Craig Minogue

Craig Minogue (born 1962) is an Australian prisoner, convicted for the Easter Thursday 27 March 1986 bombing of the Russell Street Police Headquarters in Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Minogue was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 30 years. Minogue is currently serving his sentence at Marngoneet Correctional Centre, in Lara, near Geelong, about one hour's drive from Melbourne. In 2012 Craig was awarded his PhD in applied ethics, human and social services by La Trobe University.^[1]

Russell Street Bombing

The Russell Street Police Headquarters.

The Russell Street Bombing, for which Minogue was initially imprisoned, occurred at 1 pm on 27 March 1986. The blast killed 21-year-old Constable Angela Taylor and left 22 people injured and caused massive amounts of damage to the Russell Street Police Headquarters and surrounding buildings, with damage estimated at over a million dollars.

Prison life

Minogue has initiated many legal challenges against the Victorian government, mostly concerning his treatment while imprisoned. In 2002 Minogue applied unsuccessfully to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) seeking copies of prison management and operation manuals.^[2] His request was refused, but he was granted access to limited information and restricted to viewing such information while within the prison library. This decision has been widely criticized by academics and lawyers as promoting a lack of administrative transparency in the prison system and creating a situation where the rules that prisoners are supposed to abide by are concealed from them.^[3]

In 2005 Minogue, who entered the prison system illiterate, completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honours from Deakin University. In the same year he was accepted as a PhD. student at La Trobe University, the first prisoner in Australia and one of the few in the world to do so.^[4][5] Minogue uses his web site to post information about his academic work.

In a coronial inquest into deaths in the fire at the prison Minogue gave evidence over three days. At the completion of the inquest the State Coroner found Corrections Victoria was, in his words, "moribund and corrupt". A book by Monash University academic and historian Dr. Bree Carlton, Imprisoning Resistance, examines the prisoner resistance which led to the Jika Jika fire.^[6]

Other publications

• Craig Minogue, 'Legal Professional Privilege?', Alternative Law Journal, Vol. 17, No.6, December 1992.
• Craig Minogue, 'Human rights and excursions from the flat lands', Alternative Law Journal, Vol 25, No.3, June 2000, pp. 145–146.
• Craig Minogue, 'Frustrated Access to Educational Programmes', Abolition, Vol. 1, August 2001, pp. 12–24.
• Craig Minogue, 'Downsizing', Winnowings, School of Literary & Communication Studies, Deakin University Geelong, Victoria, 2002, pp. 146–150.
• Craig Minogue, 'An Insider's View: Human rights and excursions from the flat lands', in BROWN, David and WILKIE, Meredith, (eds) Prisoners as Citizens: Human Rights in Australian Prisons, The Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, 2002, pp. 196–212.
• Craig Minogue, 'Welcome Home Dad', Crossfire (Deakin University Student Association Magazine), No. 15, 7 October 2002, Deakin University Geelong, Victoria, p. 8.
• Craig Minogue, 'Post-Apocalyptic Landscaping and Keeping Your Head Down: Tertiary Study Behind Bars', Crossfire (Deakin University Student Association Magazine) Issue 4, August 2004, Deakin University Geelong, Victoria p. 14.
• Craig Minogue, 'The Use of a Military Level of Force on Civilian Prisoners: Strip Searching, Urine Testing, Cell Extractions and DNA Sampling in Victoria', Alternative Law Journal, Vol 30, No.4. August 2005, pp. 170–173.
• Craig Minogue, 'Dealing with the Criminal Justice System: A Practical "How To" Handbook, Darebin Community Legal Center Inc., October 2006.
• Craig Minogue, 'Then and Now, Us and Them: A Historical Reflection on deaths in and out of Custody', Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order, Vol 33, No.4, 2006, 107–117.

Human Rights Test Cases

• Minogue v Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1998) Vol. 54 Administrative Law Decisions, p. 389, and at (1998) Vol. 84 Federal Court Reports, p. 438

• Minogue v Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1998) Vol. 166 Australian Law Reports, p. 29; and at (1999) Vol. 57 Administrative Law Decisions, p. 23.

• Minogue v Williams (2000) Vol.60 Administrative Law Decisions, p. 366

• Minogue v Australia 2004 UNHRCR 52 (11 November 2004)

References

External links

• Craig Minogue's website