FIGURES TELL A SAD STORY

The latest national report of prisoners in Australia from the Australian Bureau Of Statistics shows that as of June 2018, there were 3,625 women in custody, a third of whom – 34 per cent – were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprising just two per cent of Australia’s population. Indigenous women are the fastestgrowing prison population in the country.

Behind these figures is an unsettling fact: an overwhelming majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in prison have experienced assault. According to the Speak Out Speak Strong study, approximately 70 per cent of incarcerated women have experienced child abuse or have been sexually assaulted as children. A further 78 per cent of women in custody have experienced violent abuse as adults, 75 per cent were victims of domestic violence, and 44 per cent were victims of a sexual assault. The lack of services to support women resolve past trauma has been found to be one of the main reasons behind women’s imprisonment.