Legal Q&A: DSP After Prison

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To About Time staff,
Congratulations on your newspaper. I am writing to the legal corner as I have a concern about the length of the sentence (imprisonment) and the Disability Support Pension eligibility criteria.
Q1. What is the legal sentence period after which an inmate must reapply for the DSP?
NSW prison rumours say under two years and one is automatically reinstated onto the DSP, over two years, and one has to reapply and resubmit all the new paperwork for a new claim for the DSP.
As this issue would affect about 15% of the population, I figure it would be an important question to seek your help with. Thanks.
Regards,
Al
To About Time staff,
Congratulations on your newspaper. I am writing to the legal corner as I have a concern about the length of the sentence (imprisonment) and the Disability Support Pension eligibility criteria.
Q1. What is the legal sentence period after which an inmate must reapply for the DSP?
NSW prison rumours say under two years and one is automatically reinstated onto the DSP, over two years, and one has to reapply and resubmit all the new paperwork for a new claim for the DSP.
As this issue would affect about 15% of the population, I figure it would be an important question to seek your help with. Thanks.
Regards,
Al

I was reading a section of ‘Australia’s National Prison Newspaper’ where it gave some information about bail but I couldn’t find any information about people trying to vary intervention orders (I.V.O).
My name is Brian. A lot of guys here are talking about new legislation coming in the near future, but I haven’t found it anywhere. It is called “Daniel’s Law”. I was wondering if you could explain it and when it will take effect and who it will apply to?
Australia has two sources of law: legislation and common law. Legislation is made by parliaments and is available in documents called acts. Common law is made by judges in court decisions and covers areas that have not been legislated.
This is the second part of a two-part series on Freedom of Information (or Right to Information) laws. This part discusses ‘review processes’ – that is, what can be done if you are unhappy with the FOI decision, particularly if you were refused information and you think this was incorrect.
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.