Women in Prison: It’s complicated; South Australia’s experience

A special lunch presentation by Vanessa Swan, Executive Director Offender Development for Correctional Services, South Australia.

Across Australia women prisoner numbers have increased at a much faster rate than male prisoner numbers; up 10% from June 2017 to June 2018, and up 77% compared to the decade before that. Despite the increase in numbers women comprise only a relatively small proportion of prisoner and offender populations. In South Australia 7% of the prison population are women. This relatively small but significantly different population of offenders creates many challenges for justice services.

Women have different life experiences, needs and responsibilities to men, which mean their pathways into and out of offending are also different, but historically this has not been adequately taken into account. This presentation will focus on the nature of prisons, propose a gender sensitive approach to the correctional services system and outline what South Australia is doing to address these issues.