Assessing Prison Quality for Indigenous Australians

• In Event: Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Imprisonment

Abstract

Indigenous peoples represent nearly 28% of the Australian prison population yet only 2.5% of the nation’s total population. Prison, therefore, has a major impact on long-term Indigenous outcomes. Understanding the lived experience of prison by Indigenous prisoners is crucial to limiting ongoing damage from structurally racist criminal justice systems. Assessment of prison quality and social climate has received significant research attention and highly sophisticated instruments are available for researchers and practitioners. However, the effectiveness of these existing instruments for Australian Indigenous prisoners has not been widely examined. Combining a culturally sensitive approach with the research method applied in the development of the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life survey, this research aims to define prison quality for Indigenous prisoners and determine how it can be best assessed. Envisaged research outcomes will inform a culturally appropriate prison assessment instrument. This instrument will enable insight into prison practices that aim to de-colonise and promote Indigenous wellbeing rather than sustain existing damage resulting from deep-colonising practices. This presentation will deliver findings from the first two years of this research focusing on Indigenous perceptions of the role and experience of prison.

Authors

• John Rynne, Griffith University

• Alison Liebling, Cambridge University