The eradication of rehabilitation

If this belief is to prevail then it must be time to delete rehabilitation from the dictionary when applied to prisons. And while we’re at it, let’s re-write the history books too! Then there will be no further need for hypocrisy or double standards when labelling ex-prisoners.

First, let’s strip Alexander Solzhenitsyn of his 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature. After all, Solzhenitsyn is an ex-prisoner who did time in the Russian gulags and most of his awarding winning books describe that incarceration process. And let’s not forget Oscar Wilde who did time too. Let’s ban and pulp all his writings. They cannot possibly be worthwhile contributions to society if he is an ex-prisoner.

The teachings of Mahatma Gandhi also come under the hammer. Unfortunately this man of peace did time, and as an ex-prisoner his teachings of peace can no longer be validated. The same applies to internationally respected South African statesman, Nelson Mandela, who served time 27-years in similar prison cells to those that housed Coutts-Trotter 23 years ago.

Then there is George “Happy George” Howe who came unstuck for an armed robbery that earned him a death sentence. His sentence was commuted to transportation for life and he was bundled off to Australia where he printed and published Australia’s first newspaper The Sydney Gazette. His role as Australia’s first newspaper editor eventually earned him a pardon. It is ironical that the same media used to castigate and criticise Coutts-Trotter was started by a lowly convict over 200 years ago.

Finally, let’s not forget Henry Lawson. We cannot have an ex-prisoner’s face adorning our currency. Let’s remove all reference to Henry Lawson from the pre-plastic decimal $10 notes. Then the eradication of rehabilitation will be finally complete.

Coutts-Trotter has become a role model to those still behind the walls and razor wire of state prisons who aspire to another life when they leave prison. His story offers inspiration and hope to those who too often fall onto a treadmill that leads back to the revolving-door prison system.

It is an example of how one man, one of the very few, whose sheer guts and determination successfully defeated the vicious cycle of prison-parole-and-more-prison. His courage should be applauded. It should remain a shining beacon to illuminate a point where punishment ends and rehabilitation begins.

The Coutts-Trotter case is also a commendable yardstick for the NSW Iemma Government. NSW will go down in history as the only Australian state government that re-birthed the traditional “fair go” principle and applied it to an ex-prisoner who had successfully rehabilitated.

Now the ball is in Coutts-Trotter’s hands. He has to run with it. Hopefully he will score a successful touchdown in his new role as Director-General of the Education Department - a touchdown that will force all his detractors choke on the uncompromising harshness of their own criticism.