Maryborough Correctional Centre is a high-security prison.
It is a multi-purpose facility that provides both secure and residential accommodation for male prisoners.
The centre also serves as a remand and reception centre for offenders from Bundaberg to Gympie.
Maryborough prison has a good reputation among inmates.
However, we need to ask ourselves as a region, and as a society, if locking people up is always the best option.
Some prisoners should definitely be kept in prison for life.
However, a great number of inmates are there due to mental health or drug use.
Surely these issues are better dealt with by the health system than by the criminal justice system.
Countries like Norway see prisons as a place for reflection and rehabilitation, not just punishment.
The Bundaberg region has seen its fair share of tragedies from the murder of Trinity Bates to the recent disappearance and murder of Pheobe Bishop.
The perpetrators of such crimes should spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
However, a large number of inmates are not murderers or sex offenders.
They are people who have made a mistake or who are suffering from mental health or drug use.
Bundaberg is a compassionate place; everyone deserves a second chance.
