Offenders work off their debt to the Broome community

10/7/02
Broome's 300 fire hydrants are undergoing a full service, thanks to offenders who have been sentenced to community work orders.
Attorney General Jim McGinty today met offenders undertaking the massive task during a visit with Broome Volunteer Fire Brigade Captain Rob Kirwan and Department of Justice case support officer Kaylene Chan.
Mr McGinty said requiring offenders to make real reparation for their crimes by doing unpaid work for the community was far more sensible than having them sit around in prison at great cost to taxpayers.
He said the fire hydrants had not been serviced for years and the offenders were providing an invaluable and potentially life-saving community service.
The offenders have been servicing about 30 fire hydrants a week - undertaking below-ground cleaning and pressure testing, replacing parts where necessary, mowing and clearing the immediate surrounds, painting kerb identification and attaching reflectors.
In Broome, offenders also work many hours at the local cemetery, helping to beautify the grounds, including the Muslim and Chinese sections, by mowing lawns and cleaning up around the hundreds of gravesites.
Other local work party projects include:

• clean-up and maintenance at two town-based Aboriginal communities (where the communities contribute an equal amount of labour);

• propagating plants at a local home-based nursery for an environmental group, The Friends of Herbert Street; and

• clean-up at two indigenous child-care centres.

In addition, offenders are also placed at individual work projects around Broome, where supervision is provided by community organisations.
Mr McGinty said the Government was keen to divert more minor offenders to community work as an alternative to prison, and he was pleased the impact of the Government's policy was already starting to be felt.
"In the past year, we have seen a significant shift in court sentencing, coinciding with the public debate and extensive support for our plans to abolish prison sentences of six months or less and divert those offenders to community work," he said.
"Already, the number of people sentenced to community work has risen nine per cent, corresponding with a 10 per cent reduction in the prison population.
"As well as providing real benefits for local communities, the move to divert more minor offenders to community work rather than prison is saving millions of dollars a year which can be used in priority areas."
It costs about $174 a day to keep a person in prison, compared with $12 a day to have them do community work.
"We need to be tough on serious offenders - there's no question they should be locked up as both a punishment and to protect the community," Mr McGinty said.
"But locking up minor offenders achieves nothing. It costs a fortune to have them sit around in prison when they could be out doing useful community work as real reparation for their offences."
Mr McGinty said sending minor offenders to prison had the added problem of exposing them to more hard-core prisoners, which increased the likelihood of their becoming entrenched in a criminal lifestyle.
"Community work provides a significant loss of liberty, but without this inherent problem or the same onerous cost burden on the community," he said.
Minister's office: 9220 5000