It was strange because it was at least five kilometres from where they were to any suburb or civilian area. I quickly realised that they must have just come from visiting the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

My first thought was to question the public transport situation, but then I began to ponder broader questions around the actual effectiveness of AMC, now almost five years old, as well as the responsibility of the wider community in the criminal justice system.

The ACT Government should be applauded for trying to make a prison system of a higher quality. Its aims of providing skill-based training and greater choice for prisoners are in line with a fundamental view that all humans, no matter their crime, have an inherent worth and dignity.

We are yet to see adequate studies done on the re-offence rates at the AMC, but I’m sure the Government is hoping for an improvement on the roughly 60-70 per cent rate we see elsewhere. But can we content ourselves that this is the best system we can aspire to?

I recently watched a documentary about a prison in a Brazilian town called Sao Jose dos Campos that was forced to close after government failure and a local church community asked if they could have a go running it.

Within 10 years, there were no guards and the head of security was a prisoner who had been originally sentenced to 114 years. Many of the prisoners worked outside in the community during the day. The re-offence rate was 4 per cent.

The documentary was titled “Love is not a Luxury”, and the prison’s ethos was built on this premise, that love is a person’s most basic need and vital for restoration.

For me, the main issue comes down to how we understand justice. Is justice about people getting due punishment for what they have done, or is it actually about redemption?

There is a move going through schools (and some police programs) at the moment called “restorative justice”, where attempts are made for the offenders and the offended against (or anyone directly affected) to sit in a circle and, feeling the full weight of the situation, sometimes even work out a punishment together.

I have seen this model work magnificently, but it is extremely time consuming and takes a great deal of skill and preparation. However, the ultimate principle is that justice is not necessarily about getting what one deserves, but rather the restoration of right relationships.

When a crime is committed, what has fundamentally happened is a number of relationships have been damaged. Usually there is a direct victim, but verily the offender has also damaged relationships with the authorities, the wider community, and sometimes even the environment. These are all relationships that need to be made right.

As a Christian I would even take it one step further, seeing all breakdowns in relationships as ultimately a consequence of a broken relationship with our Creator. Whatever your beliefs however, this theme of relationships being at the centre of crime is clear, but it could also be the solution to the current problems in the criminal justice system.

The Government can only do so much but it can never offer love, which is central for recovery.

 Nick Jensen is a director of the ACT Australian Christian Lobby.