Human Rights of Women Prisoners

Kilroy D¹*

1. Sisters Inside, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Prisons systemically perpetrate violence, including sexual assault, against women in prison on a daily basis. The discrimination women experience is traumatizing, horrific and inhumane. As this violence continues there has been a National coalition working together to stop violence perpetrated against women prisoners and discrimination they experience on a daily basis.

The complaints lodged are being directed to governments in each jurisdiction to urge them to conduct a broad based systemic review and issue a special report. The National Coalition is lobbying that the broad based systemic review is conducted, State by State, simultaneously to ensure political and media activity can be maximized throughout this campaign.

The criminalisation of women is strongly linked to other socio-economic disadvantages suffered acutely by women. If men are poor women are poorer, if men are marginalised women are more marginalised, if men are subjected to violence women are subjected to more violence.

The workshop will roadmap how we have:

• Developed this complaint that has been and is being lodged in every State and Territory;
• Collaborated across the country to work towards the same outcome with women prisoners who are taking a fundamental active part of the process;
• Challenged prison systems and structures that are perpetrating violence against women prisoners in Australia;
• Generated energy across the country to stopping violence experienced by women prisoners;
• Proven that activism can work towards stopping violence against women; and
• Worker towards lodging the complaints to the United Nations to seek resolution of complaints in Australia.