Women imprisoned in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre are petitioning members of the Victorian state government due to feeling threatened, unsafe, distressed and traumatised because of a dangerous male offender being housed in their unit.
An article written by Mark Buttler and Kieran Rooney states that the man was moved into the Murray unit within the centre on July 5 and the women are demanding his removal.
The man in question pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting a woman in Richmond after a six year stint in a European jail for a child-sex offence. Some activists and researchers close to this issue believe the man to be "Lisa Jones" who spent six years in a male prison in Germany before being deported to Australia.
The petitioners share that they have been the victims of sexual assault or had supported victims and consequently carried "significant trauma associated with this experience."
Imprisoned women show high rates of Traumatic Brain Injury, histories of "domestic abuse" and sexual assault, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental illnesses, along with drug addiction and poverty. There is evidence that supports the argument that imprisoning women at all is unnecessary, and imprisoning them with men that are stronger and more violent than women is certainly cruel and unusual punishment.
Unique security risks are created for imprisoned women, visitors to penal facilities and the wider community when we allow cross-sex placement in prisons. Men are far more violent while in prison and are incarcerated for far more violent crimes, in severity and frequency. It also allows sex traffickers to keep tabs on women while they are serving time by allowing men to invade the female estate within any prison or jail.
The Victorian government claims that Corrections Victoria "policies, programs and services are gender-responsive and trauma-informed", but housing men with vulnerable women in prison is a very far cry from trauma-informed care.
You can support the women petitioning for their safety and sex-based rights by contacting the following people and departments:
Minister for Corrections
Sonya Kilkenny MP
Corrections Victoria
Ombudsman
More information about making complaints can be found here: https://www.corrections.vic.gov.au/making-a-complaint
Komen