I do not know Mr. Severin, I have never met him. From the media reports I have read, I believe he is a crim lover and an historical vandal who does not have an original thought in his head.
I have been told that he is from South Africa and at some stage was involved with the South Australian Prison System although I have not confirmed those facts.
My reasoning for my accusations in the first paragraph is as follows:
It was announced last week that up to 40 prisoners will be taken on picnics and shopping sprees etc with volunteers. Dr Vinson, when he was in the same position of Commissioner of Corrective Services, tried these types of programs in the early 80’s and they were a failure then. The only difference being, Dr Vinson had properly trained Prison Officers to escort the prisoners, not untrained, “cheap labour” volunteers.
The whole system is open to corruption or at best the perception of corruption. Who is going to select the 40 prisoners? That person will definitely be open to approaches of corruption by prisoners or their families and friends, who will be borderline candidates for selection. What about other prisoners who meet the criteria and are not selected and the discontentment that will create.
As far as the volunteers are concerned, they will be of the “bleeding heart” variety and their connection with criminals will create severe problems within their own families. This is not new. Once again, in Dr. Vinson’s time, volunteers were involved in prisoner programs and more than one volunteer’s family had been broken up as a result.
My own female cousin had left her husband after volunteering in a program at Parramatta Gaol and became involved with a very dangerous armed robber. Not long after the prisoner’s release, he severed the relationship with her. These situations always result in an unhappy ending.
There is no evidence to support these programs have any effect on the rehabilitation of prisoners, in fact without scientific evidence, I believe these types of programs make gaol a more attractive proposition to commit an offence as there is no deterrent in being sent to prison.
I most strongly believe that the silent majority of the public do not want their prisoners treated with kid gloves, fattened on T bone steaks and kept in conditions better than most aged pensioners. They do however want their prisoners to be treated humanely with adequate diets, be offered programs scientifically approved to assist rehabilitation where possible and retribution with sound outcomes for the victims and families.
Mr. Severin also announced in the last few weeks the sale and closure of the Long Bay Prison Complex. The Long Bay Prison Complex dates back to 1901 and carries with it a large slice of Australian history of more than 115 years. There is nothing new concerning greedy developers seeking the valuable land that the Long Bay Prison Complex sits on. That has been going on since before I became a Prison Officer in 1971. No doubt the acquisition of the Complex has been an easy decision for the Department and the New South Wales Government following decades of mismanagement of public taxes in their efforts to keep abreast of the never ending requirement to maintain infrastructure in the sprawling Sydney area to which they have all failed.
New South Wales was the first penal settlement in Australia when Captain Arthur Phillip set foot on land in 1788 with the first ships loaded with convicts from mother England. The last convict ship, the Hougoumont, left Britain in 1867 and arrived in Western Australia on 10th January 1868. In all, about 164,000 convicts were transported to the Australian colonies between 1788 and 1868 on board 806 ships.
Selling the Long Bay Prison Complex can be described as nothing less than disgraceful and historical vandalism. All those involved in the decision to sell such an historical complex should hang their heads in shame until the day they die. To my mind the Commissioner Mr Severin is a do-gooder and panders only to the crim lovers and the bleeding heart brigade. He should resign from this most distinguished position or be sacked by the New South Wales Government.
Let’s turn the clock back and make gaols a place to be feared and not a holiday haven, and in doing so prevent people with borderline criminal persuasions and to remain law abiding citizens that the public demand.
This I believe
Peter T Egge
You can read more about my thoughts on these matters and true stories to back them up in all my books, especially my latest being Cutting the Bars – Volume 3.
