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Rex 'Buckets' Jackson and the Prisoner Early-Rlease Scheme

We all have our suspicions that people in high places could be on the take and over the years in Crime File we have looked at a few cases where corruption in the police force has reached the highest level. But while there is always talk that a politician here or there is taking money underhandedly, you would have to go back a long way to find a case where one has actually been caught and punished for his crimes against the position we entrusted him with.

One such crook is Rex ‘Buckets’ Jackson, a knockabout bloke who rose to high places in New South Wales’ Wran administration in the 1980s. From all accounts Rex Jackson was a likable enough fellow who enjoyed a drink and a bit of lunch and was generally liked by just about everyone who knew him. As it turned out, he was also very popular among a lot of blokes who never got to meet him at all.

In Sydney in early 1982, the New South Wales Minister for Corrective Services, Mr Rex ‘Buckets’ Jackson, initiated an early-release scheme for prisoners. Mr Jackson said it was based on the most enlightening principles of penology. But something about the scheme wasn’t right from the word go. Up until the scheme was initiated prisoners were released on licence at a rate of about one a month. Now they began getting out of jail early at the astonishing rate of about 50 a month. Something stunk somewhere.

A fluke brought the rort unstuck. In April 1983, while using authorised phone tapping during an attempted probe into drug trafficking, Australian Federal Police stumbled on some conversations that were related to the early-release scheme. In May 1983 the AFP commissioner advised his minister of the conversations who, in turn, advised the Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, who informed the New South Wales Government.

The documents containing the evidence about the information heard in the phone taps was handed over to the New South Wales Police Commissioner, Cecil Abbott. Coincidentally, in June 1983, five New South Wales judges complained bitterly about the early-release scheme. The judges queried the purpose of sending criminals to prison for lengthy terms if they were going to be released long before their time was due.

Rex Jackson and the New South Wales Attorney-General, Paul Landa, arranged to meet with the judges and hear their grievances. At this meeting Rex Jackson rejected any criticism and claimed that the scheme had a 95 per cent success rate. He said that given a second chance – and in some cases a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and many, many more chances – prisoners had rehabilitated themselves and were now worthy members of the community. Only a few reoffended. As Mr Jackson didn’t have any figures to prove this they had to take his word for it. And that was that.

Also in June 1983 the leader of the New South Wales Opposition, Nick Greiner, criticised the extremely early release of three former Griffith police officers who had been sentenced to lengthy terms for their part in marijuana growing. It seemed as though the officers had bought their way out of jail. It was claimed that the going rates were from $2500 upwards, depending on the length of the term. Mr Greiner said that by now up to 640 prisoners had been released under the new scheme and the circumstances of some of the releases were appalling. Sixty of those prisoners had been serving life sentences for murder.

Mr Greiner told the parliament that the scheme had seriously undermined confidence in the government and that in the past months some of the prisoners released had committed serious offences. But Mr Greiner also pointed out that many of those released were genuinely entitled to be released under the provisions of the scheme.

In October 1983 it was raised by the Liberal Opposition in federal parliament that the AFP had detected, by the use of phone taps, the payment of money to people in authority, including a New South Wales government minister, to ensure the early release of prisoners.

The minister in question, Rex Jackson, was asked for a ‘please explain’ to confirm or deny the allegations in the tapes. He issued a statement in which he denied any knowledge of taking money to allow certain prisoners out early on license. The statement was read out in the New South Wales Parliament, and at a press conference Mr Jackson also denied any involvement in the taped allegations.

The following day Rex Jackson changed his mind and sent a letter of resignation, which was read out in parliament. It said in part: ‘Having examined a particular matter in more detail [the tapes], I now have to advise you that my statement to the House was incorrect. I sincerely regret that I have therefore unwittingly misled the House. I have no other course to follow but to submit my resignation.’

After a public inquiry by Justice Slattery of the Supreme Court, five people were charged with conspiracy relating to the early release of prisoners from Broken Hill Jail between October 1982 and June 1983. Those charged were Rex Jackson, solicitor Howard Hilton and businessmen Keith Godfrey Harris, Morres George and Fayez Hakim.

In November 1984, Cabinet decided that the government would pay all of Rex Jackson’s legal costs. The decision was kept secret, but it emerged in March 1985. Following a public outcry, the government decided to pay the $59,000 incurred to that date, but no more. Jackson said that he needed to put his $300,000 superannuation towards his $600,000 legal costs.

In November 1984, Hilton and George were found guilty. In sentencing them Justice Carruthers said from the bench that the community’s grave and abiding concern about corruption in New South Wales called for an appropriate response from sentencing judges. He sentenced Keith Harris and Howard Hilton to nine years’ jail and Morres George to five years.

In September 1987, Rex Jackson was sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court to seven-and-a-half years’ jail, with a nonparole period of 45 months, for accepting bribes to arrange for the early release of prisoners.