Prison populations in Australia are soaring and Western Australia (WA) is leading the pack after the Northern Territory when it comes to imprisonment rates and the overrepresentation of particularly vulnerable groups such as women and Indigenous peoples. Further, about 60% of prisoners has been in prison before, the majority of them returning within 2 years, demonstrating the ‘revolving door’ for people once captured in the system.
In our presentation we report on two research projects conducted in metropolitan and regional prisons in WA as well as the Perth Watch House, and people with lived experience in the community, including men and women, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants (n=432). They are sharing their perspectives on their pathways into prison, experiences of imprisonment and programmatic interventions, and to what extend these were helpful or fell short in their reintegration journeys to successful desistance. We used multiple methods including surveys, narrative interviews and forums, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis were combined to provide a broad as well as in-depth investigation of the main drivers of prison populations in WA.
We will present the main findings of both studies, with a focus on women and Indigenous peoples, and provide recommendations for better and evidence-based correctional practice.
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Prof Hilde Tubex
Professor, UWA, Australia
Professor Hilde Tubex is the Director of Criminology at UWA specialising in numerous areas including comparative criminology and penal policy, Indigenous Peoples and the criminal justice system, criminalised women, life sentenced people and parole. Hilde obtained her PhD in Criminology from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium where she worked for 15 years as a researcher and lecturer. She also served as an expert advisor to the Council of Europe and advised the Belgian Minister of Justice on penal policy.
In 2007 Professor Tubex migrated to Western Australia where she commenced work as Team Leader of Research and Evaluation at the former Department of Corrective Services. Professor Tubex resumed her academic career at UWA in 2011 where she continues her work today. Recent projects are: Stories that mater: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experiences with the criminal justice system; Women in Prison Survey; The use of force by Indigenous women – an interactional and contextual approach; Raising awareness about the context of Aboriginal women using violence; and Mind the gap: A study on the reintegration needs of returning prisoners.
