Women and Corrections Conference - Keynote Address

Adelaide, S.A., Australia - October 31, 2000

Presented by
Kim Pate, B.A., B.Ed. (P.D.P.P.), LL.B.
Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies

A. Women in Corrections: The Context; The Challenges

Abstract:

This address will provide an overview of some of the issues and trends related to the context and challenges of working with and on behalf of women prisoners. In addition to exploring the current trends toward the increased criminalization of women, especially poor and racialized women, as well as those classified as having mental and cognitive disabilities, Kim will discuss the historical and global tendency to over-classify women as security risks and the likelihood that they will be kept in high security prison settings, as well as explore the issues related to the increased criminalization of women who experience violence, as part of the backlash response to increased attempts to hold violent men accountable.

Some of the law reform initiatives that have been advocated by equality-seeking women’s groups regarding the application to women of self-defence, the defence of provocation, and the mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment for murder will also be highlighted. This overview will also examine such issues as the increasing threats of privatization, political interference in correctional and criminal justice matters and the manner in which these factors challenge our abilities to reach behind the walls and welcome women into our, and their, communities.

1. Background

First of all, I want to thank the Austalian Institute of Criminology and the Department of Corrections for South Australia for sponsoring this conference and the organizers for inviting me hear to speak with you this morning. It is both an honour and a privilege, but also somewhat daunting, to have been asked to join you. I had the privilege of meeting with a number of you when I visited almost four years ago, so it is wonderful to be back and to see so many familiar faces. I also look forward to meeting with those of you whom I have not previously had the opportunity to meet.

There are many issues of mutual interest that are international in scope. While I do not propose to provide an exhaustive list, I will attempt to introduce a number of the key challenges that face all of us, albeit to differing extents and degrees. To this end, I will try to provide a bit of an overview of the key issues and challenges facing us, whether we are prisoners, ex-prisoners, prisoner allies, activists, advocates, community-based service providers, correctional officers, administrators, policy makers or legislators.

I will also be focusing this morning on a number of issues that have arisen that are international in scope. I will also touch upon the difficulty of implementing progressive reforms, regardless of how comprehensive and successful are our law and policy reform efforts. We still ahve a long way to go between policies and practice , especially in most of our women’s prisons.