Privatisation in the Prison System

Women on the Line

On this week’s episode we look into the prison industrial complex in so-called Australia and how private companies profit from the prison system. In particular, we focus on the high cost of phone calls and how this is impacting families and communities. Across the country, calls are free via payphones but in Victoria’s prisons they cost $7 and are limited to 12 minutes.We speak to Sarah Schwartz, Principal Managing Lawyer of the Wirraway Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and Monique Hurley, Managing Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, about the layers of privatisation and profit in the prison system, the exploitation of incarcerated people, and the importance of investing in the community.