Each edition contains news articles and investigative pieces. These are topical stories that are usually about prisons and criminal justice.
We also summarise the latest criminal justice news around the country.

“It is our assessment that Victoria Police did not comply with the Surveillance Devices Act when installing and maintaining integrated listening devices,” the report said.
In early December, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Australia. Their purpose was to provide guidance on how international human rights standards apply to prisons and places of detention.
Including a Victorian man suing for his right to have Vegemite in prison, a new framework for rehabilitation being launched by NT Corrections, a QLD Watchdog calling separation rooms in youth prisons ‘inhumane’ and more.
The death of a 16-year-old First Nations teenager in a notorious youth unit of an adult prison in Western Australia was preventable and predictable, and the result of “serious longstanding deficiencies in the system, a Coroner has found.
Obtaining information from federal agencies is about to become subject to stricter rules under the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 (Cth).
End-of-life care, also known as palliative care, is a healthcare process that aims to improve the quality of life and reduce the suffering of those who are terminally ill. Being incarcerated can make this stage of life even more complicated.
A remote WA prison holding mostly First Nations people is “unfit for purpose”, with people sleeping on the floors and cockroach infestations.
A number of Victorian prisons may have to be renovated or rebuilt after the Supreme Court found that no “open air” was being provided to inmates in multiple units.
The Liberal Queensland government has announced plans to significantly minimise the rights to vote for people in prison.
Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose on opioids.

In June, people from across the country gathered in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) for the 18th Reintegration Puzzle Conference — an annual event for those working in justice reform and those with lived experience of prison and reintegration.

The godfather of hip hop, rapper, and filmmaker Ice Cube from Los Angeles spoke exclusively to prison radio show ‘Jailbreak’ about his own experiences in the American prison system.

Markis is the alleged ‘mastermind’ behind a scheme to import more than 71 kilos of cocaine to Australia. He fled the country while on bail, and was caught after two years on the run in the Philippines. That was 2017. He’s been detained here ever since.

Including an inspection of court custody centres in WA, Victoria enforcing the nation's strictest machete ban, Tasmanians returning to the polls and more.

A report by Financial Counselling Australia said this is a form of “double punishment”, with people leaving prison in a worse financial position than when they entered it because the system is “stacked against them”.

The regular use of lockdowns across the Australian prison system has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, with governments under pressure to address the growing issue that is having a devastating impact on those inside.

No-one’s life pans out quite the way they might expect, but it should never be too late to try and get back on course.

While hardline responses to crime are constantly pushed by politicians and the media, other approaches – such as “therapeutic justice” models – are often overlooked.

Including WA Government pledges to improve crisis care in prisons, Victoria announcing a $700m investment in prisons and officers, an ACT prison inspector flagging understaffing issues and more.

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