Remand isn’t supposed to be punishment. So why does it increasingly feel like it is?

In South Australia, a person placed on remand has not been convicted of an offence.

That sounds obvious enough. But lately, it feels like a distinction we’re becoming increasingly comfortable forgetting.

People on remand are not serving a sentence. They are being held in custody while their matter moves through the court system.

Some will eventually be found guilty. Some won’t. Some will receive non-custodial outcomes entirely. Yet all of them are subject to one of the most serious powers the state can exercise against a person: the deprivation of liberty.

That principle matters because the presumption of innocence is supposed to mean something.

But recent scrutiny surrounding the Adelaide Remand Centre raises an uncomfortable question: are we still treating remand as a temporary legal measure, or has it quietly started functioning as punishment before trial?

The question has become harder to ignore following recent reports about the Adelaide Remand Centre’s private operation.

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