[extropy-chat] No Joy in Jail

[Damien Broderick]

> > 1) What percent of the aboriginal population of Australia is either in
> > jail or has been in jail, compared to the anglo population, and compare
> > and contrast that to the US?
>
>Patrick answered this well. Our jails are not overfull.

As we've seen in previous iterations, this is a difficult topic, easy to 
troll. One aspect is that the Aussie aboriginal population is about one 
percent (maybe a few times larger if people with aboriginal ancestors 
somewhere in their background are counted in). Cf. whom in the US? Indians 
are the obvious comparison, or maybe blacks. Let's just look at the general 
numbers to start with:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0528-02.htm


Incarceration Rates
(Number incarcerated per 100,000)
US  715
Australia 114

< In 2003, 68 percent of prison and jail inmates were members of racial or 
ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12 percent of all 
black men in their 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.7 percent of 
Hispanic men and 1.6 percent of white men in that age group, according to 
the report. >

And

http://www.dlncoalition.org/dln_issues/indians_jailed_more_often.htm :

< Despite progress made in equalizing parole dates, Native Americans still 
are overrepresented in the state's prison population. Indians make up less 
than 9 percent of the state's population but 23 percent of the prison 
population. >

But the situation for black Aussies is nasty as well:

http://www.gfbv.de/gfbv_e/docus/aborigin.htm

<Jail Sentences for Trivial Offences

Indigenous people make up about two percent of Australia's population, but 
the proportion of imprisoned Aborigines is several times as 
high....Statistically, at least half of the Aboriginal men aged 20 to 24 
have been imprisoned at least once in the past five years. Arrests on 
charges of drunkenness, "disorderly behaviour," insulting officials and 
resisting state authority are the most frequent. Because their financial 
situation often precludes the payment of the fines imposed, they are 
imprisoned.

The conditions of imprisonment are inhumane, and the number of suicides 
during custody is alarming. A 16-year-old Aborigine jailed on suspicion of 
drunkenness hanged himself in his cell in Alice Springs in 1998. The police 
had not evaluated his emotional state nor had they informed his family that 
he was being held in custody. The appalling conditions in Australian 
prisons have been common knowledge for years. But the recommendations made 
by official commissions of inquiry are ignored. >

These comparative figures fail to disclose turnover rates. I suspect short 
repeated terms (as  suggested above) for drunkenness and fighting might 
drastically inflate the data for Indians and black Aussies. Not good, even 
so. Awful, in fact.

[Emlyn:]
>last thing I'd want is suburbs full of small arms.

Yep. This is the general consensus in Australia, and both the conservative 
and the slightly less conservative parties know it, and so retain weapons 
restrictions in their platforms.

Rail as much as you like about the need for guns at your fingers and guns 
at your toes, Mike, it didn't seem to do the Branch Davidians a hell of a 
lot of good when it came to a showdown with the vile forces of government.

Damien Broderick