Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass calls for greater government focus on recidivist offenders

PUBLIC safety is being put at risk by the state government’s failure to tackle the root causes of crimes committed by repeat offenders, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has warned.

PUBLIC safety is being put at risk by the state government’s failure to tackle the root causes of crimes committed by repeat offenders, Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has warned.

The state’s prison population has soared by 20 per cent since 2015, prompting Ms Glass to renew calls for the government to improve the rehabilitation of prisoners, instead of merely building more jails.

REPEAT OFFENDERS RESPONSIBLE FOR HALF OF VICTORIA’S CRIME

COALITION’S RADICAL PLAN FOR VIOLENT CRIMS WHO REOFFEND

Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass. Picture: Alex Murray (AAP)

The latest data shows 44 per cent of criminals are reoffending once they get out of prison, up from a low of 33.7 per cent in 2010.

In a new report, which reviews her last two years of investigations, Mr Glass said there were still “troubling” indicators on how Victoria was dealing with recidivism.

“I said in 2015 that building more prisons was not making us safer — over 99 per cent of prisoners will be released one day,” she said.

“We need to do more to ensure they do not come out only to reoffend and return, at the cost both to public safety and the public purse.”

“If the hard-line US state of Texas can reduce both crime and spending on prisons by diverting resources to rehabilitation, surely, so can Victoria.”

Ms Glass praised investments made in mental health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, although it was “not enough for many”.

But with the state paying $127,000 a year to lock up a single prisoner, she said more work was needed to target the causes of crime, which often involved early childhood, education, health, housing and employment issues.

The latest data shows 44 per cent of criminals are reoffending once they get out of prison, up from a low of 33.7 per cent in 2010. Picture: generic.

“We have not yet seen a greater focus on a whole-of-government approach to reducing offending — the first recommendation I made in my 2015 report,” she said.

Ms Glass criticised the government for refusing to accept one of her 125 recommendations on prisons — “to stop the abusive practice of routinely strip searching women prisoners”.

The department has investigated changing its procedures but, despite recognising that “strip searching is an intrusive practice”, did not commit to accepting her recommendation.

Reviewing the progress of her other recommendations, Ms Glass said she was continuing to receive large numbers of complaints about complex workers’ compensation claims, despite WorkSafe accepting her proposals for change two years ago.

She also noted a string of positive developments resulting from her investigations into public transport fare evasion, transparency in local government, complaint handling mechanisms, and improper conduction by public servants.

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