SUBMISSION

Supplementary questions on notice: Inquiry into the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight and Review of Deaths in Custody

This submission responds to two supplementary questions on notice from the December 2020 hearing of the Inquiry into the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight and Review of Deaths in Custody. 

It applies relevant ANROWS research to these questions, which cover:

• The relationship between misidentification of offenders in domestic violence situations and the faster increase in rates of women’s incarceration than men’s, with this increase particularly pronounced for First Nations women.
• How best to address key issues in women reoffending, or women leaving prison having agency to take back control of their lives, including lack of access to health services and housing, and a lack of skills to gain paid work.

The submission makes the following five recommendations for addressing First Nations women’s imprisonment:

• Ensure the provision of accessible and affordable housing.
• Develop and fund culturally relevant diversion and prison initiatives.
• Recognise gendered differences when designing and implementing prison policies and programs.
• Place more emphasis on whole-of-family and whole-of-community approaches to family violence interventions, in recognition of the effects of intergenerational trauma.
• Recognise the importance of continuity of services, case management, pre-release planning, and throughcare.

 

 

Suggested citation

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2021). Supplementary questions on notice: Inquiry into the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight and Review of Deaths in Custody [Submission]. ANROWS.