Victorian prisoners such as James Gargasoulas, Denyer, Adrian Bayley get most expensive care in Australia

Evil killer Sean Price is among a depraved bunch of rapists and murderers who will cost taxpayers millions during the course of their jail time. Here’s what each inmate is costing us.

Victorians are paying to keep some of the state’s most depraved criminals locked up in “luxury”.

A depraved bunch of child killers, rapists and murders will cost taxpayers nearly $37 million during the course of their jail time.

The Leader can reveal the price of locking up an inmate in Victoria is $317.90 a day — about $57 more than the average worker’s daily wage.

The figure makes Victorian jails the most expensive per prisoner in Australia, with prisoners costing $197.45 per day in NSW and $189.14 in QLD, according to a Productivity Commission report.

The price of locking up rapist murderers Jaymes Todd and Codey Hermann will be about $232,000 each year — based on average figures — totalling almost $7 million by the time they are eligible for parole.

Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said it was “absolutely disgraceful” taxpayers were slugged with the “huge cost”.

“These people are supposed to be being punished, repaying their debt to society, but society is the one paying for them,” he said.

“They commit these horrible, crimes like murder and rapes and then we set them up in luxury with billiard tables and swimming pools.

“Some of them have these little self-contained flats.”

Mr McNamara stopped short of calling for the death penalty to be brought back but said “there was a decent argument for it in some cases”.

“Some of these people, they deserve to be hung, drawn and quartered for what they’ve done,” he said.

The costs cover things such as accommodation, guards, legal bills, food and medical care.

There were 8044 prisoners in Victorian jails last financial year, bringing the daily cost to taxpayers to about $2.5 million.

A Leader analysis reveals the bill for keeping 10 of Victoria’s most notorious criminals behind bars for their minimum non-parole period at the present daily rate would cost taxpayers about $36.8 million.

The list includes Bourke Street mass killer James Gargasoulas, serial killer Paul Denyer and rapist and murder Adrian Bayley.

Youth worker Les Twentyman said the price was too high and called for money to be diverted into early intervention programs.

“What we have seen over the past decade has been enormous increase in expenditure to incarcerate people in prison in an attempt to protect the community, yet despite this investment the numbers of those imprisoned continue to spike while crime rates sit at record levels,” he said.

Les Twentyman.

Mr Twentyman said the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” philosophy didn’t work.

“Prison is a ‘University of Crime’ for young people, many of whom will come out far worse a citizen than when they entered,” he said.

“Take a look at the costs of keeping someone in prison, it sits at over a $100,000 a year — five times that ($500,000) for a child being held in youth detention.

“It makes no sense for the government to keep investing so heavily in a failing strategy, when funds could be diverted to intervention methods at the first sign of trouble in a child’s life.”

Mr Twentyman said many adult prisoners had got their first taste of the justice system as youth, but investing in prevention programs could help reduce the rate of incarceration — and would be cheaper than locking someone up.

“At the Les Twentyman Foundation we see this in action with our Youth Support Service program,” he said.

“Kids are referred to our youth workers at their first point of interaction with police, and our team work with these young people to identify the causes of the anti-social behaviour.

“Through guidance and support, we see 80 per cent of these young people having no further contact with the youth justice system while in our program.”

Mr Twentyman said the $500,000 it costs to keep one child in detention for a year would fund up to five youth workers who could help keep dozens of children on the right path.

“We must have change in our approach to the justice system, with the government investing in the future of our young people, rather than picking up the cost for our failure as a community to help protect them,” he said.

On Guard – an eight-part podcast – uncovers what really goes on behind bars as former correctional officers share shocking secrets from the frontline of working with some of Australia’s most infamous criminals. Listen to episode 1 below