Record rise in Victoria’s prison population

The number of prisoners in Victoria has increased to 5,756, a record rise of 750 people, or 15 percent, in one year. More than half of this growth occurred during the past four months.

It isn’t because crime is increasing, but the result of recent crackdowns on the parole system and the abolition of suspended sentencing and home detention. The number of prisoners in custody for breach of parole has doubled in the past year, to 836; parole denial or cancellation has risen 40 percent.

New laws introduced in September also make breaching parole conditions an offence punishable by up to three months in prison (in addition to any previous sentence) and a fine of $4,200.

These laws could make parolees serve greatly extended sentences for innocuous “offences” such as being late for a meeting with a parole officer, or forgetting to notify Corrections Victoria of a change of address within 48 hours.

Corrections Victoria has also announced that it will no longer be publishing statistics on the Victorian prison population. Instead the figures will be buried in annual reports from the federal Productivity Commission.