NSW Attorney General fails to deal with double charging inmates
The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has a high level of former prisoners returning to prison.
NSW imposes fines, fees and charges upon many prisoners. Fees and charges can be a false economy, as the cost of a former inmate returning to prison are much greater than the figures raised. There is no adequate oversight of these fees & charges.
A fee known as Victims Compensation Levy (VCL) or Victims Support Levy is withdrawn from prisoner accounts each week. It is supposed to be applied to the prisoner’s fee account imposed by the court.
Corrections NSW collects these fees each week and then sends the fees to the NSW Department of Communities & Justice (DCJ). DCJ has failed to send these funds to be applied to inmate accounts.
Corrections NSW and courts direct enquiries to DCJ. DCJ has no contact on its website to deal with the matter and the switchboard does not provide any contact either.
The NSW Audit Office has stated that as a fee it is not under their remit as they only audit for monies raised through tax.
The Ombudsman directs former inmates to contact the Attorney General.
Repeated requests to deal with the matter made to the NSW Attorney General have been ignored.
Inmates are required to pay the levy again, even though it has been removed from their account previously.
At this point it is unclear why the Attorney General has permitted the double charging of a levy. It is unclear where the additional funds are going. It is unclear why the Attorney General has failed to act despite repeated notifications of the problem.
The high level of returning inmates is significant in NSW. Already fees & charges imposed contribute to recidivism and are a false economy. The extrajudicial imposition of double fees upon inmates & former inmates is a failing of the system.