Vacro

📘: facebook.com/vacroau

💡: linkedin.com/company/vacroau

After a brief hiatus from social media, Vacro is back online! While we will no longer be active on X, you can still get the latest news, tools, resources, and expert voices from Victoria's specialist criminal justice reintegration service here: 🦋: bsky.app/profile/vacro.…

'Choose' is such an interesting word. Do people living in poverty and loneliness 'choose to go to jail' - or do governments, across the world, 'choose' to invest in prisons instead of social infrastructure and support services? edition.cnn.com/2025/01/18/asi…

The findings echo much of what our Lived Experience Panel members reported in their submission to the Inquiry into Women's Pain last year (vacro.org.au/Handlers/Downl…).

In this study of reproductive healthcare in a San Diego jail, women report: 🩺 failure to respond to multiple medical requests 🩺 inexperienced medical staff 🩺 dismissiveness, mistreatment, and punishment from staff 🩺 uncomfortable, unsafe practices urban.org/research/publi…

“The Australian government’s treatment of children in its criminal justice system went from bad to worse in 2024,” said @hrw Australia researcher Annabel Hennessy. “These increasing violations are a blot on Australia’s human rights reputation globally.”

The Australian government increasingly violated the rights of children in the criminal justice system in 2024, @hrw has said in its World Report 2025. hrw.org/news/2025/01/1…

"It proves a point that there are probably thousands of other people in prison today who could be safely released." George Gascón on how getting people home from prison, and then closing prisons, strengthens communities and creates economic wealth: theguardian.com/us-news/2024/d…

It's fascinating to learn about decarceration efforts and outcomes in other countries. This new article (open access) charts a history of decarceration in Italy in the 2010s and provides insight into the limits of decarcerating for purely fiscal reasons: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13…

These are all indicators of *successful* law reform. Clearly, it's working.

22/22 diverted from the criminal justice system - every day. 0/22 dying in a cell. 24,600 people supported in the first year. And strong evidence that therapeutic approaches can replace punitive approaches - especially when it comes to public health issues.

🧵: Before public drunkenness was decriminalised, there were on average 22 of these 'offences' per day. Only 3 people per day are now being checked into sobering up centres, which Emma Kealy and the Herald Sun argue here means they're 'not working': heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/…

“With pure punishment, you’re going to get out the same person. Now they’re leaving with practical skills...and they can use those skills to get a job. If it’s just punishment, they’re just going to be in the same boat when they get out.” - Rob, who runs the Oakwood woodwork shop

The most 'relaxed' prison in England has been assessed the country's best by its chief inspector. HMP Oakwood trains men incarcerated there to run multiple stores & services, including a resettlement unit offering appointments to everyone due for release: thetimes.com/article/5f3b25…

New self-narratives - an identity as something other than an 'offender' - are needed to desist from crime. They're core to our practice. But this new UK study finds the parole process damages already fragile self-identities and may undermine desistance: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17…

Meanwhile, dozens of prisons and jails in LA are currently threatened by wildfires. One juvenile detention centre, holding 96 children, is in an evacuation zone; @theappeal reports there are no current plans to evacuate or protect any incarcerated people: theappeal.org/los-angeles-wi…

"While incarcerated wildland firefighters are tasked with combating the consequences of climate change, justice-involved community leaders...say that the intertwined issues of climate change and retributive policies of incarceration deserve a deeper look." prismreports.org/2022/09/28/cal…

Thousands of the firefighters currently battling bushfires in California are incarcerated in California's prisons. It's dangerous and pays as little as $2 a day. Most will be barred from working as firefighters post-release. Here's a 🧵of coverage: motherjones.com/environment/20…