LL:PR: No New Women's Prison - Campaign Update

[No New Women's Prison Campaign]

The No New Women's Prison Campaign
Locked Bag 18, Suite 317 NEWTOWN NSW 2042
Ph: (02) 9990 2370 / 0413 257 469
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Campaign Update                                 24th July 2000

"Women's Prison Report a Welcome Note of Sanity"

The No New Women's Prison Campaign applauds the Select Committee's Inquiry
into the Increase in the Prison Population Interim Report, "Issues relating
to Women," which recommends a moratorium on the building of a new women's
prison. It was especially gratifying to note that only one submission (that
of the Department of Corrective Services) out of more than 130, favoured the
building of a new women's prison.

The No New Women's Prison Campaign is delighted that the report was
unanimous, as this signals bipartisan support taking women's imprisonment
out of the political football field. It is in the community's interests for
women who have not committed serious or violent crimes and who may have drug
and alcohol problems to be diverted from harmful prison environments to
secure rehabilitative programs.

It is also extremely pleasing to see the Committee's commonsense approach to
Aboriginal women in custody. Currently they rotate through the system on
short sentences, while the lack of community support structures mean that
they often end up in prison again and again. The Committee's recommendation
that they go to secure hostels with programs specifically designed for
indigenous women is to be congratulated.

The NNWPC will support genuine implementation of the recommendations, and in
particular, the moratorium on the building of the women's prison until a
cost-benefit analysis, providing this includes social costs and benefits, on
a new women's prison compared to alternatives, is completed.

The next step.
The NNWPC urges everyone to write to the Premier, Mr Bob Carr, urging the
implementation of the Committee's recommendations, particularly the
moratorium on the Windsor gaol for women. Without your support now, there is
a real danger that the prison will go ahead without any consideration of the
issues raised by the Committee.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

For more information contact: John Murray on 0413 257 469

THE COMMITTEE'S FINDINGS
Characteristics of women in prison

"Women make up only a fraction of the total prison population but are a
considerably high-needs group. Between 80-90% of women inmates are addicted
to drugs. They have a higher than average rate of mental illness and have
low educational levels. They usually come from backgrounds of abuse and
violence and poverty. Often the offence that brought them to prison was
non-violent" said Committee Chair, John Ryan.

The Committee found that: -
� 30 per cent of women prisoners come from only three disadvantaged Sydney
suburbs;
� 70 per cent experienced physical violence as an adult;
� 70 per cent were drug addicts and 73 per cent had been admitted to
psychiatric or mental health units;
� 39 per cent had attempted suicide;
� 30 per cent returned to jail and, with the average age of 33, many had
dependent children; and
� Indigenous women comprised up to 31 per cent of the female prison
population.

The Committee heard that prison is often an inappropriate place to address
the issues most women experience, and which often leads them to committing
crime. "When women are released from prison, they are often not equipped to
deal with the outside world and can quickly revert to their old habits.
Prison is not the best place to rehabilitate these women" the Chair said.

The effects of imprisonment, both social and economic, were thoroughly
canvassed, with several key issues to be explored more completely in the
latter half of the Inquiry. These include: the position of intellectually
disabled prisoners, State wards and former children in care, and indigenous
people and prisoners from a Non English speaking background.

Need for a structural change in the Department of Corrective Services

The Committee's report found that the Department of Corrective Services
conveys a predominant image of gaoler, rather than rehabilitator. As the
Committee Chair stated, "Security appears to be the overriding consideration
and certainly consumes most of the Department's resources."   In light of
this, the Committee recommended that "greater emphasis� be given to the
community corrections responsibility of the Department. The report
recommends that a separate division be created within the Department of
Corrective Services, known as the Community Corrections Division, to enhance
the image of community based sentences and to demonstrate to the community
that these sentences are not "soft options".

Community Based alternatives to Prison

To come to this conclusion, the Inquiry examined the successful outcomes of
international jurisdictions and their experiences in providing community
based alternatives to imprisonment.  Although there was a recognition that
in some cases, imprisonment is the only suitable punishment for some female
offenders, particularly those who have committed violent or serious
offences, "�for a significant proportion of offenders, properly supervised
and resourced community sentences can offer more effective and less
expensive alternatives."

The Chair found that "As is the case in England, (Bail) hostels would
provide intensive supervision and support for women, enabling them to
address issues such as drug addiction, whilst also allowing them to remain
in a community setting, rather than a prison. The hostels would also allow
the women to have their children with them. The Committee recommended that
the hostels be established for a pilot period of 2 years to assess their
effectiveness. It also recommended that there be a designated indigenous
hostel for women in recognition of the unique cultural needs of these women.
It is the Committee's view that there would be a substantial reduction in
the women's prison population with the introduction of these hostels and a
willing judiciary."

No New Women's Prison at Windsor

All members of the Committee agreed that there should be a moratorium placed
on the number of prison beds for women, in "recognition that other, more
effective sentencing options should be found for female offenders".   This
would mean that any new prison beds built must replace existing prisoner
accommodation rather than increasing the number of women inmates.

The report also called on the Government to undertake a cost-benefit
analysis, including an examination of the costs of imprisonment versus the
costs of community-based sentences, before proceeding with the proposed new
200 bed women's gaol at South Windsor. In the Chair's words, "if such an
analysis was done, I would expect the shape and size of any new prison to be
altered radically from that originally proposed".

The Government Response

Regrettably, the NSW Government and Opposition have not supported the
Committee's recommendations to date.

The Premier Mr Bob Carr dismissed the unanimous view of the Committee in
favour of the moratorium on beds, warning that he would "reject any notion
that you set a limit on women going to prison. If a woman commits a serious
offence and the law of the land demands imprisonment, then you can't turn
them away."

The Minister for Corrective Services, Mr Debus, argued that Windsor Gaol
would proceed, and dismissed the view that his Department could do anything
about reducing the numbers of women entering prison each year. "The courts
make their sentencing decisions based on consideration of an offender's
crime, record and other relevant circumstances, not whether there is a
prison cell available."

Opposition spokesman on corrective services, Mr Andrew Humpherson, was also
opposed to the moratorium on the South Windsor jail, turning attention onto
the Government's failure to keep drugs out of prisons and to provide
adequate rehabilitative programs for women in prison.

As former New South Wales ALP Backbencher, Ann Symonds and member of the No
New Women's Prison Campaign declared however,  Bob Carr's position reveals
only his ignorance of the matter. In fact, no-one is suggesting serious
offenders should not go to prison, while the Premier is ignoring evidence
that women in jail for minor offences should not be imprisoned.

"He's obviously speaking from a position of ignorance and I'm tired of
listening to people who make pronouncements on public policy without looking
at the evidence with no knowledge of the area in which they are making these
very serious judgements," she said.

"He obviously hasn't read the report. Why does he think those diverse people
who conducted the inquiry have come to a unanimous conclusion? It's because
of the evidence."

The NNWPC urges everyone to write to the Premier, Mr Bob Carr, urging the
implementation of the Committee's recommendations, particularly the
moratorium on the Windsor gaol for women. Without your support now, there is
a real danger that the prison will go ahead without any consideration of the
issues raised by the Committee.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

For more information contact:

John Murray on 0413 257 469

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
No New Women's Prison Campaign
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
LMB 18, Suite 317
Newtown  2042 NSW
Message bank:  02 9990 2370
Mobile:  0413 257 469
Fax:  02 9664 3094
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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