email.
As David Weber in Darwin reports for us, prisoners are going to use the
site to tell their stories and warn against drug and alcohol abuse.
DAVID WEBER: The Groote Band will be one of the prison bands providing
music to the website. More than 150 mostly Aboriginal male and female
prisoners are involved in the Ending Offending project which has been
transferred to the website as a tool for education and communication. It's
intended to raise prisoners' self-esteem and educate them about the
dangers of alcohol abuse. It will also advertise art and music produced by
prisoners, with profits from sales going into community-based projects.
Tony from Jaberoo has been working on his art for the two years he's been
in prison. He hopes it'll lead to a better future outside. Tony sees the
website as a way to expose his art and tell his story to those outside, so
that others won't make the mistakes he did.
TONY: I don't want to be, come back in and out [inaudible] . I don't want
it anymore. I like to want to get out, just want to get a job.
DAVID WEBER: Simeon is in the Groote Band and has been committed to
writing and performing his songs while in prison over the past four years.
He writes his own material, mainly about his home, Groote Island. Simeon
says the website's an opportunity for his band to get some recognition and
exposure.
SIMEON: I like to get people, get recognised. Not many Aboriginal men get
recognised, you know, playing the comedian [phonetic] all that.
DAVID WEBER: Darwin Prison Superintendent, Rod Williams, says the
website's also an educational resource for prisoners, as it allows them to
transmit their feelings about alcohol and drugs and the trouble abuse can
lead to.
ROD WILLIAMS: Aimed at addressing prisoners' behaviour, alcohol
consumption in the community. It was never designed as an abstinence
program. It was designed as a program to show prisoners how they could
drink in a social context without committing offences and returning to
jail.
DAVID WEBER: Superintendent Williams says the project's been well
received. It gives prisoners something to take outside when they leave and
teaches them things such as how to handle royalties from art sales. But,
those wanting to send emails to prisoners will have them screened by
authorities.
Superintendent Williams says prisoners won't be allowed to access and
respond themselves because it could lead to a security breach.
ROD WILLIAMS: Vetted through our internal security and head office
security. The email side is directed at head office, and the interaction
will be through the head office website and they'll pass on all the
information to us and we'll adjust the website here, and it's a two-way
process; then we send it back to head office and the Internet's updated
there.
DAVID WEBER: The Correctional Services Minister, Chris Lugg, says the
website will be featured at the coming Institute of Criminology Conference
as a leading example of rehabilitation programs for indigenous people. He
says, despite the Territory's mandatory sentencing laws, the government
doesn't actually like people going to prison.
CHRIS LUGG: The community never benefits from having people in prison.
It's a necessary but generally a step we don't prefer to take.
DAVID WEBER: But, he says with the total cost of the website project at
fifty thousand dollars, it's less than the cost of keeping one person in
jail for a year.
CHRIS LUGG: If we can even keep one or two fellas from coming back here,
then it's money well spent.
COMPERE: And that was Chris Lugg of the Northern Territory.