Legal Corner

On 1 April 2026, the Australian Parliament passed new laws which will change the way Commonwealth parole works.

People in prison can apply to transfer from a prison in one state or territory to another, generally for welfare reasons to be closer to family, community supports, or rehabilitation opportunities.

Inspectors and ombudsmen regularly go to prisons and publish reports on what they find and what they think needs to be improved. They also complete reports on issues such as access to healthcare or the use of segregation.

In recent years, regressive reform of parole laws in many places has made it increasingly difficult for people in prison to access parole.

With people in prisons across the country being subjected to an “epidemic of prison lockdowns”, it is important to note that bare minimum safeguards exist in law, in most jurisdictions, that purport to guarantee at least some time ‘in the open air’ each day for people behind bars.

There is a lot of talk about human rights in prison – with things like ‘the Mandela Rules’, ‘the principle of equivalence’, and access to health care without discrimination.

Procedural fairness, often called “natural justice”, is a collection of rights, established under common law in Australia around the 1980s.

Generally, debts can be put into two categories. First, there are private debts (e.g. from a bank, a landlord, a car dealer, or ‘Afterpay’). Second, there are debts owed to the State (e.g. unpaid fines).

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The concern for those who are subjected to government decisions is that they often do not get to see the integrity of the information which was considered by the decision-maker and don’t get to check if it’s correct.

One of the most important aspects of self-advocacy in prison is to understand the rights of prisoners and the limitations of power of prison authorities.