Taxpayers foot $250k bill for prisoners’ goodie bags
Taxpayers have forked out a quarter of a million dollars so prisoners can indulge on junk food goodie bags — and the packs aren’t the only pandemic perk on offer to inmates.
Police & Courts
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Taxpayers have spent an estimated $250,000 on goodie bags for prisoners locked up during the pandemic.
The Herald Sun can reveal special junk food packs are being given to inmates in protective quarantine.
The packs are jammed full of canteen treats including chocolate, chips, cookies, lollies, noodles and breakfast cereal.
They also include hygiene products such as soap and deodorant and writing pads.
A prison source described them as “pacifier packs” designed to keep inmates from stirring up trouble in their cells.
“It’s just a free $40 pack to appease prisoners,” the source said.
In the early stages of the pandemic there were fears the prison system could be plunged into chaos following widespread riots in locked down Italian prisons.
When asked about the goodie bags, a Department of Justice and Community Services spokesman said it was important to “maintain calm and safety” in prisons amid the stricter conditions.
“Prisoners required to undertake protective quarantine and spend 23 to 24 hours per day in their cells are provided with a provision pack, which may include items such as toiletries, food and stationery,” the spokesman said.
“Measures such as these help maintain calm and safety in our prisons.”
However opposition corrections spokesman David Southwick said the treat bags were ridiculous.
“Prison isn’t a holiday and inmates shouldn’t be rewarded for following the same rules as the rest of the community,” he said.
“Daniel Andrews has clearly got this priorities backwards when the red carpet is being rolled out for inmates while the rest of the community struggles through the harshest and longest lockdown in the nation.”
The junk food packs aren’t the only pandemic perk on offer to prisoners.
By late August, prisoners had already had a combined total of 487 years slashed from their sentences because of tougher conditions caused by the crisis.
More than four thousands inmates have been granted “emergency management days” in return for extended periods of time locked in their cells.
Prisoners are also entitled to bonus payments under a phone credit scheme estimated to have cost more than $1.5 million.
Each inmate gets $10 extra phone credit a week but can choose to cash it in at the end of their sentence.
The measure was introduced to keep prisoners connected with friends and family after visits were suspended in March.
Mr Southwick said: “It seems the only ones coming out head of COVID-19 are prisoners.”
More than 6,200 prisoners have gone through protective quarantine since the start of the pandemic.
They are required to test for COVID-19 then spend 14 days quarantined from the rest of the prison population to ensure they do not spread the virus.
Regular health and wellbeing checks are conducted by staff, including by specialist mental health workers.
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