Mums and kids bond for lives on the outside

THE LOW-SECURITY SECTION OF THE TOWNSVILLE WOMEN’S CORRECTIONAL CENTRE HAS A NEW UNIT WHICH CATERS FOR INMATES AND THEIR CHILDREN.

TOURED THE FACILITY AND SPOKE TO PRISONERS AND THE PRISON’S GENERAL MANAGER ABOUT THE CHALLENGES THEY FACED AND THEIR GOALS OF REHABILITATION.

MADURA MCCORMACK

“I was six weeks pregnant when I first came in,” the inmate said. “I knew I was going to be in for the 12 months, I was pretty devastated.”

“I was a mess,” the other mother said, her four-month-old son gurgling on her lap.

She is serving 13 months in prison, about three of those at the lowsecurity facility, for deprivation of liberty.

There are seven unit blocks within the women’s low-security prison, with a total capacity of 42 prisoners and an average stay of nine months.

There were 36 women in the facility that day.

Doors are unlocked at 6am, correctional officers conduct a headcount at 7am and at 8am the women are mustered in the square.

The inmates then carry out their work for the day; the newest residents upkeep the crops and multiple garden beds while the others may take food over to the main prison, help out at the old RSPCA, do woodwork or sew reusable bags. Once the chooks arrive, the women will also be tasked to tend to the coop.

In the afternoon the inmates are free to fill their time reading, or using the communal phones to call home if they don’t have classes or workshops to attend.

The women in the newer units have a room to themselves, a living area, and a kitchen complete with a cutting knife tethered to the wall. Another muster happens at 5.15pm and doors are locked at 9pm sharp.

It’s 30C and humid, but inside the mothers are interacting with their children in airconditioned comfort. Townsville Correctional Centre general manager Peter Hall said the move to fit out the seventh, and newest, unit of the low-security facility was another way to encourage rehabilitation.

“We recognise there are some people in the community that don’t have airconditioning and therefore their children have to live with that,” Mr Hall said.

“But we are trying to put the children and their mothers on the best foot, so therefore anything we can do to improve their chances of returning back to the community in the best way is what we are trying to achieve, always.”

The idea is to normalise the outside world as the women prepare for release. But there are major differences still.

“It’s up to someone else to choose if you’re allowed to have your baby,”