Rachel asked the Minister for Corrections if the government would consider removing the prohibitive cost of prison phone calls and make communication more accessible. As Rachel states, phone calls in prison can be up to ten times more expensive than a standard call.
Rachel asked the Minister for Corrections to call for an end to strip searches in Victorian prisons. She also requested for data collection on strip searches to be expanded and published quarterly.
Rachel referred to a report co-authored by Human Rights Law Centre, Formerly Incarcerated Girls Justice Advocates Melbourne (FIGJAM) and Flat Out.
The report found that strip searches are often ineffective and that less invasive alternatives are available. It also noted the trauma of incarcerated children having to strip search in front of adult guards, and the compounding harms on disproportionately incarcerated First Nations people.
Rachel addressed a question to the Minister for Corrections in relation to the high proportion of people with mental health illness entering the prison system and the potential for medicinal cannabis to be among treatments offered to prisoners.
