It is not just prisoners who pay a high price for this double punishment. Society does too, through the crimes committed so people can raise money to pay off debts, the cost of the resulting high recidivism rates (keeping a person in jail for 12 months is estimated at $110,000), and in the heavy reliance on taxpayer-funded support for social support services, including Centrelink benefits and emergency relief to name just two.
Studies suggest debt is a factor in recidivism.
Photo: Fairfax Media
Nearly 20 years ago, when Anne Stringer wrote Prison and Debt: Does debt cause crime? for Queensland’s Prisoners’ Legal Service, 49 per cent of prisoners said they had committed a crime to repay a debt. Other research found that women who reported …
Read the full article at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/debt-trap-people-imprisoned-for-crime-are-being-punished-twice-20180705-p4zplh.html
