From Macro to Meso – concentrated imprisonment and community life

• In Event: Solitary confinement, isolation, victimization and riots in prison

Abstract

Australia imprisons twice as many people as it did 30 years ago, placing it well above average imprisonment rates in comparable OECD countries. Australia has one of the highest incarceration rates for minority populations worldwide, with 2,285 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners for every 100,000 adults. In this context, a key question is how to balance the crime-preventing benefits of imprisonment against the burden of its harmful consequences for communities. Communities in areas of concentrated imprisonment are thought to be disrupted by the removal of offenders from their families and other social networks. Such disruptions may affect family structure, social organisation, participation, and overall wellbeing of communities. We thus shift our perspective towards criminal justice as a macro-level impact on the meso-level level of community capacity and wellbeing.
In this paper we use admissions data and community-level data from the Australian Census 2010-2019 (postcode-level). These include data about collective efficacy, e.g. volunteering and care for others in the community; female-headed households; residential mobility. It also allows us to explore the complex relationships between deprivation, imprisonment, and community life.

Authors

• Kirsten Laurisse Besemer, Griffith University

• Susanne Karstedt, Griffith University