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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:59 pm
Time: 9:59 pm
Results for female inmates (australia)
2 results foundAuthor: Wybron, Deb Title: ACT Women and Prisons - Invisible Bars: The Stories behind the Stats Summary: Australia’s culture of institutionalisation remains today, in the form of prisons, remand centres, youth detention centres, mental health facilities and immigration detention centres to name a few. While this paper focuses mainly on women with lived experience of prison, it argues that prisons cannot be considered in isolation from other institutions and outside the greater context of Australia’s history. The reality is that the majority of Australians in prison today have experienced some form of institutional or out-of-home ‘care’ as young people. There is significant evidence to suggest that institutionalisation has a profoundly negative impact on people’s health and well-being, which continues long after they return to the community. Unsurprisingly, the status of Australian women with lived prison experience is frighteningly poor, with research showing that they are more likely to have mental health issues, drug and alcohol problems and to have experienced physical, emotional and sexual violence than women in the broader community. This paper presents the stories of six ACT (Australian Capital Territory) women with a variety of lived prison experiences. While these courageous women told their stories as part of this project, it is acknowledged that there are many more women, who for a variety of reasons have not yet had the opportunity to do so. Information was also gathered from eight ACT women’s service providers who regularly support women with lived experience of prison and institutionalisation. The experiences of all of these women were recorded, and the content analysed using a technique known as ‘thematic analysis.’ Through this analysis, 12 core themes and 10 sub-themes were identified in the women’s conversations. These themes are discussed and a variety of literature is presented to support and validate the women’s experiences. Following this discussion, a section is dedicated to understanding Australia’s history of institutionalisation and the impacts it has had on women with lived prison experience. The paper concludes with a statement of commitment from the agencies involved, which details how they will work together to move forward in addressing the unmet needs of these women. The information gathered in this paper provides significant insight into the impact that imprisonment and institutionalisation has had on these women’s lives. The Women’s Centre for Health Matters (WCHM) and the ACT Women and Prisons Group (WAP) hope that this information will assist counselors, social workers, case managers and other professionals who support women with lived prison experience to better meet their needs. The paper will also be a useful resource for community groups who want to undertake similar activities that allow other marginalised group to have their stories listened to. Details: Mawson, Australia: Women's Centre for Health Matters, Inc., 2009. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2012 at http://www.wchm.org.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=35769 Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.wchm.org.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=35769 Shelf Number: 126342 Keywords: Alcohol AbuseDemographic TrendsFemale Inmates (Australia)Female Prisoners (Australia)Inmates, Mental HealthRecidivismSubstance Abuse |
Author: Stathopoulos, Mary Title: Addressing Women's Victimisation Histories in Custodial Settings Summary: In the last 20 years the numbers of women entering Australian prisons have risen dramatically. Many of these women have a history of sexual assault traumatisation from child sexual abuse as well as physical and sexual abuse they have encountered as adults. The prison system can often exacerbate trauma for female criminal offenders with a trauma history. This paper explores the prison as a possible site of re-traumatisation. The reasoning behind this is that prisons are built on an ethos of power, surveillance and control, yet trauma sufferers require safety in order to begin healing. A trauma-informed approach may offer an alternative to delivering a less traumatic prison environment and experience for female criminal offenders with a history of sexual abuse and assault. Key messages - Women enter prison with less serious criminal careers than men. - Women in prison have high rates of sexual abuse victimisation histories. - Women enter prison extremely disadvantaged, particularly in relation to mental health, re-victimisation, socio-economic status, substance abuse, being primary carers for dependent children and educational attainment. Many of these outcomes are the consequences associated with past histories of abuse/assault. - Penal environments are designed and built with an ethos of power and control and are often re-traumatising for female offenders with a sexual abuse victimisation history. - The key principles of trauma and gender may be utilised to create frameworks that can be applied in penal environments to address women's complex needs arising from a history of sexual victimisation. - Further research is required to test how the implementation of the key frameworks of trauma-informed care and practice, and gender-responsive frameworks would occur. Details: Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: ACSSA Issues, No. 13: Accessed January 29, 2013 at: http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/issue/i13/i13.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/issue/i13/i13.pdf Shelf Number: 127414 Keywords: Female Inmates (Australia)Female OffendersFemale Victims of CrimePrisonsSexual Assault |