Abortion clinic protester jailed

[AndyP]

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au...-seven-jailed/

Pro-life protester jailed

Kathy Sundstrom | 3rd May 2012 9:17 AM

DANIEL Preston watched proudly as police took his dad to jail yesterday.

His dad Graham's crime, for which he has been condemned to eight months behind bars, was to refuse to pay fines after he sat down at the entrance to abortion clinics. The Prestons have seven children.

For the past 10 years, pro-life campaigner Graham Preston has been peacefully protesting at clinics around Brisbane.

He has been arrested, fined and after a string of court cases and appeals, sentenced to serve 232 days in a Brisbane maximum security jail.

It is the longest sentence ever imposed on an Australian pro-life activist.

Mr Preston's supporters will appeal to newly-appointed Attorney-General, Kawana MP Jarrod Bleijie, for the sentence to be reduced.

They have urged others to do the same.

Mr Bleijie said yesterday Mr Preston had been imprisoned for not paying outstanding SPER fines totalling more than $8000.

"Mr Preston had every opportunity to enter into a payment arrangement with SPER and refused so - he has been sentenced to spend 234 days in prison," he said.

"I want to make it clear that Mr Preston was not fined for holding certain views, he was fined for breaking the law."

Mr Preston's arrest did not seem to perturb his 26-year-old son, Daniel, the eldest of his seven children

It is not the first time his dad has been locked up for his beliefs.

Since beginning his protests in 2002, with the group Protect Life, Mr Preston has been sentenced five times and jailed for more than 10 months.

In 2004, when his fines reached $12,000, Governor of Queensland Quentin Bryce remitted half of them.

But still Mr Preston refused to pay. He blogged that there was "no logical basis for the remaining fines not to be remitted so we immediately appealed again to the Governor".

Two-and-a-half years later, the appeal failed.

Nambour's East Coast Woman's Centre manager Dawn Wallace said eight months was a "long sentence", but hoped it would serve as warning to protesters.

"I wish these people would mind their own bloody business. I'm hoping now he has been given eight months jail it will say to other people this behaviour is not good enough."

[Aldaron]

I think him being put in maximum security is ridiculous and dangerous, but other than that, I'm glad to see some justice done with these people.

They can stand on the street and protest all they like, but they have no right to block entrances and interfere with patients/clients and staff.

[gruber]

I see that he was arrested because he refused to pay his fines, not because he was a self righteous prick forcing his views on others who want nothing to do with him. I extremely doubt that he would be sent to a max prison unless he was a very violent person

[Aldaron]

Originally Posted by gruber

I see that he was arrested because he refused to pay his fines, not because he was a self righteous prick forcing his views on others who want nothing to do with him. I extremely doubt that he would be sent to a max prison unless he was a very violent person

I'm just going by the article. If what it says is true: "sentenced to serve 232 days in a Brisbane maximum security jail", then I think it is absurd. 232 days in jail - for all his transgressions in non-payment of fines, no worries. But I have a real problem if he has, indeed, been put in max security for a non-violent crime.

[Sieveboy]

Originally Posted by Aldaron

I'm just going by the article. If what it says is true: "sentenced to serve 232 days in a Brisbane maximum security jail", then I think it is absurd. 232 days in jail - for all his transgressions in non-payment of fines, no worries. But I have a real problem if he has, indeed, been put in max security for a non-violent crime.

I agree maximum security seems wildly inappropriate to me, considering the non-payment of a fine is hardly comparable to violent crimes which usually attract maximum security.

All I can assume is that the prison service is concerned about his compatriots and family showing up and causing trouble, still even then, this seems to be a disproportionate response.

[gruber]

thats if the writer isnt making shit up

[Blue Lightning]

He will not be in maximum security, unless they have specific reasons to fear violence/attempt to escape from him.

A quick look shows that he has a very long history, see

http://www.news.ninemsn.com.au/natio...rtion-protests

where they report -

Preston has been involved in the pro-life movement for about 25 years and started protesting outside Brisbane abortion clinics 10 years ago.

This is the first time he has served time in jail for a conviction, despite being found guilty of trespassing and fined on numerous occasions.

The State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) contacted Mr Preston more than 100 times over the past 10 years in a bid to get him to pay the fines, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice and Attorney-General said.

"Even an offer to undertake unpaid community services was refused," the spokesperson said.

Preston is now serving time because each fine carried a default imprisonment period to be served if it wasn't paid.

He has also been seriously warned, in a number of Courts, before. He was convicted to serve time in gaol once before, but given an immediate parole, see-

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/q.../2010/264.html

especially footnote 1.

Some of the terrible lowlights of this earlier judgement are that he sought to block anyone attending the clinic. Not only the poor women that he allegedly sought to traumatise, but also the police(!):

157. Mr Preston clearly explained the reason for his presence by his first words to Constable Parker which were:
“Well if you go in there and arrest them, stop them killing children, stop them doing this I would let you in for sure.”

and that his defences had been rejected in Court in still earlier cases:

174. A similar argument was advanced without success on behalf of Mr Preston in Preston v Liussi[122] which was referred to before the magistrate during submissions on sentence. That was an unsuccessful appeal against a conviction for trespass. A police officer approached Mr Preston and said “You are trespassing right now. Are you going to leave?” Mr Preston replied “When they stop killing children”. The police officer then placed the appellant and two people who were described as “the other two protestors” under arrest. In responding to the submissions that no police officer gave evidence that the police officer considered the explanation was not a reasonable one, Shanahan DCJ said:
“In my view, that is not the case. The police officer was entitled in all the circumstances confronting him to consider it was not a reasonable explanation. The accused clearly indicated to the police officer that that he was going to continue with his protest by remaining at the scene.”

Whilst the judgment given today isn't on the net yet, I'd say he had it coming to him!

[Aldaron]

BL, I'm not questioning the justice of his sentence. I'm saying that IF the article is accurate, and he's to serve his sentence in maximum security, then this is manifestly wrong.

He's been jailed for non-payment of fines. The fines were the punishment for his various trespass convictions. For non-payment of fines, he's been convicted and justly sentenced.

But I don't care if he owes a thousand dollars or a million - being put in with the likes of Chopper Read for non-payment of fines is just, simply, wrong.

The guy is a abhorrent prick, but he has been convicted of a specific offence: non-payment of fines. Not violence.

[Blue Lightning]

In this:

But I don't care if he owes a thousand dollars or a million - being put in with the likes of Chopper Read for non-payment of fines is just, simply, wrong.

you are, undoubtably, correct. Supermax is not justified for any criminal (regardless of whether or not they have nutty beliefs), without a whole lot more.

I'm saying that IF the article is accurate

Agreed again. I wasn't being critical of you at all. I just have a strong suspicion that the article is wrong ...

[owheelj]

It does sound like serving time in a max. security prison is excessive. However that said, I don't know the QLD prison system and perhaps this is journalists being sensationalist, and the prison caters to a range of security levels, including "maximum"? He may be in the white-collar minimum security wing of the "maximum security jail."

edit;
Some google searching suggests he's probably held at the Brisbane Correctional Centre, which is classified as "maximum security" and has 540 cells, plus an 18 cell maximum security unit. It contains a "diverse offender population that include mainstream, protection and youthful (17-year-old) offenders."

http://www.correctiveservices.qld.go...cc/index.shtml