UPDATE Welcome our new volunteers
After a gruelling recruitment round, with 70+ applicants and over 40 interviews, we are very excited to welcome our 25 new presenters! After initial training this Saturday these new volunteers will be starting across all sections over the following months. Please help us welcome them to the program.

CONTENT ARC List
We have had quite a number of queries in Court Readiness presentations lately regarding ARC. We may incorporate this content into the slides of our presentation in due course, but in the meantime it’s important that everyone has a basic understanding of what it is so that we can best answer questions.

ARC stands for Assessment and Referral Court, and is specifically for people with a mental or intellectual disability. The idea is that it is a more supportive court environment, and is modelled on the the Koori Court in terms of being a discussion around an oval table. A person does not need to plead guilty to participate in the program (similar to CISP), but they do need to plead guilty in order to be sentenced by the court.

For further detail please see the basic information below. If you have any existing knowledge or experience with ARC, we’d love to hear from you, please contact Grace.

UPDATE Opening of Karreenga
The new Karreenga centre at Marngoneet opens this week. The centre will house medium security male prisoners in shared cottage style accommodation. It is understood that with the opening of Ravenhall in 2017, the prison will then be reprofiled to hold minimum security prisoners. As with many Victorian prisons there is a focus on industry and developing self reliance as pathways to rehabilitation. This includes a bakery and self catering cottages which have received mixed reactions in media coverage. Stay tuned for further information on how PLEA will work within this new centre.

Media
With ongoing interest in activities in prisons across Victoria, presenters are reminder of our policy of not publicly talking about our work, this includes comments, even ‘off the record’, to media. If you are contacted please get in touch with your Section Leader.

ADMIN Volunteer responsibilities
We periodically ask all volunteers to review our volunteer expectation statement. This helps ensure you’re up to date with the safety requirements of the prisons we present in, what to expect from your supervising senior presenter and an understanding of what we are seeking from our volunteers.If you haven’t spoken with Steph about reviewing the statement in the past six months, we ask that you read over and complete the expectations form here.

EVENT Youth Justice Forum
We want to thank you everyone who attended our Youth Justice Forum earlier this month and extend a huge congratulations to all who worked to make the event happen. With over 180 attendees and a killer panel we think the night was an excellent debut for PLEA’s public series.Our next event is already in the works for September 2016 with a focus on hearing from young people and understanding their experiences. As Dan mentioned in his message last week if you are interested in assisting with the organisation please contact Sam Whitney at admin@pleaproject.org.au

UPDATE Expansion into Barwon
PLEA has plans to expand into the maximum security men’s prison Barwon this September. With the success of our fortnightly program in Marngoneet, just down the road from Barwon, we have begun talks to have the same team travelling to the area weekly to present. This is well-timed with the addition of another prison to the suburb, Karreenga, which will be operational soon.The Marngoneet/Barwon team carpool out on Mondays and are treated to lunch by prisoner-led kitchens in the centres. If you have a particular interest in this team, or know someone who might like to join PLEA for weekly Monday sessions, please let us know.

CONTENT Future of baseline sentencing
Following the ruling in Walters in 2014, the Baseline sentences are inoperable, the Sentencing Advisory Council was asked to review and propose an alternate sentencing scheme. The Government has since announced a new Standard Sentencing consideration to replace baseline sentences.Under the proposed scheme, a ‘standard sentence’ will be created to represent the mid-point of seriousness for specific offences and be calculated at 40 per cent of the maximum penalty. For example, the maximum sentence for the sexual penetration of a child under 12 is 25 years imprisonment, making the standard sentence for that offence 10 years imprisonment.Courts will be required to consider standard sentencing, as determined by the Parliament alongside other relevant factors in arriving at the appropriate sentence in a given case. Courts will also be asked to provide reasons for departures from standard sentence lengths.PLEA notes this scheme will likely provide Courts with flexibility not afforded under the Baseline sentencing scheme. We will provide further updates when legislation has passed through Parliament. You can read the full Sentencing Advisory Council report here.

Recruiting
If you know of someone that you think would be the perfect fit for PLEA, encourage them to apply online then contact a committee member.

UPDATE Metropolitan Remand Centre
We are excited to report that PLEA has recently resumed programs at the Metropolitan Remand Centre (MRC). We have resumed our Court and Legal Processes presentation and are looking to begin Family Law presentations in the coming weeks. PLEA had been presenting at MRC since the organisation’s inception until prison riots in mid-2015 put our presentations there on hold.In sadder news, Sam Cooper has had to step down as Section Leader due to work commitments. Sam has been with PLEA since 2014 and should be credited with overseeing the reintroduction of our programs into MRC after a particularly tumultuous time. We are very excited to welcome Rachel Cashmore who has been appointed the new MRC Section Leader, Sam will remain on as a Senior Presenter with the team.

CONTENT Expanded use of telecourt
Recent legislative changes are anticipated to greatly increase the use of telecourt/video conferencing. Changes to the Evidence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act create the presumption that procedural hearings (e.g. not committal or summary hearings) in Magistrates Court will be heard via video link rather than transporting the prisoner to court unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so. The interest of justice includes when adequate video facilities are not available and if a lawyer has not been able to take instructions from their client. Corrections and courts are also trialling an expanded program of lawyer-prisoner video conferencing to ensure prisoners are able to properly conference prior to the hearing (noting that, especially in VLA matters, instructions are often taken on the day for procedural hearings).PLEA will monitor the implementation of these reforms and may update court readiness content accordingly.

CONTEXT State Budget
The Victorian Government has made a range of announcements that are anticipated to impact on demands and operation of the corrections system. Promisingly for PLEA this has included a significant investment into the Metropolitan Remand Centre including for repair works that will return the centre to more normal operations. Other changes to prison flow and structure may have impacts on the delivery of programs, we will provide further information as we receive it.There has also been a half billion dollar investment in additional police resources including over 400 new police officers. Previous rapid increases in policing numbers, such as that seen in 2011 have correlated with increases in incarceration rates and similar trends may be seen through this policy. Positive investments including expanding the successful Drug Court model to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court and a range of funding for Family Violence early intervention programs that will hopefully seen positive increases in diversionary sentencing.

Recruiting
If you know of someone that you think would be the perfect fit for PLEA, encourage them to apply online then contact a committee member.