ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the threat of COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic in Australian adult and youth prisons. It considers the rates of transmissibility and ongoing risks of disease, which are particularly acute for First Nations people. The primary government response to containing the pandemic has been restrictions on the rights of people in prisons, including curtailed personal visits, activities, employment and programmes. The authors discuss advocacy to curb these threats, including calls for decarceration of people in prison, improved health services in prison and better human rights protections and monitoring. It analyses the pandemic as an opportunity for reducing the number of people in prisons through bail, sentencing and parole decisions. The authors propose that, while some institutional responses were welcome, especially court decisions to increasingly order bail and non-custodial sentences, there must be systematic and sustained attempts towards decarceration and ultimately prison abolition. This is due to the adverse impact on the health and human rights of prisoners, which has been brought into sharp relief during the pandemic, and the need for alternative human services and stronger social bonds based on inclusion rather than exclusion.
