A pathetic picture of Australian justice
I am writing in response to Ross Fitzgerald’s piece regarding the appalling conditions in the Alexander Maconochie centre and the mistreatment of David McBride. Whilst the reality of prison can not be expected to be pleasant, there are basic standards of human dignity that have been established for good reason, and the idea that a federal facility should not uphold such standards is frankly shocking, shameful, and unacceptable.
I have known people who have experienced incarceration in NSW facilities, and while the experiences have differed person to person and institution to institution, the reality is that the opportunity for rehabilitation relates directly to the willingness of the prison to provide humane treatment. This is a far cry from what is being afforded David McBride, and even by its own rubric, the system has failed, these reports reeking of cronyism, psychological abuse and some sort of misguided vendetta that has no place in contemporary society, least of all federal institutions. Let us remember that the way we treat our prisoners, and more pertinently, our whistleblowers, defines who we are as a people, and our government seeking to put the boot in while they are down paints a pathetic picture of Australian justice indeed.
Regards
Thom Muir, Sydney NSW
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