male counterparts to have sought help for mental or emotional problems prior to incarceration and more female prisoners have drug dependencies at that time354.
589. The report also noted that women are more likely than men to have:
• committed their offences under the influence of drugs and/or to support drug use, with a 117.1 per cent increase in women imprisoned for drug
offences between 2008 and 2013
352 Victorian Human Rights Law Centre, Investigation into the
rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, Submission to Victorian Ombudsman, January 2015.
353 H. Johnson, Australian Institute of Criminology, Drugs and
Crime: A Study of Incarcerated Female Offenders, Research and
Public Policy Series No. 63, 2004.
354 The South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, Adelaide and Flinders Universities, Evaluation of the Targeted Women’s
Correctional Response, Final Report, commissioned by
Corrections Victoria, Department of Justice, October 2014.
• been diagnosed with a mental illness, including depression
• experienced childhood sexual abuse and multiple violent relationships • dependent care responsibilities, yet
are less likely than men to have a partner to look after their children while in prison.
590. Due to the greater likelihood of having parental and other carer responsibilities, the imprisonment of women can have wide impact on their family, particularly children, and communities355.
Support and programs available in
prison
591. Women prisoners in Victoria may serve their sentence at one of two prisons:
• the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Deer Park, a maximum security prison with provision for medium security units • Tarrengower Prison in regional
Victoria, a minimum security prison. 592. In recognition of the specific forms of
disadvantage facing women prisoners and the extensive literature showing that women prisoners have particular needs, Corrections Victoria has delivered targeted programs for women prisoners since 2005-06.
593. Services were delivered through the Better
Pathways Strategy from 2005 to 2012,
which was then renamed the Targeted
Women’s Correctional Response (the
targeted response).
594. The targeted response provides a ‘high- level blueprint’ which aims to strengthen the gender specific response to women prisoners.
355 L. Bartels and A. Gaffney, Good practice in women’s prisons:
595. Programs within the targeted response aim to address the specific needs of
women and the reasons for their offending, including substance and gambling
problems, mental health, family violence and sexual trauma.
596. The core programs include:
• an intensive mental health service (Marrmak Unit)
• family violence and sexual assault counselling
• multicultural services • a mentoring program
• transition support including housing. 597. Corrections Victoria recognises the high
proportion of women who are parents or primary care givers, and the importance of maintaining these relationships from a rehabilitative and reintegration perspective. The Mothers and Children’s Program provides for children up to preschool age to reside with their mother in custody if appropriate assessments have been completed.
598. Women are eligible for this program if: • they were the primary carer of their
child at the time they entered prison • their child is under school age • they are pregnant356.
599. The Corrections Victoria Standards for
the Management of Women Prisoners in Victoria also sets requirements for
programs which target specific needs: • program content should acknowledge
the distinct criminogenic needs of women prisoners, relating to issues such as family, self-esteem and experience of victimisation
356 Corrections Victoria, Mothers and Children Program, brochure, 2014.
• program delivery should take account of specific factors for women such as the importance of relationships, addressing multiple needs simultaneously and women’s roles as caregivers357.
600. Women prisoners have access to a range of offending behaviour programs, however until recently, these were only available at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, and only four were delivered in 2014-15. Corrections Victoria advised that these programs will now also be offered at Tarrengower Prison. 601. As noted in the discussion paper, prior to
my investigation there was no program delivered to women prisoners to address issues associated with violent offending. A new program has now been developed and was delivered for the first time in 2015 with 9 prisoners participating. A violence risk assessment tool for women prisoners has also been introduced.
602. Caraniche also delivers alcohol and drug programs at both of the women’s prisons. 603. Female prisoners with severe mental health
illnesses have access to the Marrmak Unit at Dame Phyllis, a 20 bed specialist treatment unit providing inpatient and outpatient services with the key objective of reducing the risk of reoffending in that cohort, and reducing the number of women admitted to Thomas Embling Hospital. 604. As noted earlier, funding was recently
announced for a new 44-bed mental health facility at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
357 Corrections Victoria, Standards for the Management of Women
Evaluation
605. A recent evaluation completed by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies in October 2014358, focussed on the overall
economic impact of the targeted response and sought to quantify its tangible costs and benefits359.
606. This evaluation found a positive cost benefit, as well as other non-monetary benefits such as reduced assaults within prisons and women being able to keep custody of young children in prison.
607. It also found that since the introduction of the targeted response, recidivism rates have fallen by between 9 and 11 per cent.