Overseas-Born Women in Australian Prisons: a Prison within a Prison

Abstract

In Australia the numbers of incarcerated women are increasing. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s a slight increase had occurred. This was further shown by research that found that by 1983 women constituted 3.9 per cent of the prison population, an increase of 1.1 per cent since 1977. In the June 1991 averages, women had risen to 6.7 per cent of total inmates in Australia. The number of overseas-born women in custody throughout the past decade was about 25 per cent of the total females imprisoned. In 1982 the majority were from English-speaking countries; in 1990, this had changed with more than half, eighty-three of the 147, coming from non-English-speaking backgrounds. This paper will examine the sub-population of female prisoners since there is little or no literature available about them. The intent is to reveal not only the issues unique to such a group of prisoners but also to highlight some of the concerns for all women incarcerated.

Keywords: incarcerated women, prison