Prisoner debts of more than $150,000 have been waived as part of a new project to help reduce re-offending.
Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre worked with 122 women at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Ravenhall between June, 2014, and March, 2015, as part of its Clean Slate pilot project.
The project aims to reduce recidivism by reducing prisoner debt and fines.
Centre managing lawyer Stephanie Tonkin said serious financial hardship and social disadvantage could form a “vicious cycle”.
“On release, ex-prisoners already face substantial barriers to successfully reintegrating into the community and breaking the cycle of reoffending,,” Ms Tonkin said.
“Clean Slate aims to provide some of our community’s most vulnerable members with a fresh start.”
The centre negotiated bulk debt waivers with the support of creditors, debt collection agencies and energy, water and telecommunications companies.
It is developing a better notification system, with prison staff and energy and water companies, for when people enter and leave prisons.
Ms Tonkin said this would ensure debts weren’t increasing unnecessarily and assist prisoners to transition into hardship programs after release.
“Victoria’s recidivism rates are at a 10-year high, yet programs that help prisoners successfully transition into the community on release are limited and stretched,” she said.
“By providing prisoners with a ‘clean slate’ on release, it relieves an immediate pressure to return to re-offending to deal with outstanding debts.”
Research from the New South Wales Law Reform Commission has identified civil law issues related to credit and debt as being among the most significant but under-addressed legal problems affecting Australian prisoners.
The research indicated prisoners’ level of debt and fines had an impact on their ability to reintegrate with the community and increased their likelihood of re-offending.
A Clean Slate client said: “If I don’t [have to] pay these debts, I won’t have to steal or get in trouble again as soon as I’m out … I might actually stay out this time.”
The legal centre will continue working with prisoners at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in the next financial year and is undertaking a study into the ability to expand Clean Slate to other prisons.
The legal centre expects a further $80,000 of debts to be waived for prisoners currently at Ravenhall.
