ABC Darwin prison launches website for inmates The World Today - Friday, September3, 199912:53 COMPERE: Well, what's believed to be the world's first prison website has been launched in the Northern Territory. It features the arts and music of the inmates. The site, like any other site, can be accessed by anyone around the world on the Internet, and you'll be able to respond to prisoners via email. As David Weber in Darwin reports for us, prisoners are going to use the site to tell their stories and warn against drug and alcohol abuse. DAVID WEBER: The Groote Band will be one of the prison bands providing music to the website. More than 150 mostly Aboriginal male and female prisoners are involved in the Ending Offending project which has been transferred to the website as a tool for education and communication. It's intended to raise prisoners' self-esteem and educate them about the dangers of alcohol abuse. It will also advertise art and music produced by prisoners, with profits from sales going into community-based projects. Tony from Jaberoo has been working on his art for the two years he's been in prison. He hopes it'll lead to a better future outside. Tony sees the website as a way to expose his art and tell his story to those outside, so that others won't make the mistakes he did. TONY: I don't want to be, come back in and out [inaudible] . I don't want it anymore. I like to want to get out, just want to get a job. DAVID WEBER: Simeon is in the Groote Band and has been committed to writing and performing his songs while in prison over the past four years. He writes his own material, mainly about his home, Groote Island. Simeon says the website's an opportunity for his band to get some recognition and exposure. SIMEON: I like to get people, get recognised. Not many Aboriginal men get recognised, you know, playing the comedian [phonetic] all that. DAVID WEBER: Darwin Prison Superintendent, Rod Williams, says the website's also an educational resource for prisoners, as it allows them to transmit their feelings about alcohol and drugs and the trouble abuse can lead to. ROD WILLIAMS: Aimed at addressing prisoners' behaviour, alcohol consumption in the community. It was never designed as an abstinence program. It was designed as a program to show prisoners how they could drink in a social context without committing offences and returning to jail. DAVID WEBER: Superintendent Williams says the project's been well received. It gives prisoners something to take outside when they leave and teaches them things such as how to handle royalties from art sales. But, those wanting to send emails to prisoners will have them screened by authorities. Superintendent Williams says prisoners won't be allowed to access and respond themselves because it could lead to a security breach. ROD WILLIAMS: Vetted through our internal security and head office security. The email side is directed at head office, and the interaction will be through the head office website and they'll pass on all the information to us and we'll adjust the website here, and it's a two-way process; then we send it back to head office and the Internet's updated there. DAVID WEBER: The Correctional Services Minister, Chris Lugg, says the website will be featured at the coming Institute of Criminology Conference as a leading example of rehabilitation programs for indigenous people. He says, despite the Territory's mandatory sentencing laws, the government doesn't actually like people going to prison. CHRIS LUGG: The community never benefits from having people in prison. It's a necessary but generally a step we don't prefer to take. DAVID WEBER: But, he says with the total cost of the website project at fifty thousand dollars, it's less than the cost of keeping one person in jail for a year. CHRIS LUGG: If we can even keep one or two fellas from coming back here, then it's money well spent. COMPERE: And that was Chris Lugg of the Northern Territory. © 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
