CEO of Sisters Inside, Debbie Kilroy works with women inmates, pre-release and post-release. Ms Kilroy states that the fastest growing prison demographic is that of women and in particular of Aboriginal women.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women now account for 33 per cent of the national female prison population.

“Indigenous women are now currently the most represented group in Australian prisons,” said Ms Kilroy.

“Indigenous women are more likely to return to prison than non-Indigenous women.”

Across Australia, imprisonment rates of female First People between 2000 to 2010 was 59 per cent, while for their male counterparts it was 35 per cent, but non-Aboriginal women inmates increased by 22 per cent and non-Aboriginal male inmates increased by less than 4 per cent.

“While the reasons for the over-representation for Indigenous women in prison are complex, the factors which contribute to this are owed to both the historical abuse of Indigenous people, as well as their current social and economic disadvantage within Australia. A majority of Australia’s Indigenous population live in low socio-economic areas, high unemployment and many live in poverty.”

“For most of these women, the notion of human rights is unheard of. They have lived all their lives believing that they have no rights at all,” said Ms Kilroy.

Restorative justice academic and prison reform advocate, Dr Brian Steels said that most offending is poverty-related. “Most offenders are in for very minor crimes. There is a cycle of abuse, of poverty, of traumas passed generationally that we need to heal.”

“The harsh penal estate does not work.”

The Australian prison population has doubled during the last two decades with the brunt born by First People. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the last twelve months alone, the imprisonment rate of First People women spiked another 18 per cent.

One of the Human Rights Law Centre’s senior lawyers, Ruth Barson states the non-addressed social ills are compounded by incarceration.

“We’ve known for a long time that this is a problem. We’ve also known for a long time that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are more likely to be victims of sexual and physical violence and family violence. They are also less likely to have access to education or employment, are more likely to have their children removed, and are more likely to live in over-crowded housing.”

“Like imprisonment rates, these problems are largely getting worse. This is unsurprising given there is a cycle of poverty related to imprisonment. By removing women from their families, communities and culture, prison is likely to compound these factors.”

Ms Barson stated that funding cuts to the Aboriginal Legal Services and to the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Services will disservice far too many.

“(The Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Services) are the only nationwide culturally specific legal service providing family law and family violence related legal assistance, in addition to community legal education.”

“Funding cuts will mean less services for the most marginalised of communities, less time with the most vulnerable of people, and less opportunities to address the underlying reasons many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples get caught up in the criminal justice system in the first place.”

Noongar rights advocate and 3rd year law student, Marianne Mackay said “there is little hope at this time on the political landscape for those of our people recycled by the prison system.”

“There’s next to no support inside, it’s getting worse all the time. It’s crowded in the jails. They are piling in our people, women and men. Inside jails it comes down to whether enough of our people can stick together and support one another.”