Activists are collecting donations to free up to 100 indigenous women who have found themselves in prison for unpaid fines. The campaign comes in an attempt to pressure the Western Australian government to work on a promise it made two years ago to change the law.
The campaign has raised more than $ 12,000 in 20 hours and aims to raise $ 100,000; enough to cancel arrest warrants for more than 100 people who have been jailed or at risk of imprisonment for unpaid fines. The fundraising campaign was launched following reports of the arrest of a local representative on the basis of a note on his delay in paying due fines, and was sentenced to six days in Hakiya prison and payment of $ 1,700. The actor was released last week, five days after his arrest and after an unknown person paid his debt, which was reduced to $ 638.
One of his relatives said the actor had not been jailed before and was believed to have been subjected to violence by the police.
Jerry Giorgos, an indigenous rights activist, said finding an anonymous donor to pay the fine was the quickest way to get someone out of jail under the current system. In September 2017, someone donated more than $ 3,000 to secure the release of an indigenous woman with five children who had been arrested for failing to pay fines; this was when the woman contacted the police to resolve a complaint about domestic violence.
The Western Australian government has repeatedly promised to abolish the prison law for fines following the death of a woman in Yamagi town in her cell, which was arrested in 2014. Western Australia is the only state that regularly jails people for unpaid fines; That the majority of prisoners for unpaid fines were indigenous women. Although the rate of arrest of "fugitives" has decreased, it still causes the arrest of 10 people a day.