This report provides a statistical overview of women prisoners in Victoria. It presents a detailed description of Victorian women prisoners in custody on 30 June 1982 using the national prison census data. It finds that Victoria has a female imprisonment rate significantly lower than the national average. A review of the statistics from 1977 to 1982 show a similar overall pattern with Victoria having a lower rate than nearly all other jurisdictions, but the actual numbers of women prisoners in Victoria have virtually doubled over that period. Women in custody are generally young and most were not married. More than half of the women were unemployed at the time of their arrest. It provides twelve recommendations.
This is the second of two reports prepared at the request of the Victorian Minister for Community Welfare Services, The Honourable Pauline Toner, MLA. The first report 'Remand in Victoria: A Review of the Nature and Size of Facilities Needed 1 was submitted to the Minister on 7 October 1982. The proposal for these reports to be prepared was originally conveyed to the writer by the Director-General of the Department of Community Welfare Services, Mr Ben Bodna, on 26 May 1982, and the Board of Management of the Australian Institute of Criminology gave its approval for the project to proceed at its meeting of 8 June 1982. The Board suggested, however, that the reports should include data relevant to jurisdictions other than Victoria, and as far as possible this has been done.