, Please 
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ACT Corrections Minister Simon Corbell said that the facilities were vital to rehabilitating prisoners.
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Objectives with the prison was to make it human rights compliant and in terms of design that means ... an atmosphere which is healthy not just for prisoners and staff but for everyone who uses the facility,
The ACT Government estimates that this prison will cost tax payers $336 a day per inmate based on a population of 200 inmates in the facility that cost $131 million.
There are however some more traditional cells in the prison which are called either "soft" or "hard". Differences include carpeting on the soft side and vinyl flooring on the hard side or a porcelain toilet vs a steel one.
On the campus like setting there are computer rooms, classrooms, a medical facility, trade rooms, a large commercial kitchen and laundry, a women's community centre, barbecue areas, paved courtyards, art rooms, basketball courts and a sports oval.
Also the facility has none of the traditional razor wire, guard towers, or bars on the windows. Corrections officers patrol the grounds and there are small office like huts with corrections officers stationed there instaid.
As far as claims that the prison is "too nice" Mr Corbell has said
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"The punishment for serious crimes in our society is to be imprisoned, to lose your liberty and to be detained by the state and that is what the prison does," In short saying your punishment really is just that you cant go places.
"You are detained, you lose your liberty, you lose basic things that we take for granted, when you can go out, what sort of clothes you can wear and what sort of food you eat. These are all things that are seriously restricted when you go into prison and that must never be forgotten, but that does not mean we can't provide an environment which encourages people to reflect on their behaviour, to pay the penalty society has imposed on them and to take advantage of that to improve themselves and become better people when they leave prison." said Corbell.
"You are detained, you lose your liberty, you lose basic things that we take for granted, when you can go out, what sort of clothes you can wear and what sort of food you eat. These are all things that are seriously restricted when you go into prison and that must never be forgotten, but that does not mean we can't provide an environment which encourages people to reflect on their behaviour, to pay the penalty society has imposed on them and to take advantage of that to improve themselves and become better people when they leave prison." said Corbell.
To me this sounds like some form of summer camp for felons. The taxpayers are paying hard earned cash to send these guys away to some cushy little resort and all you have to do to get in there is say mug someone and be a good little boy where the corrections officers can see you.
If they keep on building prisons like this I suspect a rise in crime. Heck I worked on a resort a few years ago that offered the exact same thing and people PAID to go there.
This is pathetic, criminals should be treated as criminals, the sad fact is you in some way hurt society and you should be punished for it, not sent to a resort. If I lived where I had to pay taxes to this place I would be MAD.
If some guy wants to try out his soft little cushy program for prisoners let him do it on his own money, not other people's hard earned cash.
Original story here.
