Praise for JustSpeak’s new report ‘The Case Against Prisons’

Prison abolitionist organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA) supports JustSpeak’s new report ‘The Case Against Prisons’.

‘The report outlines why the common arguments in favour prisons don’t stack up and why we desperately need to be investing in alternatives to prisons,’ says PAPA spokeswoman Emilie Rākete.

JustSpeak begins by demonstrating why the argument that prisons are necessary to deter crime is untrue. ‘When people are committing crimes, the evidence suggests that the possibility of imprisonment doesn’t factor into their reasoning,’ says Rākete.

‘Prisons also make it much harder to rehabilitate people. Community-based rehabilitation programs are far more successful at addressing problem drug and alcohol use, as well as reducing reoffending.’

People Against Prisons Aotearoa supports the call from JustSpeak for a greater focus on alternatives to prisons, as well as for a different way of thinking about criminalised behaviour.

‘Our prison system is fundamentally broken and unfixable. A safer and more just society will be one without prisons.’

ENDS

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