Women in Prison report

Women in Prison : a report by the Anti–Discrimination Commission Queensland

3. Background to Review

In Queensland, female prisoners are a small proportion of the prison population. Like the rest of Australia, the vast majority of the prisoner population is male. Because there has always been a small number of female prisoners in the correctional system, the theory and philosophy of corrections, the models of prisons and the practice of prison and prisoner management have been developed to contain a predominantly male population.

At 30 June 2005, 4996 men and 361 women were held in custody in Queensland.[4] In contrast to men, very few of these 361 women are serious violent offenders, and generally, they pose little risk to public safety.[5] Many of them are single parents with dependent children. They are a disproportionately disadvantaged population with high levels of poverty, low levels of educational attainment and poor employment histories.

A history of sexual and physical abuse and violence is common among female prisoners. Compared to male prisoners, female prisoners are much more likely to have sought help for mental or emotional problems prior to incarceration and more female prisoners have drug dependencies at that time. Unlike male prisoners who may express their anger and frustration through riots, escapes or violence to others, women prisoners rarely pose a security risk to others. They are far more likely to self–harm.

Efforts have been made over the past 18 years to improve the management of female prisoners. Until 1988, all women prisoners were incarcerated in Brisbane. Women were first imprisoned at the Townsville Correctional Centre in 1988 in an effort to locate North Queensland women closer to their homes. In the same year some women were permitted to have their young children with them in custody.

Open custody centres were established for women in Townsville in 1995 and at Numinbah in South East Queensland two years later. The Women’s Community Custody (WCC) program began at the Helana Jones Community Corrections Centre (HJCCC) in 1989 and the Warwick Women’s Work Camp (WWWC) was established in 1995. A new Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre (BWCC) was built to replace the old Boggo Road women’s prison in 1999.

Prison reviews — history
The Queensland Government has commissioned a number of reviews in the past two decades that have led to improvements in the state’s prison system. The Kennedy Review[6]into corrective services in Queensland in 1988 resulted in extensive changes to the system including new legislation, a new organisational structure and the creation of a series of new policies and procedures. Significant improvements were made to the correctional system as a consequence of the Kennedy Review’s far–reaching recommendations. A much greater emphasis was placed on rehabilitation and corrections, and options for diversion from custody, with the introduction of a process of graduated release of prisoners.

A review committee consisting of Queensland Corrective Services Commission staff and a number of women prisoners was established in 1992 to give effect to the 'special needs status' afforded to women prisoners in 1992 by the Queensland Corrective Services Commission. The report of that committee [7]was completed in 1993, and a number of the recommendations of the review have been implemented over the period 1994–1997.

A further review in 1999[8] resulted in the enactment of the Corrective Services Act 2000 (Qld) (CSA).

Progress has been made in attempting to recognise and address the special needs of women and Indigenous prisoners in the last decade, much of it through the work of dedicated women’s and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy units within the DCS bureaucracy. Those units have contributed valuable research and prompted policy changes within the DCS to start addressing the special needs of female prisoners and Indigenous prisoners.[9]

In 2003 the DCS adopted the Addressing the needs of female offenders — Policy and Action Plan 2003–2008[10] which recognises:

…that the experience of female offenders in the criminal justice system is vastly different from that of their male counterparts. The differences between male and female criminality are profound and female offenders present with distinct psychological, health and socio–economic characteristics. Female offenders are recognised in their own right and correctional responses will be based on their identified needs.

The policy document articulates the policy principles that guide the DCS in the management of female prisoners. The principles include requiring measures for ensuring that:

female offenders gain access programs, services, options and opportunities responsive to their needs;
female offenders are managed with respect and regard for their dignity, in a way which facilitates self–responsibility;
female offenders are provided with rehabilitative and culturally sensitive environments that acknowledge women’s needs and their life experiences and which accord with assessed risks and needs;
staff are recruited and trained to meet the unique requirements of correctional facilities for female offenders;
the design, administration and operation of correctional services are informed by empirical evidence regarding effective outcomes for female offenders;
correctional services encourage individual female offenders to maintain and develop their role as mothers and or primary care givers and acknowledge the centrality of their connections with family and significant others;
correctional services foster personal responsibility by offering meaningful choices and maximising the individual’s control over physical environments and circumstances.

The DCS has taken a number of proactive steps to recognise the special needs of women. Young children are allowed to stay with their mothers in certain circumstances; special escort procedures have been developed for pregnant or nursing prisoners; and a target of 70% of female staff has been set for female prisons.[11] Female prisoners can participate in community custody programs that are not open to male prisoners convicted of certain offences. [12] There are no maximum security facilities for female offenders, and DCS procedures state that women prisoners should not be classified maximum security. [13] Prison facilities for women are given a higher level of access to forensic mental health services than facilities for men. [14] Methadone, which is not broadly available to male prisoners, may be provided to female prisoners, with pregnant women receiving priority.

In spite of the solid work that has occurred and the dedicated effort of many officers of the DCS, many of the foundations of the correctional system remain unchanged, hindering the capacity of a system designed for men to recognise or adapt to offenders with special needs.

While the CSA explicitly states that it recognises the special needs of some offenders by taking into account an offender’s age, gender, race and disabilities,[15] the majority of the DCS directives and policies do not differentiate between male and female prisoners or mention prisoners with special needs.

The Queensland correctional system, like the majority of correctional facilities throughout the world, has been designed for a large, more homogenous and high risk male population. For the most part, it is a system that allows little flexibility and dedicates relatively few resources to accommodate the special needs of prisoners who are among the minority groups in the prison population.

Prison review — current
At present the DCS is seeking to incorporate changes which will positively impact on women prisoners. These reforms include a new policy on rehabilitation and revised programs and services framework.

The program aims to be:

responsive to the needs of individual offenders, including Indigenous and special needs offenders, enabling matching between needs and programs/services.[16]

The development of specific policies to recognise the special needs of certain groups of prisoners is an important first step in creating a system that equitably deals with those needs. These proposed new programs need to be implemented proactively and strategically. They need to be monitored, measured and evaluated to determine whether or not special needs are being accommodated in an equitable way. The evaluation must include an assessment of additional effort and resources required to implement any new program.

In several key areas, Queensland spends significantly less on the running of its prisons than other Australian states. For instance, Queensland has the highest ratio of offenders to operational staff (37.2) in Australia. The lowest is ACT (25.2). In the area of community corrections, offender staff ratios range from 26.6 offenders per staff member in Queensland to 16.4 in WA in 2003–04.[17] While the level of funding on Queensland prisons and corrections services affects all prisoners in Queensland to some degree, lower levels of spending can be argued to have a greater impact on prisoners with a higher level of needs.

The sharp increase in the numbers of women in prison in recent years poses serious challenges for policy makers, administrators and staff involved in the daily management of the prisons. When planning for anticipated growth in prisoner numbers over the next few decades, politicians, policy makers and justice system administrators must reconsider the ways in which females and minority groups are dealt with by the legal and correctional systems. A failure to adequately address the needs of women, and minority groups of prisoners may contravene Australia’s international human rights obligations, and may also constitute breaches of the ADA. New models and approaches need to be considered and implemented to ensure the lauded recognition of different needs of minority groups is fully realised in legislation, policy and procedures.

Against this backdrop, this review looks at how the prison system presently treats women in Queensland prisons. The ADCQ in conducting the review did not examine any individual complaints of discrimination made by women currently in or who have been in prison.

The review examined the underpinnings of the correctional system, the prison infrastructure, the classification system, the opportunities for rehabilitation, women prisoners’ health and safety needs, and how the needs of particular minority groups of women prisoners are addressed.

In conducting the research and consultations to inform this report, the primary objective of the ADCQ has been to promote the principles of equality of opportunity and protection from unfair discrimination. The ADCQ also seeks to ascertain means of improving services and conditions for women prisoners generally, and minority groups of female prisoners in particular.

The human rights of individuals and groups, other than women prisoners, including male prisoners and victims of crime are not addressed in this report. Having said this, we acknowledge that these groups have human rights of equal importance, suffer disadvantage and have concerns and needs that are not being recognised.

Individual complaints may be referred to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
To ensure that the review and complaint management processes are perceived to be separate and fair, the Queensland Anti–Discrimination Commissioner may refer complaints that may arise out of issues connected with this review to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Endnotes

4. Queensland Department of Corrective Services Annual Report 2004-05 (2005).
5. Only 5% of women prisoners are serious violent offenders as defined in the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, according to Queensland Department of Corrective Services Submission to Women in Prison Review, (10 September 2004) 4.
6. J J Kennedy, Commission of Review into Corrective Services in Queensland: Final Report (1988).
7. Queensland Corrective Services Commission Report of the Womens Policy Review (1993).
8. Frank Peach, Corrections in the Balance: a Review of Corrective Services in Queensland (1999).
9. It is of concern that the recent Business Model Review of the Department of Corrective Services has recommended the abolition of these units.
10. Queensland Department of Corrective Services, Addressing the Needs of Female Offenders Policy and Action Plan 2003-2008 (2003).
11. In 2004, women custodial officers comprised the following percentages of the custodial corrections officers workforce at the prisons for women: BWCC 53.5%; TWCC 83.33%; Numinbah Women’s Correctional Centre 66.6%; Helana Jones/Warwick 66.6%.
12. See Corrective Services Act 2000 (Qld) s 57(e).
13. Each prisoner must receive a classification level as set out in Corrective Services Act 2000 (Qld) s 12(2). Those levels are maximum security, high security, medium security, low security and open security. See also the Department of Corrective Services Maximum Security Orders Procedures.
14. DCS Submission to Women in Prison Review (10 September 2004)above n 5, 7.
15. CSA s 3.
16. Department of Corrective Services Submission 14 December 2005, 6.
17. SCRGSP (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision) Report on Government Services 2005 (2005) 7.28. The Productivity Commission states that 'a high offender to staff ratio suggests better performance towards achieving efficient resource management, however efficiency indicators are difficult to interpret in isolation and need to be considered in conjunction with effectiveness indicators. A low ratio may, for example, represent more intensive levels of supervision and program provision, commensurate with the risk and offence-related needs of the particular offender population aimed at producing greater efficiencies in the longer term.'

Table of Contents for Women in Prison report