That paper details a number of initiatives taken in Canada which provide for involvement of Canadian Indian community organisations in the operation of the criminal justice system. Aboriginal run correctional facilities be established in each state at the soonest possible time. I have considerable reservations concerning the establishment of exclusive 'Aboriginal Prisons' as opposed to community correctional programmes developed and operated by Aboriginal organisations. As I have stated earlier in this section, it is recognised that imprisonment as a social sanction is likely to remain in use in this country in the foreseeable future and that numbers of Aboriginal people will continue to sentenced to terms of imprisonment. However prison remains an institution devised, controlled and belonging to European culture.
Imprisonment is antithetical to the broadly communal nature of Aboriginal social relations.
Indeed, the term 'Aboriginal Prison' may be seen as an oxymoron Le inherently contradictory. Whilst recognising that special provision must be made for Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, it is important that in doing so one does not appear to legitimise the continued imprisonment of large numbers of Aboriginal people. If it must be seen as a necessity, imprisonment must then be recognised as a 'necessary evil'. In introducing change into the criminal justice system, the focus must not be allowed to shift from imprisonment as a matter of last resort and reducing the numbers of people held in prison custody. While recognising that ultimately direction must come from Aboriginals themselves, I suggest that the greatest scope for positive involvement by Aboriginal people is in the area of community based alternatives to sentences of imprisonment and in providing assistance in the re-integration into the community of those persons released after serving sentence.