I visited Hutt Lagoon in WA as a reflection pit stop after spending the day with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in two different prison settings. In Kalgoorlie where it felt like a community home compared to Geraldton where it was bleak and what you imagine high security prison would be like.
The differences between their outlooks was immense and the way each group of women where treated by the prison guards depending on the setting didn’t seem fair.
The crimes committed between the two groups were similar, with many simply unable to pay parking tickets.
One group felt empowered and able to get their life back on track after their experience, while the other felt helpless and if they did leave they would surely return.
It is important to question what our emphasis should be in the justice system. It shouldn’t be to punish and throw away any hope for a better life. It should be to rehabilitate with the measure of success being a reduction in reoffending. This starts with questioning who is entering the system and why.
We need to remember that in Australia we are locking up Indigenous people as the default response to poverty, homelessness, mental health and drug and alcohol addiction.
The system is broken and all Australians should be questioning why we have such high overrepresentation of Indigenous people in our justice system. The numbers just don’t add up.
Indigenous people are not more likely to commit a crime. However if they do, they are more likely to have their bail refused or receive a prison sentence compared to non-Indigenous Australians who commit the same crime and are released on bail.
This painting reflects my two experiences, orange in Geraldton with a darker outlook and pink being Kalgoorlie with hope.