Criminology Research Council grant ; (39/91)
The outcome of this research is a book Prisons and Women by Blanche Hampton, published by New South Wales University Press (1993) and held in the AIC Library.
The project examined the New South Wales prison system, from arrest to post-release, as it related to women prisoners between 1986 and 1991. Data was obtained from various sources including the Women in Prison Task Force Report 1984-85 and their recommendations, the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services, and most importantly from women who were imprisoned during this period. It had been intended to examine print media notions of female imprisonment but the paucity of information available rendered this a futile exercise.
Generally speaking, female imprisonment is a 'poor cousin' of male imprisonment, if such a thing can be said to be possible. The sentencing options, rules and regulations and classification system were devised with male prisoners in mind and have been adapted little or not at all to the vastly different situation, needs and possible outcomes of female incarceration. While a decade ago this could have been said to be the result of oversight, even though the findings of the Nagle report in 1976 pointed to major problems in the women's prisons, the appearance of three major reports on issues of female imprisonment over that decade, each reinforcing the findings and recommendations of its predecessors, indicates entrenched negative attitudes on the part of Corrective Services to concepts of reform.
There are four main areas of difficulty with the New South Wales prison system, all of which apply with varying degrees to both female and male imprisonment: overcrowding; lack of accountability; attitudes of custodial staff; and post-release. Where there is concern displayed at the policy-making level of the Corrective Services hierarchy for any of the above or other issues, a combination of the first three makes the implementation of policy initiatives a difficult if not impossible task.
The book commences with a general overview and then goes on to deal with arrest and interrogation, rites of passage, and the daily grind. These sections are followed by chapters on legal and welfare, health, family visits, custodial officers, inmates, and post-release. The final chapter 'If I Had the Job ...', suggests 29 recommendations for consideration.