ABSTRACT

The prison, as the centrepiece of our justice system, is seen as fixed, unassailable, necessary. Yet, globally, COVID-19 has opened safety valves in previously impregnable, impermeable institutions, from maximum-security prisons to immigration detention. Some Australian prisons – bursting at record-high levels with our most dispossessed, wounded and reviled – have created space in ways that bring cautious hope. Might the crisis license/allow a reimagining of how we might do justice differently? The pandemic has given us pause to consider what ‘justice’ means, what we expect of our penal system, and to rethink our justice machinery. As never-imprisoned and formerly imprisoned co-authors, we reflect critically on COVID-19 inspired commentary, scholarly arguments for decarceration, and the lived experience of criminalisation and imprisonment. We weigh the social and economic costs of a system of punishment that dehumanises, reproduces violence, and causes countless harms to countless lives. We find it unable to rehabilitate, unable to keep us safe, unable to justify its vast expenditure. We find it unsustainable. We reflect on the UN call for a global ceasefire amid the pandemic to imagine a justice system that represents both a ‘ceasefire’, in the short-term, and an architecture of sustainable justice practices into the future.

摘要

监狱是我们司法系统的核心，被认为是固定的，无懈可击的，必要的。然而，在全球范围内，COVID-19已在从前的牢不可破，不可渗透的机构中打开了安全阀，从安全性最高的监狱到移民拘留所。一些澳大利亚监狱-破纪录的高空爆炸，我们最易受伤害，受伤害和受到谴责的情况-以带来审慎希望的方式创造了空间。危机许可证是否可能/允许我们重新想象一下我们如何以不同方式伸张正义？大流行使我们停下来思考“正义”的含义，我们对刑事制度的期望，并重新考虑我们的司法机制。作为从未被监禁和曾被监禁的合著者，我们对COVID-19启发性的评论，关于开除监禁的学术论据以及刑事定罪和监禁的活泼经验进行了批判性的反思。我们权衡一种惩罚制度的社会和经济成本，这种惩罚会使人道失常，重现暴力并给无数生命造成无数伤害。我们发现它无法恢复原状，无法确保我们的安全，无法证明其庞大的支出是合理的。我们认为这是不可持续的。我们反思联合国在大流行中实现全球停火的呼吁，以想象一个司法系统既代表短期的“停火”，又代表着未来可持续的司法实践架构。