My Night in Jail

Just over 5 days ago I spent a night n Jail, a place I never thought (nor hoped) I would experience. It was cold, at times it was freighting…and given I was there with some media industry chums yes we had a little fun also…but there was certainly times where it was a visceral and emotional encounter. ?All the while I was in there we were learning about how the cycle of youth incarceration needs to be addressed and that people as young as 10, can and do experience the all too real version of my staged event. My son Billy is 11 and just imagining his little wrists in cuff and how scared a young person would be on their first night inside was enough to make me alert to this issue in a meaningful way. And I have no doubt in my mind, the incarceration experience would only change those young people for the worse, not the better.

Some statics for your food for thought :

• 10 years old is the age of criminal responsibility in Australia
• 57% of young people in detection are First Nations young people, whilst they only represent 4% of the population
• 85% return to detention within 12 months when released from sentenced detention
• 8,982 young people aged 10-17 were under the youth justice supervision in the last year
• The cost of having 1 young person in prison in NSW is $1million per year

And whilst I agree there are young people who perhaps need prison as a solution, there a lot that don’t and there has to be a better way…

Thankfully, there is, and I got to meet and talk with 3 organizations who are helping create a better outcome for young people themselves and in doing so an also foster a safer community for us all. They are all well worth you time to check out and are doing invaluable work in this space.

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• BacktrackBoys - https://backtrackboys.com/
• Youth off the Streets - https://youthoffthestreets.com.au/
• Empathy Not Sympathy - https://stephencain.com.au/

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Finally thank you for all those who donated to support my night Bail Out. I am genuinely humbled by your support and very much thankful of my network’s generosity. A night in jail was much more full on that I had anticipated however thanks to you and all the fund raises working with the amazing UnLtd. we were able to raise $125,000 to help tackle this critical issue.

A special shout out to my cell mates Adam Elliott and Nik Weber , thank you for not soring...