LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Pearls and Irritations

In relation to our article David McBride and the Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra

1. Andrew Hopkins,NSW, Oct 2, 2024
Prof Fitzgerald’s disturbing revelations about conditions endured by military whistleblower, David McBride & other inmates at the AMC in Canberra ought be taken seriously by governmental authorities and by the Australian media.

It is an utter travesty that so far, Pearls & Irritations is the only influential outlet to canvass Fitzgerald’s urgent call for a parliamentary inquiry about David McBride and conditions prevailing at the federal prison in Canberra.

Despite the adage ‘There are no votes in prisons’, don’t be surprised if some Independents who are campaigning about prison reform and other social justice issues are elected in/at the looming ACT October 19 elections. This is because all major political parties are on the nose.

Surely it would be foolish if ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, the Minister for Corrective Services, Emma Davidson (and the ACT Opposition) did not address themselves to serious allegations about what is occurring inside the AMC.

It is indeed ironic that this dreadful federal prison which began with such high hopes was named in honour of Alexander Maconochie, who regarding prison reform was a century and a half ahead of his time.
Tasmanian author Neal Price hit in on the head in response to Prof Fitzgerald’s revelations.

Mr Price wrote “After working in Van Diemen’s Land, 1840, the Scots-born Alexander Maconochie, became governor of the Norfolk island prison colony where convicts were treated with extreme brutality. He immediately instituted policies that treated prisoners as human beings. Despite, or more likely, because of the fact that he achieved remarkable success in prisoner rehabilitation, he was politically undermined and sent back to England in 1844.

Sadly, such vengeful undermining is still often the case with reformers and whistleblowers.”
How true, and sad is this!

2. Thom Muir, Sydney, Oct 2, 2024
A pathetic picture of Australian justice

I am writing in response to Ross Fitzgerald’s piece regarding the appalling conditions in the Alexander Maconochie centre and the mistreatment of David McBride. Whilst the reality of prison can not be expected to be pleasant, there are basic standards of human dignity that have been established for good reason, and the idea that a federal facility should not uphold such standards is frankly shocking, shameful, and unacceptable.

I have known people who have experienced incarceration in NSW facilities, and while the experiences have differed person to person and institution to institution, the reality is that the opportunity for rehabilitation relates directly to the willingness of the prison to provide humane treatment.

This is a far cry from what is being afforded David McBride, and even by its own rubric, the system has failed, these reports reeking of cronyism, psychological abuse and some sort of misguided vendetta that has no place in contemporary society, least of all federal institutions.

Let us remember that the way we treat our prisoners, and more pertinently, our whistleblowers, defines who we are as a people, and our government seeking to put the boot in while they are down paints a pathetic picture of Australian justice indeed.