TREENA LENTHELL was arrested on July 17 at the Jabiluka uranium mine under construction by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) and charged with trespass and forcible entry with intent to breach the peace. After refusing both police bail and magistrates bail, she was held at Berrimah Prison on the outskirts of Darwin for 10 days. She agreed to bail on July 27, and spoke to Green Left Weekly's NATALIE ZIRNGAST on July 28.
Question: Why did you refuse bail?
We refused bail because we would not cooperate with a system that allows a uranium mine to go ahead, and also in solidarity with Aboriginal people who are denied bail.
Ordinary people can be locked up for a whole range of crimes, while big companies get away with crime on a massive scale. ERA will be responsible for massive environmental destruction and also for the many deaths that will occur as a consequence of the nuclear cycle.
Question: What types of offences are blockaders being charged with?
Trespass, loitering, forcible entry, breach of the peace, victimisation of employees (through holding up their ability to do their jobs), plus more serious ones. One charge — "damage to mines" — carries the possibility of two years' imprisonment.
The police are interpreting some actions as interfering with ERA's profits, which is considered "criminal damage" and comes under mandatory sentencing. "Unlawful use of a motor vehicle" also carries a mandatory sentence of 14 days. Mandatory sentencing should be abolished.
Question: What were the jail conditions like?
We were allowed one visit per week for one hour by up to four people, and special visits from a chaplain or counsellor. You can't have any books sent to you, but you can go to the library once a week.
As a remand prisoner, I couldn't go out of the enclosure and had to be handcuffed whenever I went anywhere. The prison officers attitude was dehumanising. They consider you a non-person and you are always referred to as "the prisoner". They searched my cell and I wasn't even allowed to bring in a hair-band. One of the cells I was in had dried blood on the wall. I asked for cleaning products and spent the time scrubbing while we were locked down one afternoon.
Berrimah Prison is overflowing, especially the women's section. I spent three nights in maximum security remand in the men's section as the women's was full.
There's a massive backlog of people with mandatory sentencing charges and this will cause huge problems, especially for long-term prisoners who may be moved to Alice Springs. There were two women serving mandatory sentences while I was there. One, the "hot dog lady", had poured a drink on a till at a fast-food place. This was deemed "property damage" and she received a 14-day sentence.
There was pressure from the other women to take bail. The overcrowding puts a lot of stress on prisoners who are fearful of being sent to Alice Springs, away from family and support networks. I was the only blockader and got a bit of a hard time as I was seen as clogging up the system.
Most of the prisoners were against uranium mining but didn't believe that the mine could be stopped, or mandatory sentencing reversed. It was the white women who were pressuring me to take bail; the Aboriginal women told me they thought what I was doing was great.
Two blockaders, Ty Gibbs and Monty Farrah, are still imprisoned. Letters of support can be sent to them at Berrimah Prison, PO Box 1407, Darwin 0801.