Call for social housing to prevent prisoners returning to jail

Abstract

Almost half of people released from Victorian prisons are returning to jail within two years despite the government spending more than $1.6 billion supervising and managing inmates.

Analysis by the Council to Homeless Persons found the cost of prisoner support services had risen by 83 per cent over five years but many prisoners were being released with nowhere stable to live, increasing their chances of reoffending.

It is urging the government to provide more social housing so prisoners are not released into homelessness only to return to jail soon after.