Abstract
This article is based on research with over 160 First Nations women in prisons in New South Wales, Australia. The research identified the lived experience of prison sentences for First Nations women in prison. Our research methodology was guided by an Aboriginal women’s advisory body called sista2sista. It was based on the principles of Dadirri in which we listened to the stories of First Nations women in prison on their terms. Consequently, many stories we heard were not about the criminal sentencing process itself, but about the impacts of imprisonment on their capacity to be caregivers in the community, including as mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, teachers and role models. The findings from this research are dual. First, the importance of listening to and empowering First Nations women in prison in policy making that concerns First Nations women. Second, the need to decarcerate First Nations mothers and listen and respond to their needs, expectations, priorities and aspirations, to ensure they are supported in fulfilling their role and responsibility to care, nurture, strengthen and lead their families and communities.
Highlights
Systemic discrimination produces hyperincarceration of First Nations mothers
Given that our research found that First Nations mothers were confounded by the failure of Corrective Services to provide AVL technology, it may have come as a surprise to them how expediently it was introduced with the pandemic
In interviews with judicial officers as part of this project, some of them expressed the need for the legislation to be amended or for a judicial interpretation of ‘exceptional hardship’ to encompass First Nations mothers’ experiences as exceptional due to the disproportionate child protection interventions that flow from imprisonment
Summary
Systemic discrimination produces hyperincarceration of First Nations mothers. First Nations women in Australia comprise one-third (36 per cent) of the female prison population, yet only 1.29 per cent of the general adult female population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020, Table 40). This research was guided by an Aboriginal women’s advisory group called sista2sista, and the methodology underpinning this research design was grounded in the principles of Dadirri in which we listened to the stories of First Nations women in prison on their terms It was through this research methodology using mixed methods, including survey, semi-structured small and large yarning circles and one-on-one interviews, that we were able to hear many diverse stories from First Nations women, many of which were not about the criminal sentencing process itself, but about the impacts of imprisonment on their capacity to be caregivers in the community, including as mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, teachers and role models. We hope this work will help rewrite the narrative about First Nations mothers in prison to one by First Nations mothers in prison
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