By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A PASSAGE in an Ombudsman’s report that noted half of Victoria’s prisoners came from just six suburbs – including Doveton – was incorrect, according to a clarification from the Ombudsman’s office.
Victoria Ombudsman Deborah Glass said there was a typographical error in the prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration report which incorrectly attributed six postcodes to half of the state’s 6506 prison population.
The six postcodes provided to media outlets by the Ombudsman’s office – but not listed in the report – were Doveton, Broadmeadows, Corio, Frankston North, Maryborough and Morwell.
Ms Glass said the correct figure was that half of Victoria’s prisoners come from just six per cent of postcodes.
Despite the error, the Ombudsman said five of the postcodes identified – including Doveton – also appear in the top six per cent of suburbs for prison admissions.
Maryborough sits just outside the top six per cent of suburbs for prison admissions.
The report, released last Thursday, comes after Doveton was listed in July as one of the state’s seven most disadvantaged postcodes in the Dropping off the Edge 2015 report, compiled by Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia.
Ms Glass said her prison findings reiterated the link between disadvantage and offending.
In her damning investigation Ms Glass predicted the state’s prison population to reach at least 8300 by June 2019.
She said building more prisons was a flawed and short-sighted response to the overflowing jail population.
“Building more prisons is demonstrably not making us safer as a community. For such enormous public investment we should be seeing much better returns,” Ms Glass said.
“Long-term solutions do not lie within the walls of our prisons or with a single government department.
“Victoria needs a whole-of-government approach to focus on the causes of crime rather than its consequences.
“If we continue in this way, current trends in both prisoner numbers and cost mean it will not be long before we have to make hard decisions between prison beds or hospital beds, better schools or more security.”
Doveton’s unemployment rate currently sits at 21 per cent, more than three times the national average.
In his recently published book An Economy Is Not A Society, author and Labor speechwriter Dennis Glover, who grew up in Doveton, discusses the “social destruction” of the suburb, which he claims is the result of factory closures in the once efficient manufacturing centre.
At their height Doveton’s three big factories – General Motors Holden, International Harvester and Heinz – collectively employed almost 7500 people.
Mr Glover said only 500 of those jobs remained.
The Ombudsman’s report also notes an overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody, making a case for more action to reduce both the number of prisoners in the first instance and the re-offending rate.
The investigation also found that recidivism rates are highest among people aged 18 to 25.
Over half of young prisoners return to prison within two years.
“Despite a demonstrable effect on recidivism rates, Victoria has only one dedicated youth unit, housing 35 of the 751 young offenders in adult prisons,” Ms Glass said.
“Interventions targeted towards young offenders – through diversion or within the prison system – provide a significant opportunity to break the cycle before it becomes entrenched.”
