The health of people in Australia's prisons 2022

Family history of incarceration

When an individual is incarcerated, it affects their entire community (Besemer et al. 2018; Jardine 2018; Remond et al. 2023). Most people who enter prison leave a family, and often dependent children, in the community (Flynn et al. 2015). This can become an intergenerational problem; many people in prison had a parent in prison during their own childhood (Dennison and Besemer 2018; Troy et al. 2018).

Imprisonment of mothers and fathers can be harmful to the health and wellbeing of the parent and the child, particularly if the parent–child relationship is severed (Bartlett and Trotter 2019; Dennison and Smallbone 2015; McIntyre 2017; Wildeman et al. 2018).

Maintaining and improving family relationships results in a better transition from prison to the community, reduced re-offending, and better health and welfare outcomes for the person in the prison system and their children and families (Troy et al. 2018).

Of 183 First Nations prison entrants, 1 in 3 (36%) reported having had parents or carers in prison during their childhood.

Of 184 non-Indigenous prison entrants, 1 in 7 (15%) reported having had parents or carers in prison during their childhood.

Younger prison entrants were almost 3 times more likely than older entrants to report having had a parent or carer in prison during their childhood (42% of entrants aged 18–24 and 16% of entrants aged 45 and over).

Female prison entrants were more likely to report having had a mother (17%) than a father (8.3%) in prison during their childhood. Conversely, male prison entrants were more likely to report having had a father (22%) than a mother (5.5%) in prison during their childhood.

Dependent children in the community

Almost a half (47%) of First Nations prison entrants had dependent children, compared with one-third (34%) of non-Indigenous entrants.

Females (33%) were less likely than males (41%) to have dependent children.

Contact with family, friends and/or elders

Transitioning from prison to the community can be challenging, and people released from prison make a more successful transition if they have culturally appropriate psychosocial support (Abbott et al. 2018).

Strong and supportive relationships with family, friends or elders in the community can help with the transition (Abbott et al. 2018; Besemer et al. 2018). Men and younger people are particularly vulnerable compared with females and older people transitioning from prison, having typically lower levels of social support in the community (Pettus-Davis et al. 2018).

Non-Indigenous dischargees (83%) were fairly similar to First Nations dischargees (79%) in reporting recent contact with family, friends or elders in the community. Females (86%) were more likely than males (80%) to report having done so (Figure 8.2). Phone contact was most common (77%), followed by visits (27%) and receiving letters (15%). Almost 1 in 5 (18%) dischargees reported having had no recent contact with family, friends or elders.

Figure 8.2: Prison dischargees, type of contact with family, friends or elders in the previous 4 weeks, by sex and Indigenous identity, 2022

Notes

1. Proportions are representative of prison dischargees in this data collection, and not the entire prison population.
2. Multiple responses were allowed.
3. Excludes Victoria, which did not provide data for this item.

Source: Dischargees form, 2022 NPHDC.