The Wire

Justice reinvestment means taking money out of the prison system to spend on crime prevention. It was so successful in Texas, USA, that the state went from building new prisons, to closing them down.

It costs $800 per day to keep a child in custody, and in 2014 NSW taxpayers spent an average of $293,200 on each child in prison.

That same amount of money, spent wisely, has completely changed the 3,000 strong community of Bourke, breaking the cycle for many young Indigenous Australians who are over represented in NSW prisons.

Just Reinvest NSW is advocating for Justice Reinvestment to be expanded, wanting to bring the young Aboriginal prison population down 25 per cent by 2019.