Engaging With Your Local
Gaols
Geoffrey Tremelling
Legal Aid NSW
Prisoners Legal Service
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Bail
Legal aid applications
Appeals
Classification and other prison issues
Parole hearings
Life sentence determinations
Segregation appeals
Visiting justice hearings
Role of the civil outreach
solicitor
• Provide civil law services to prisoners
• Facilitate referrals
• Conduct CLE
• Build stakeholder relationships
• Casework
Who are my clients?
• Total (M) 9,562 (F) 757 (TOTAL) 10319
• Indigenous offenders comprise a large
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percentage of the inmate population: (M) 21.8%
(F) 28.4% (T) 22.3%
60% of inmates are not functionally literate or
numerate
18% of women and 27% of men scored below
the pass rate on the intellectual disability
screener
Under educated - 60% did not complete year 10
Who are my clients?
• 64% have no stable family
• Most inmates are financially compromised
• 67% of women and 44% men reached the
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referral criteria for major depression
33% women and 26% men scored positive on
the schizophrenia scale.
54% of women and 37% of men had thought
about suicide; 39% of women and 21% of men
had made a suicide attempt. This compares
with the total population, where 16% of people
have thought about suicide and 3.6% have
made an attempt
Development / implementation
of the outreach service
• Met with Aboriginal Elders in the local
community
• Met the MOSP (Manager, Services and
Programs) and Aboriginal Mentors
• Invited Elders & staff at the CCs to make
their own suggestions / ideas
• Implementation
The key difficulties of
providing civil law advice in
prisons
• Prisoner capacity
• Prison culture
• Back on Track
Common civil problems
• Personal injury / victims comp
• Injury and illness in prison
• Personal property
• Proceeds of crime / forfeiture orders
• Debt / fines / bankruptcy
• Housing
• Migration
Ways your CLC could help your
local inmate population
• Conduct regular outreach
• Share a visits calendar with Legal Aid
• Develop a by appointment phone
advice service through welfare or
transfers from LawAccess
• Run the Back on Track Program
Building capacity - Resources
& training
• Back on Track – DVDs
• Back on Track - Posters
• Back on Track – Certificate of attendance
• Civil law issues and prisoners workshops
series
• DCS Security awareness
• Aboriginal, ID, Mental Illness & Drug
awareness courses
Thank You