In 2018 the Australian Human Rights Commission stated that the trend towards incarceration saw a 77% increase of women in prison, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women making up the majority of this increase. Indigenous women and girls are the fastest growing group of people being incarcerated in 'Australia'. Approximately 90% of women in prison are mothers, and the majority of these mothers are single parents. Statistics also stated that almost 1 in 50 women reported being pregnant while in prison.
In this episode of Pregnancy Birth and Beyond, presenter Kirilly Dawn speaks with Debbie Kilroy OAM, founder of Sisters Inside, about the targeted impact of the Prison Industrial Complex on mothers, women and girls. Debbie is one of Australia’s leading advocates for protecting the human rights of women and children through decarceration - the process of moving away from using prisons and other systems of social control in response to crime and social issues. In this conversation, Debbie discusses why she is a prison abolitionist, why she started Sisters Inside after her own experience of prison, and the justice a world without prisons would provide. She unravels the racial capitalist system which is responsible for the alarmingly yet strategically high incarceration rates of women, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls. We also speak about reproductive justice, maternity care inside, and the realities many women face when being pregnant and birthing in prison. And lastly Debbie speaks to the Free Her campaign run by Sisters Inside, which has now raised over a million dollars to pay off the fines of women in Western Australia who are being incarcerated for poverty, many of whom are Aboriginal women.
Debbie Kilroy OAM
Debbie’s passion for justice is the result of her personal experience of the criminal (in)justice system and an unwavering belief that prison represents a failure of justice.
During her time in prison, Debbie worked hard for a degree in Social Work and took on the huge task of turning her life around. Since then, she has qualified as a Gestalt Therapist and Legal Practitioner, and has completed a Graduate Diploma of Forensic Mental Health.
After her release in 1992, Debbie established Sisters Inside, which advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal justice system and responds to gaps in the services available to them.
Sisters Inside has won international recognition for its work and its unique structure which ensures it is driven by women with lived prison experience.
In 2003, Debbie was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the community for working with women in prison. She was also awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal in 2004 and a Churchill Fellowship to explore decarceration strategies and programs internationally in 2014. In 2017, Debbie was appointed to the Queensland Government Sentencing Advisory Council. Debbie was admitted to the legal profession by the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2007 – a rare achievement for someone with serious convictions. She now has her own law firm and (in addition to her work as CEO of Sisters Inside) is one of Queensland’s leading criminal solicitors.
To read more about Debbie and her work at Sisters Inside visit:
www.sistersinside.com.au
To donate to Sister's Inside 'Free Her' campaign assisting women in Western Australia visit:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/bfvnvt-freethepeople
