Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review

• Pages: 221-231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-12-2017-0059
• Published date: 17 December 2018
• Date: 17 December 2018
• Author: Jocelyn Jones,Mandy Wilson,Elizabeth Sullivan,Lynn Atkinson,Marisa Gilles,Paul L. Simpson,Eileen Baldry,Tony Butler
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’

experiences of being a mother: a review

Jocelyn Jones, Mandy Wilson, Elizabeth Sullivan, Lynn Atkinson, Marisa Gilles,

Paul L. Simpson, Eileen Baldry and Tony Butler

Abstract

Purpose –The rise in the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is a major public

health issue with multiple sequelae for Aboriginal children and the cohesiveness of Aboriginal communities.

The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature relating to Australian Aboriginal women

prisoners’experiences of being a mother.

Design/methodology/approach –The literature search covered bibliographic databases from criminology,

sociology and anthropology, and Australian history. The authors review the literature on: traditional and

contemporary Aboriginal mothering roles, values and practices; historical accounts of the impacts of white

settlement of Australia and subsequent Aboriginal affairs policies and practices; and women’s and mothers’

experiences of imprisonment.

Findings –The review found that the cultural experiences of mothering are unique to Aboriginal mothers and

contrasted to non-Aboriginal concepts. The ways that incarceration of Aboriginal mothers disrupts child

rearing practices within the cultural kinship system are identified.

Practical implications –Aboriginal women have unique circumstances relevant to the concept of

motherhood that need to be understood to develop culturally relevant policy and programs. The burden of

disease and cycle of incarceration within Aboriginal families can be addressedby improving health outcomes

for incarcerated Aboriginal mothers and female carers.

Originality/value –To the authors’knowledge, this is the first literature review on Australian Aboriginal

women prisoners’experiences of being a mother.

Keywords Australia, Prisoners, Aboriginal, Motherhood, Mothers, Incarcerated women

Paper type Literature review

Introduction

Women make up a small proportion of the Australian prisoner population (8 per cent) (ABS,

2017) but the rate at which they have been incarcerated has increased significantly over the past

decade (ABS, 2014). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are significantly

overrepresented among female prisoners (ABS, 2017). Despite making up only 2 per cent of

the adult female population in Australia, they comprise 33 per cent of the female prisoner

population nationally (ABS, 2017). From 2011 to 2012, Aboriginal women’s imprisonment

jumped by 20 per cent in contrast to a 3 per cent increase in the non-Aboriginal female prisoner

population (Baldry and Cunneen, 2014). Aboriginal women are now the fastest growing group

within the Australian female prisoner population (ABS, 2014). In response, the Australian

Government recently tasked the Australian Law Reform Com mission to examine this

over-representation and recommend law reform measures to address the issue. In developing

such recommendations, which are due to be released early 2018, specific consideration will be

given to the increasing incarceration rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, many

of whom are mothers (Australian Law Reform Commission, 2017).

As the population of A boriginal women inc reases, this in tur n affects increasi ng numbers of

children. Quilty et al. (20 04) estimated tha t in NSW, 20 per cent of Abo riginal children

experience a parent going to prison compared with 4 per cent of non-Aboriginal children.

Received 5 December 2017

Revised 13 February 2018

16 March 2018

Accepted 20 March 2018

The original study on which this

paper is based was funded by the

National Health and Medical

Research Council of Australia

(Project Grant ID: 630653) Social

and cultural resilience and

emotional well-being of Aboriginal

mothers in prison.

(The authors affiliations can be

found at the end of this article.)

DOI 10.1108/IJPH-12-2017-0059 VOL. 14 NO. 4 2018, pp. 221-231, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200

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