The report finds that people on visas are set up to fail by discriminatory treatment in prison, with limited access to parole, rehabilitation, and education hindering their ability to have their visas reinstated.
While Australian citizens are granted liberty after serving a sentence, people who are subject to visa cancellation are ‘pipelined’ from prison to immigration detention and deportation from Australia.
These people face a heavy mental burden in prison, exacerbated by the anxiety of potential visa cancellation, limited legal assistance, and uncertainty about prolonged detention – with this pressure often leading to a forced choice to give up and accept deportation.
Over the last decade, successive Australian governments have dramatically expanded visa cancellation powers to punish visa-holders and pipeline them between prison, immigration detention and removal from Australia.
Young people on visas are missing out on crucial schooling and rehabilitation, for no other reason than their visa status.
This system sets up visa-holders to fail and to lose hope from the moment they are sentenced.