Rainbow Lodge aims to cut criminal recidivism
Australia has one of the highest reoffending rates in the world. Every year, 19,000 people leave prison in New South Wales, but less than 3 per cent of them get a bed in a supported accommodation program. A lucky few have been given a place at Sydney's Rainbow Lodge - the last chance some ex-prisoners have to prove they're ready for the outside world.
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00:00 Mark, how are you mate, how are you going? Nice to meet you. Danny from Remlon Lodge,
00:07 how are you going mate? All good? Yeah, all good.
00:09 Sweet, do you want me to grab your bag or anything for you?
00:11 No, no, I'm fine. You're all good brother? They give you everything?
00:13 Yeah, everything. Yeah, man.
00:15 It's Mark Doyle's first taste of freedom after two years on the inside.
00:20 Are you hungry? I'm starving.
00:22 What do you want to eat brother? I don't know, I've got a magazine.
00:25 Well, let's get going, eh? We'll go get a feed.
00:30 The 55-year-old has been in and out of prison for most of his life.
00:35 The Maccas is only down the road anyway, bro, so we'll go there, yeah?
00:41 What of our family, brother? Mum and Dad both are gone, they passed away,
00:46 brother, and my brothers and sisters, I haven't had contact now for over 20 years with them.
00:53 Any kids? No, no kids.
00:56 Think back at myself, all the jail I've done and that, the time I've left,
01:00 it would have been a shame to have kids and leave them out there on Christmases and birthdays and all that.
01:05 I've spent more time inside than I have out.
01:09 Mark Doyle's odds of staying out of jail aren't good.
01:14 Across Australia, almost half of all prisoners are back inside within two years.
01:22 They were going to put me in a moratorium for two weeks and then I was on my own.
01:28 Mark has no family and no home.
01:32 I used to be released and found out on the street.
01:37 It's just, you end up back on the drugs and you're depressed and you just want to take drugs to block all them thoughts out.
01:49 But this time, he's got a bed at one of the few places in NSW
01:54 where he might get a new start.
01:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]