Around the Country – June 2026
Including major legal groups calling out ongoing prison lockdowns in TAS, a violent incident at Yatala in SA, funding for women's programs in NSW and more.
Each edition contains news articles and investigative pieces. These are topical stories that are usually about prisons and criminal justice.
We also summarise the latest criminal justice news around the country.

Including major legal groups calling out ongoing prison lockdowns in TAS, a violent incident at Yatala in SA, funding for women's programs in NSW and more.
People in prisons continue to face preventable harm due to poor healthcare.
Western Australia’s prison system is “nearing functional collapse”, with continual lockdowns, people sleeping on mattresses and a significant increase in violent incidents, an independent inspector has found.
A successful Australia-first drug and alcohol rehabilitation program in a WA prison will soon shut down due to overcrowding.
The state government introduced legislation to Parliament last week that allows for people in prison’s legal right of one hour in the open air every day to be limited due to a range of reasons.
Staff at a Canberra prison pepper sprayed a First Nations inmate who was self-harming and then handcuffed and strip searched her, an investigation has found.
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New informal voting data reveals there is still a long way to go to ensure the prison population is provided with proper information and education.

Nearly one in three people incarcerated in Queensland are eligible for parole but yet to be released, a new report has found.

In April 2025, The Alternative First Responder campaign officially launched in Australia, calling for alternative first responses to police that centre care and dignity.

A judge in Victoria has ruled that a lack of stable housing in the community shouldn’t be used as a reason to deny someone bail, particularly when it involves a First Nations person.

Including funding for more prisons in the NT, families protesting outside Risdon prison in TAS, a man being returned to prison in NSW after being mistakenly released and more.

Emily Cooper never had dental problems before she went to prison. When she was released, she was missing four teeth.

A support service transporting First Nations people from prison to treatment facilities will shut down after it ran out of funding.

The Adelaide Remand Centre will remain a privately-run prison after the South Australian government brushed aside criticisms to renew the contract with Serco for five years.

The Victorian government will spend $229 million on new prison beds, five times what it has allocated to programs aiming to keep people out of them.
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