In 2008 former Treasurer Kevin Foley famously said, \u201cRack \u2019em, pack \u2019em, stack \u2019em, if that\u2019s what it takes to keep our streets safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Mr Malinauskas, who has previously critcised the approach, said on Thursday that the rhetoric was \u201cdumb\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy criticism of \u2018rack \u2019em, pack \u2019em and stack \u2019em\u2019 is entirely aimed at the fact that we get perverse outcomes,\u201d he told David and Will on FIVEAA breakfast. <\/p>\n
He said he understood the \u201cpolitical expediency\u201d of talking tough on crime, but said most prisoners end up getting out of jail anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courts very rarely put people in for sentences that are life or with a view of putting them in forever.”<\/p>\n
Mr Malinauskas said prisoners \u201csit around and get angry\u201d when they don\u2019t have access to education or rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen they come out into the community, they reoffend \u2013 so they create another victim \u2013 and then they come back into incarceration where it costs the taxpayer anywhere between $70-100k a year to lock them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just dumb,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not good for community safety and it\u2019s not good fiscally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to get away from \u2018rack \u2019em, pack \u2019em and stack \u2019em\u2019 and focus on rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n