"The idea that being tough on crime reduces the prison population is just plain wrong." said Amanda Watkinson, Service Innovation and Advocacy Director, spokesperson for Jesuit Social Services, on 3KND's live radio program, 'Razor Sharp' on 22nd June 2011.

Amanda's comments were in response to the release of alarming new statistics showing that while Indigenous people comprise less than 3% of the Australian population, they make up a quarter (7,386) of the total prisoner population.

Speaking from Alice Springs where she is involved with setting up a new Jesuit Social Services program, the Alice Springs Capacity Building Project, Amanda said "police do target poorer areas" according to figures in the report by renowned Professor Tony Vinson 'Dropping Off The Edge' for Jesuit Social Services.

His study showed that in Victoria a quarter of the prison population came from just 2% of the postcodes and most of those had a strong Indigenous population.

"We must deal with the causes of crime and the disadvantages that cause it. Good social policy and good infrastructure does a lot more to prevent crime."

Amanda said that the irony of harder prison sentencing was that "if a prisoner is sentenced to a longer period of incarceration it is a lot harder to get them to fit back into the community once they are released."

She totally rejected the idea of prisons being run by private companies, stating that when a "private company runs a prison it obviously suits them if the prison population increases. It is vital that prisons stay run by governments."

Radio program host Sharon Firebrace was covering prisoners' rights on 3K'ND Melbourne's first indigenous owned and managed radio station.