Erwin James is serving a life sentence. Payments for his writing are made to charity. In order to pay for a new jail in New South Wales, a tax is placed on wheat sold to the Government store. A police station and jail are built in Bourke Street. 1854 Inadequate jails are supplemented by hulks moored in Hobson's Bay.
Parliament sets up a select committee to look at the issue of overcrowding in jails.
A Royal Commission on Penal and Prison Discipline is established. Old Melbourne Goal closes. The Queensland Minister for Justice calls for all prison sentences of less that six months to be revoked. March 1978 Social security benefits are no longer paid to remand prisoners who do not have dependents. The Law Reform Commission recommends that the Federal Government provide magistrates and judges with publicly available guidelines spelling out the criteria they should consider when sentencing.