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Site: Voices Inside
Needs
of Women in Custody
Written
by Women Inside
[*These needs have also been
incorporated into the Campaign Demands]
- A bus to transport visitors
from the train station to the gaol
- Medication: Information
is not enough. If a woman is on medication whilst in custody a prescription
should be issued on release for a week to a fortnight to cover the time
it takes to renew the prescription with a doctor on the outside.
- Waiting two weeks to
see a doctor is not good enough
- The new medical provider
is still giving out sleeping medication at five o'clock in the afternoon.
They have been operational for three months and still cannot complete
evening medication before the eight pm lockdown.
- Housing:
Again, information does not necessarily put a roof over a woman's head.
More funds are needed and arrangements should be put in place
before release. The first day/week is overwhelming.
- Wages: A one dollar pay
rise in fifteen years is not good enough when slave labour is
already a part of prison life. We all know the rate of inflation
year in, year out. There is only one-dollar difference between the high,
medium and low wage rates. Only a pre-determined number of women are
able to be paid at the higher rate, less than those that are eligible
for the medium or low wage. By the current wage scheme it would not
matter how good a worker one is, or if they are prepared to work extra
days, they would not be eligible for the higher rate of pay if the places
were already filled. The number of places has not increased although
the population of the gaol has.
- More phone boxes.
There are only three and often only two of those are operational. Outside
support is important as is maintaining relationships with family
and children.
- Education: It is difficult
enough with a police record to get a job. Education is needed and
important for women, not just for the working of the prison.
- It only costs 23 cents
for a local call. We are paying 40 cents. We get no concessions
for STD calls and none of the cheaper rates available to the general
public are available to us.
- Overcrowding: We have
been "temporarily" doubled up for two years. A3, a ten-bed
orientation unit, has housed up to 26 women at once. Two portable units
were erected to alleviate overcrowding and we are still doubled up,
still overcrowded.
- Management inconsistencies.
What are the rules, and why do they only apply to some? Rules are subject
to change depending on the day, the weather and who it is you're speaking
to.
- We still haven't seen
a copy of the rules or the policy.
- Maintenance: Nothing
gets fixed and this can be potentially fatal. For example; a range
hood that has been broken for 18 months has still not been fixed despite
numerous requests. One person who thinks it's safe to turn the fan on
to cook could be killed by the range hood falling.
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