Human rights jails

[ninwa]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24330072-2,00.html

THE first prison in Australia built according to human rights principles has been officially opened in Canberra.

The $131 million Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) is an open campus-style prison which can house up to 300 male and female inmates.

It will take remand and sentenced prisoners with low to high security classifications but there are no bars on the windows.

Razor-wire fencing has also been discarded and prisoners will be issued with swipe cards so they can leave their rooms, but not the facility, when they please.

What do you think? Does it go too far, or is it a positive step toward prisoner rehabilitation?

[costargh]

Is there any evidence that convicted criminals rehabilitate better in a facility like this than conventional jails?

[enwiabe]

Conventional jails take preventative measures to stop the inmates from killing each other. That's why they have the cells and the iron bars. It'd be interesting to see how this pans out.

[excal]

That's one expensive government funded hotel...


EDIT: Bolded edit (for effect)

[SoLe!]

Interesting.... what i want to know is will there be a demand to get "in" to this prison? Im sure many people (prisoners) would prefer it to wherever they are.

[Eriny]

Given that the current system does little to assist in rehabilitation, this can't possibly make things worse. Jail is still jail, they're still confined and punished and so on.