Periodic Detention Centre
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Periodic detention or weekend detention is a type of
custodial sentence A custodial sentence is a judicial sentence, imposing a punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or in some other closed therapeutic or educational institution, such as a reformatory, (maximum security) psychia ...
under which the offender is held in
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
between Friday and Sunday evenings each week, but is at liberty at other times. Promoted by prison reformers as an alternative to imprisonment, periodic detention drew praise for allowing offenders to continue working, maintain family relationships, and avoid associating with more dangerous criminals in traditional prisons. It was also considerably less expensive to administer.


Implementations


Australia

Periodic detention was introduced in the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n State of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
in 1971 and expanded on the recommendation of the
Nagle Nagle is a surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Angela Nagle (born 1971), Irish non-fiction writer and academic * Browning Nagle (born 1968), American football quarterback * Courtney Nagle (born 1982) American tennis player * D ...
royal commission. The State's first periodic detention centre operated at the Malabar prison complex. Other centres later opened at Bathurst,
Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
,
Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...
,
Silverwater Silverwater is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Silverwater is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district on the southern bank of the Parramatta River within the local governme ...
, Tamworth, Tomago and
Unanderra Unanderra ( ) is a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 6 km south-west of the Wollongong CBD. It is bordered to the west by Farmborough, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights in the Mount Kembla ...
. A facility for female offenders, the Norma Parker Periodic Detention Centre, operated at Parramatta. High-profile offenders sentenced to periodic detention included actor
Diarmid Heidenreich Diarmid Heidenreich (born 1975) is an Australian film and television actor. Heidenreich graduated from Waverley College in Sydney's east, in 1993 before going on to become a well-known actor. Television career Heidenreich began his television ca ...
, investment adviser
Rene Rivkin Rene Walter Rivkin (6 June 1944 – 1 May 2005) was a Chinese-born Australian entrepreneur, investor, investment adviser, and stockbroker. He was convicted of insider trading in 2003 and sentenced to nine months of periodic detention. Early li ...
and bookmaker
Robbie Waterhouse Robert Waterhouse is an Australian racing identity, businessman, form specialist, punter and bookmaker. Waterhouse is the son of Bill Waterhouse, he is married to thoroughbred horse trainer Gai Waterhouse, and is the father of bookmaker Tom Water ...
. New South Wales ended its periodic detention program 2010, in favour of non-custodial sentences such as "intensive corrections orders", a form of mandatory
community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
possibly combined with other conditions such as drug-testing. Under the new system, a conditional non-custodial sentence is imposed. The offender is not detained if conditions are satisfied, but the sentence may be upgraded to full-time custodial detention if the conditions are violated. The
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
operated a periodic detention centre at Symonston.


New Zealand

Periodic detention operated in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
between 1962 and 2002, although offenders did not always serve on weekends. High-profile offenders sentenced to periodic detention included former
Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
John Kirk. In 2002, periodic detention was combined with community service.


Criticism

Referring specifically to the implementation of periodic detention in New South Wales, Jurist James Wood described such sentences as "a minor inconvenience" for offenders. Although it avoided mixing first-time and petty criminals with more serious offenders, periodic detention nonetheless brought offenders together, potentially reinforcing criminogenic behaviours. Periodic detention also requires dedicated prisons, periodic detention centres, to be built. Despite these initial costs, periodic detention was over 25% less expensive than its replacement in New South Wales.


See also

*
Alternatives to imprisonment The alternatives to imprisonment are types of punishment or treatment other than time in prison that can be given to a person who is convicted of committing a crime. Some of these are also known as ''alternative sanctions''. Alternatives can tak ...
*
Community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
*
Suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
*
Home detention In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, Electronic monitoring in the United States, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their Hous ...


References

{{reflist Prisons Criminal justice Penal system in New South Wales Crime in New South Wales Sentencing (law)