attempts should be made to locate Aboriginal
prisoners at locations in which they will have maximum
access to Koori-specific programs, consistent with
their other needs and security rating".
of the prisoner. Koori women being assessed at
the higher end of the scale has implications for
these women during and after prison. The Victorian
Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) reported:
Victoria are slow to reduce people
to lower risk categories. Not having
access to Corrections Victoria's
assessment processes, it is difficult to
understand why this is so....If Aboriginal
people are assessed as lower risk then
they are likely to have better chances of
transitioning out of prison.
387
Key informant interview, Victorian Aboriginal Legal
Service, 15 November 2012.
facility subjects every woman in that
facility, even if you have a low-risk
classification, to extraordinarily high
levels of surveillance, control, restriction
and restraint. Loss of dignity is a
given. There is no dignity in being
forced to strip on command, or in
providing a urine sample in front of two
uniformed prison officers or in being
stripped before and after every visit
from children, family or friends. For the
89 per cent of women who have been
victims of sexual abuse and or domestic
violence, learning to drop their clothes,
or to drop their clothes and urinate
on command can be an excruciating
journey. For Aboriginal women in
particular, the shame is intolerable.