Aussie taxpayers forking out thousands for prison repairs

Innocent taxpayers are being forced to foot the damage bill caused by violent Aussie prisoners in jails.

A Nine News report claims prison costs in Queensland are skyrocketing, with taxpayers forking out hundreds of thousands to repair extensive damage caused by inmates. According to the report, some prisoners are breaking anything and everything in their path.

Out-of-control prisoners are destroying furniture, breaking windows and light fixtures, as well as smashing TVs they’ve been provided with for entertainment. The worst part is taxpayers are being forced to pay for any damage that occurs.

“They’re in prison for a reason,” says Opposition Spokeswoman Ros Bates. “It’s not an Airbnb”.

Former prison guard Hans Anderson tells Nine News because it isn’t their property, inmates don’t respect it. Knowing the prison scene all too well, Anderson also says damage is done every single day.

“They damage things by hiding stuff,” he says. “Mattresses get damaged because they secret stuff in the mattress and pillows.”

In the 2017 and 2018 financial year, repair costs in Queensland prisons alone came to $898,000. The cost has actually increased from the 2015 and 2016 period, which sat at $741,000. Even that was up from the 2014 and 2015 cost of $560,000.

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Nine news claims 2,404 broken TVs were replaced in 2017, costing taxpayers $300,000 for the repairs. According to the Opposition, overcrowding is the main reason for the increased bill and damage.

“They’ve raised these issues, they had a talk fest, they have been building a new centre in Rockhampton, but had done nothing about the overcrowding,” Bates says.

Around 38 per cent of all Queensland prisons and correctional facilities have more inmates than beds. It is thought more bunkbeds are being rolled out across prisons to keep up with the influx of criminals. Still, that option is also being paid for by the taxpayer.

It’s not the first time Australian inmates have made headlines in recent times. Actress Pamela Anderson recently urged New South Wales prisons to provide no-meat diets to female prisoners. Writing an open letter on her website, she encouraged New South Wales Corrections Minister Peter Severin to add the diet, in addition to current rehabilitation programs prisons were offering.

“I read about your plan to rehabilitate female inmates through mindfulness exercises and yoga and wanted to make a suggestion that could further help embrace nonviolence: switching to nutritious vegan meals in your correctional facilities,” she wrote.

What do you think? Should taxpayers be forced to repair damage caused by inmates, or should it be up to the inmates and their families to come up with the funds? How do you think the problem should be fixed?