Empty prison beds while crime soars: The proposal that's got Victorians fuming

novezar · 2025-10-10T07:28:27+1100

Of course the prisons in Vic., aren't at capacity intake when the ARSEHOLES of the state get a "Smack" over the back of the hand & set free, &, told not to be naughty boys & girls anymore.

It's all one bloody big joke.

RealityCheck · 2025-10-10T08:50:53+1100

In Vic, it's easier to get out of prison than to get in.

Despite the rhetoric (& endless Govt ads on TV at taxpayer expense) spruiking the supposedly tough new bail laws "making it harder to get bail for repeat offenders", sentencing guidelines for Judges maintains the line that offenders who have never been incarcerated should not be jailed as it exposes them to other prisoners & risks helping turn them into career criminals.

Well, hello! the recidivist folk who violently invade homes, often with weapons, ARE career criminals. They are becoming career criminals by repeat exposure to others also out on bail even as they plan & execute further robberies, attacks & deadly car "joyrides".

The circular argument, "But they've never been in jail so we shouldn't jail them" perpetuates the "catch & release" disaster which is endemic to Victoria.

And I thought the reason was a lack of prison infrastructure to house all the inmates! It makes you sick to live in Victoria.

EllenM · 2025-10-10T10:28:11+1100

It sounds like the majority of offences are being committed by recidivist youth offenders who can’t be held in adult prisons. If that’s the case, I’d be interested to know the current occupancy rates of Victoria’s juvenile detention centres.

Luckyus · 2025-10-10T10:33:10+1100

Get rid of sentencing guidelines and replace them with mandatory sentences without limitation, you do the full sentence if you believed in good behavior then you wouldn't be doing a bit of porridge for a start?

HelenB55 · 2025-10-10T10:35:53+1100

RealityCheck said:
In Vic, it's easier to get out of prison than to get in.

Despite the rhetoric (& endless Govt ads on TV at taxpayer expense) spruiking the supposedly tough new bail laws "making it harder to get bail for repeat offenders", sentencing guidelines for Judges maintains the line that offenders who have never been incarcerated should not be jailed as it exposes them to other prisoners & risks helping turn them into career criminals.

Well, hello! the recidivist folk who violently invade homes, often with weapons, ARE career criminals. They are becoming career criminals by repeat exposure to others also out on bail even as they plan & execute further robberies, attacks & deadly car "joyrides".

The circular argument, "But they've never been in jail so we shouldn't jail them" perpetuates the "catch & release" disaster which is endemic to Victoria.

And I thought the reason was a lack of prison infrastructure to house all the inmates! It makes you sick to live in Victoria.

Very well stated.

The punishment for the crimes these criminals commit is an absolute joke.

So much for the TOUGHER NEW RULES

Makes you wonder who’s getting all the kick-backs

June E · 2025-10-10T10:37:11+1100

EllenM said:
It sounds like the majority of offences are being committed by recidivist youth offenders who can’t be held in adult prisons. If that’s the case, I’d be interested to know the current occupancy rates of Victoria’s juvenile detention centres.

They are probably half empty too ! Police catch ‘em and judges let them off if it’s anything like Qld ! Some are just 13 years old ! Makes you wonder what the hell is going on !

darrellh · 2025-10-10T10:38:54+1100

Gosh that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read and you have to wonder about the idiots running the justice system in Victoria. A dreadful thing to say but when the crimes impact the people giving out this so called punishment, perhaps we might see some actual change and the punishment fit the crime because until it does it will nit be a deterrent.

Jest · 2025-10-10T11:29:14+1100

500 a day. are they in a golden cage? OMG australia come on kick some victorian arses.

meighLeigh · 2025-10-10T12:00:13+1100

EllenM said:
It sounds like the majority of offences are being committed by recidivist youth offenders who can’t be held in adult prisons. If that’s the case, I’d be interested to know the current occupancy rates of Victoria’s juvenile detention centres.

Good question.
I'd suggest juveniles who repeat their crimes 3 or 4 times then go to adult prisons (I suppose to make 'proper' crooks out of them - many are actually employed by the real crooks to do the crime because they get off with a lenient sentence!) but then there is the case of an Aboriginal boy Himself encountered in the NT - he was a repeat offender just so he could get back into his 'home', the (now closed) naughty boy's camp at Wildman River. There he was treated humanely, got three meals a day and actually did something positive in his life (maintaining a picnic ground, building furniture for the picnic ground). Where his Family lived he was lucky to get a decent meal at all, had nothing constructive to do and less incentive to do it, and more likely to get a beating from his father or other adult males with a skinful and a bad attitude. Kids like him need a different treatment to those who are just bad because they're bored - or paid!

Colette 3799 · 2025-10-10T12:30:08+1100

I recon the main reason the prisons are empty is that Victoria is in too much debt to be able to pay staff to work in them. So if they rent them out to other states Victoria will get revenue to help with the debts and the other states will pay their staff. Great thinking but that doesn’t help with the crime problem we have here. Maybe cut costs by getting rid of the political perks we all pay for. Get rid of the dead wood holding us all back. The whole system needs an overhaul, the judical system too. Whatever they are all doing is just not working

Zemo · 2025-10-10T12:44:58+1100

And Queersland's crime rates, due no doubt to some creative accounting, are falling ...

RobbyNotTheRobot · 2025-10-10T16:57:10+1100

June E said:
They are probably half empty too ! Police catch ‘em and judges let them off if it’s anything like Qld ! Some are just 13 years old ! Makes you wonder what the hell is going on !

I got it on good authority ( a police relative) that happens in NSW as well, the Police just don't bother chasing up youth crime for that reason.

SandyM · 2025-10-10T19:45:13+1100

Who is going to pay for these interstate prisoner's families to travel longer distances to visit them? They will be crying about how "unfair" it is that they are so far away. It always costs the taxpayer!

7777 · 2025-10-11T04:10:21+1100

The story states that it costs $600 to house a prisoner per day. Just stop for a minute and try and comprehend that sum of money. Some people don't even spend that much per day on a holiday. Take away their carpet, ducted heating, air conditioning, the sum of money via vouches that they do their choice of shopping with, when they are in groups in cottages. One does the shopping, another cooking, another two would do daily cleaning in the cottage. They also have entertainment with videos, computer games, courses to study, TVs in their bedrooms and much more. The only thing they don't have is the freedom to walk out. They have hair salons, medical services, councelling, access to the phone. All of these things do not cost the prisoner one cent. It is all paid out if the taxpayers money. You may say that this is their civil and human right to have these things available. Where were the civil and human rights of those who were vandalized, had their belongings stollen, were beaten up, or sadly even killed. Where were the civil and human rights of the victims, when they suffered both mentally and physically, at the hands of these criminals. Take away the 5 Star conveniences and comforts, that cost $600 per day to house the prisoner, and you are sure to see a big decline in the rate of crime.

Zemo · 2025-10-11T06:21:03+1100

7777 said:
The story states that it costs $600 to house a prisoner per day. Just stop for a minute and try and comprehend that sum of money. Some people don't even spend that much per day on a holiday. Take away their carpet, ducted heating, air conditioning, the sum of money via vouches that they do their choice of shopping with, when they are in groups in cottages. One does the shopping, another cooking, another two would do daily cleaning in the cottage. They also have entertainment with videos, computer games, TVs in their bedrooms and much more. The only thing they don't have is the freedom to walk out. They have hair salons, medical services, councilling, access to the phone. All of these things do not cost the prisoner one cent. It is all paid out if the taxpayers money. You may say that this is their civil and human right to have these things available. Where were the civil and human rights of those who were vandalized, had their belongings stollen, were beaten up, or sadly even killed. Where were the civil and human rights of the victims, when they suffered both mentally and physically, at the hands of these criminals. Take away the 5 Star conveniences and comforts, that cost $600 per day to house the prisoner, and you are sure to see a big decline in the rate of crime.

"Take away the 5 Star conveniences, et cetera": that almosr sounds like you reckon that people deliberately choose to pick out crime as a way of life above all others so they can graduate to that kind of living.
Yes, I know that modern practices of incarceration seem to make life a lot better and easier for the crims once they're inside, but I think that came about gradually due to the powerful influences of the well-meaning and misled do-gooders in our society.
Make it much easier for criminals to serve time by reinforcing the existing laws in a meaningful way and make it much harder for them to get out once they're in by giving more rights to the victims (and society) to see that justice is done in return for them committing their crimes.
After all, if somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night, confronts you with an iron bar and demands your car keys and your cash (and you could look on that as the least of the crimes that could be committed), he's definitely not there to wish you a Merry Christmas, is he?
Yet we still hear the "misunderstood", "fell in with bad company", "came from a broken home", "withstood violence as a kid" platitudes endlessly given as excuses for their behaviour to evoke sympathy for the crims, not the victims.
And, yes, I know it costs money to keep them inside, but is there any better way to guarantee that fewer criminals walk our streets without fear of retribution?

7777 · 2025-10-11T06:49:12+1100

Zemo said:
"Take away the 5 Star conveniences, et cetera": that almosr sounds like you reckon that people deliberately choose to pick out crime as a way of life above all others so they can graduate to that kind of living.
Yes, I know that modern practices of incarceration seem to make life a lot better and easier for the crims once they're inside, but I think that came about gradually due to the powerful influences of the well-meaning and misled do-gooders in our society.
Make it much easier for criminals to serve time by reinforcing the existing laws in a meaningful way and make it much harder for them to get out once they're in by giving more rights to the victims (and society) to see that justice is done in return for them committing their crimes.
After all, if somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night, confronts you with an iron bar and demands your car keys and your cash (and you could look on that as the least of the crimes that could be committed), he's definitely not there to wish you a Merry Christmas, is he?
Yet we still hear the "misunderstood", "fell in with bad company", "came from a broken home", "withstood violence as a kid" platitudes endlessly given as excuses for their behaviour to evoke sympathy for the crims, not the victims.
And, yes, I know it costs money to keep them inside, but is there any better way to guarantee that fewer criminals walk our streets without fear of retribution?

Good morning dear member Zemo and thankyou for your well written post. I agree with you totally. However to summarise my post, crimes are committed because there is no fear of punishment. Wether the criminal comes from a broken family, or is from the elite society, there is no fear of punishment. When you compare the prisons in countries overseas, the prisons here are viewed as free accommodation places. I know people who have spent much time inside, and when they came out, they were healthy from eating good food on time, excersising and sleeping on time. They looked and felt 100 times better than they did before they went in. Once they got a flavour of freedom, they began to change rapidly with stress, not eating on time, not exercising at all, not sleeping on time, no self discipline or control of their lives. So what is going to stop these people from commiting further crimes, nothing, absolutely nothing. Have a beautiful weekend.

Zemo · 2025-10-11T07:43:36+1100

7777 said:
Good morning dear member Zemo and thankyou for your well written post. I agree with you totally. However to summarise my post, crimes are committed because there is no fear of punishment. Wether the criminal comes from a broken family, or is from the elite society, there is no fear of punishment. When you compare the prisons in countries overseas, the prisons here are viewed as free accommodation places. I know people who have spent much time inside, and when they came out, they were healthy from eating good food on time, excersising and sleeping on time. They looked and felt 100 times better than they did before they went in. Once they got a flavour of freedom, they began to change rapidly with stress, not eating on time, not exercising at all, not sleeping on time, no self discipline or control of their lives. So what is going to stop these people from commiting further crimes, nothing, absolutely nothing. Have a beautiful weekend.

As I said ...

7777 · 2025-10-11T18:27:56+1100

Zemo said:
As I said ...

Dear member Zemo, wishing you an enjoyable and pleasant weekend. God bless,

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Primary Source

Homepage | Crime Statistics Agency Victoria

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Crime in Victoria—Wikipedia

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