justicematters

This episode emphasises the role of Elders in mentoring young indigenous offenders on the diversionary program at Balund-a. Uncle Lewis Walker has been a regular collaborator in the annual Red Room Unlocked poetry and music workshops. In this episode we join the participants reading their work in English, with Lewis providing line by line translation into Bundjalung.

Balund-a is a residential diversionary program for young indigenous offenders, located on a working rural property on the Clarence River, near Tabulam, in northern NSW. In addition to drug and alcohol recovery programs, Balund-a offers participants vocational training, numeracy and literacy courses, and a cultural reconnection program overseen by on site indigenous Elders.For several years now the Red Room Company has brought their Unlocked prison poetry program to Balund-a during NAIDOC week. In 2018 poet Lionel Fogarty and musician, Joe Geia, returned to facilitate the workshops. This episode of justicematters features the NAIDOC concert that formed the high point and culmination of the workshops.

In this initial episode indigenous ex prisoner Keenan Mundine talks about his experiences in juvenile detention and adult prisons in NSW. We also discuss his work as an advocate for young people caught up in the justice system, and his involvement with campaigning for prison reform.