Almost 5000 convicted criminals in Victoria set for early release due to pandemic

Prisoners in Victoria’s jails have had a combined 355 years shaved from their prison terms because of a pandemic loophole.

Almost 5000 convicted criminals will be released from prison early because of coronavirus.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the prisoners will on average have just under a month shaved off their sentence.

It’s because they’ve spent more time locked down in their cells than usual to prevent COVID-19 spreading.

Taxpaying Victorians — who themselves endured more than 100 days of continuous lockdown in their own homes — will also foot the $2.48 million bill for prisoners to make additional phone calls during the pandemic.

The money was paid into individual prisoner accounts regardless of whether they made extra calls and can be cashed out once they are freed.

Serious violent offenders such as murderers and rapists are all eligible for the sentence discount, granted to 4927 sentenced prisoners.

They had a combined total of 355 years shaved from their prison terms.

Coronavirus could see criminals released early Picture: David Caird

Prisoners on remand also had their time behind bars slashed by 557 years.

Opposition corrections spokesman David Southwick branded the reductions ridiculous, saying prisoners were being rewarded because of a global crisis.

“Prison isn’t a holiday,” Mr Southwick said.

“It’s clear Daniel Andrews priorities are all wrong when ordinary Victorians were being locked out of their own state, yet prisoners are handed almost a month off their sentences.”

So-called emergency management days are granted to prisoners to compensate for disruptions, including 24-hour lockdowns, while behind bars.

Ordinarily prisoners are eligible for a maximum four-day sentence reduction for each day spent in lockdown.

But the bonus was granted on a ‘one-for-one’ basis during the pandemic, during which new prisoners had to undergo a 14-day isolation period when entering the system.

State government documents obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun show sentenced prisoners were granted 129,568 emergency management days as of December 17 last year — an average of 26.3 days each.

Prisoners on remand had 203,343 days slashed from their time in jail under the arrangement.

Visitor bans were imposed early in the pandemic to protect the prison population from COVID-19 and were recommenced last weekend (JAN 23).

Other government documents show taxpayers forked out almost $310,000 to supply more than 590 Samsung tablets to prisoners to stay connected with loved ones and lawyers during the visitor ban period.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said it was important prisoners remained connected to outside world during the pandemic.

“Maintaining family and community connections is important for prisoner rehabilitation, and helps reduce reoffending by providing critical support networks upon release.”

She added emergency management days are a “critical tool to maintaining order and safety” during the pandemic, and prisoners who behaved badly would lose the privilege.

There were more than 7100 prisoners in the Victorian prison system as of June 30 last year.

@AneekaSimonis