To the Press and to the Public – and more so to the Politicians

1 August 2017

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HOLD SOMEONE IN PRISON AND PAROLE?

It is time the public know where their tax dollars go. I will use my own case to prove a point:

I was arrested on 8 August, 2002, charged with the sexual assault of two fifteen (15) year old girls – one of the girls was just two weeks short of her 16th birthday and the second girl gave me a ‘Letter of Demand’ for money and threatened that if I did not pay, she would go to the Police.

My Community – an ex-Caravan Park – where I lived with two hundred other people, was raided by sixty (60) armed agents, plus sniffer dogs and a helicopter. They were advised that we were like WACO in Texas, America. They were advised that we were armed and would fight our way with police.

Firstly, they did not find any weapons and secondly admitted they were falsely advised, as we were not an isolated group, but were well known in the wider community and elsewhere. This false raid cost the taxpayer some $750,000 to $1 million to execute. When in fact they could have sent a few police with a search warrant, or I could have simply been asked to come to the Police Station.

All Television Stations reported it. It was revealed that the girls had made a TV Contract with one of the Current Affairs Programmes, with the knowledge of the Police, before I was arrested.

At this time, I had several grocery stores. We had a registered Public School with forty (40) children and five (5) Teachers. We had a Nursing Volunteer Group and were well respected with the Nowra Community, as we interacted well with the city.

From 2002 to 2007 I had Court Trials and from 2007 to 2012 I had Appeals, considering I had maintained my innocence. It cost me over $1.5 million to fight this. It cost me nine (9) years in prison. I lost all my shops and some other properties. I lost the School and most of the people who once lived there. I lost my family and friends.

But let us look at the cost of the New South Wales Government:

The arrest cost close to $1 million. The Committal Hearing, Trials and Appeals cost the government around $2 million.

In November 2014, I was placed on Parole for 1 year. However, the government wanted to extend my parole for another five (5) years, even though I was deemed to be low risk at a reading of minus two (-2) on the static ninety-nine (99) scale.

To make sure I would get the Extended Order, Corrective Services engaged two (2) of the most high profile Lawyers from Victoria at the cost of close to $750,000 – which included several Solicitors – with a two (2) day Hearing. The Crown engaged four Psychologists to deem me a high risk at the cost of $25,000 each. They achieved their goal.

While I was detained in prison for nine (9) years, it cost the government $80,000 per year to hold me there. Now, in the Extended Order, it costs the Government $1 million per year to monitor me and there are two hundred (200) people on Extended Orders. The number is growing. That is $200 million per year, to simply monitor someone on a bracelet, which in itself does not prevent crime.

Now I am challenging Corrective Services Parole against the ESO Order. They had to employ several major Barristers and several Lawyers to counteract our challenge, at a cost of $400,000.

Now let us look at the cost of the Governments continued harassment of myself, to have complete control over my life – when in fact, I am still maintaining my innocence – and now am waiting for all my matters to be overturned. If this is how much it costs for the Government to be in control over me, how much then would it cost the Government to monitor the rest of those on Parole?

E.g. $200 million per year just to monitor 200 parolees on a bracelet – when in fact they could easily commit a crime with or without the bracelet. In 2016 there were eleven hundred and sixteen (1116) people convicted. There were fourteen thousand (14,000) people charged – 90% found guilty in 2016. Consider the cost per person.

Now, let us look at how much the N.S.W. Government paid, to proceed against me and are still trying to maintain control over me. The main argument of Corrective Services Psychologists – four (4) of them while on Parole and four (4) while I was inside, was that I had narcissism and was grandiose. Because of this I was a risk to society. How ludicrous can you be?

Here is the cost in keeping me under their control since 2002:

1. Arrest and raid – $1 million
2. The Trials and Appeals – $2 million
3. The ESO Hearing – $750,000
4. Four (4) Psychologists – $100,000
5. 9 years prison – $720,000
6. Two (2) years Extended Order – $2 million
7. The ESO Supreme Court Challenge – $400,000

Total = $6,970,000

So it has cost the Government $7 million to keep control over me. Now add how much it cost the Government to keep two hundred (200) people on the bracelet. $200 million per year and what about the fourteen thousand (14,000) extra prisoners incarcerated in the last twelve (12) months? And it is the tax payer who forks this out – to keep people employed and to satisfy the public and the politicians. What do you think?

William Costellia
1 August 2017