Holy shit is this legit in Australia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopper_Read

Read, not Reid, according to Wiki

Not sure how much of this to believe.

*promote

Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 6:57am PDT - promote requested by original submitter pumkinandstorm.

Depends on what you mean.
If you mean are the prisons some kind of sci-fi dystopia where the prisoners are left to fight it out, then no, it's not legal and the authorities took a pretty dim view of this commercial.

If you mean the ad itself, I can't find the details, but I seem to recall it was banned by the advertising standards people, which meant it was immediately shown on the news and thus seen by far more people anyway.

Personally, as much as beating the shit out of women beaters and rapists appeals to me on a gut level, I don't agree with the message.

Even if I doubt I'd shed many tears over them, prisoners (even scumbags) shouldn't live under the threat of violence.

That said, the ad succeeded brilliantly. It was just the right amount of controversy to put the topic of domestic abuse back in the spotlight, and frankly, that can only be a good thing.

The Age reports a similar sentiment in regards to the recent sentencing of a rapist:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/mad-beats-muscle-every-day-bayley-faces-tough-time-in-jail-20130619-2ohy6.html

I believe what Mr. Read says and, if I didn't, I'd keep that thought to myself...

See also @ChaosEngine's comment above.