More help needed for female prisoners as inmate numbers rise

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia has seen a dramatic increase in the number of women held in prisons in the last twenty years. One former inmate is using her post-incarceration success to help released prisoners find a new start and overcome the stigma of jail time.

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00:00Spending precious time with her baby boy.

00:05These are the moments Talia Isaac didn't think she'd get to experience.

00:11I just set my life on fire.

00:13So I was being really destructive, taking cocktails of drugs.

00:19I thought that it was over.

00:21In 2017, Miss Isaac was jailed for drug offences.

00:25When released, she struggled to find a job.

00:29You're told no, you don't belong anywhere,

00:32you are shrouded in so much shame and stigma and discrimination.

00:38She's launched a not-for-profit support program,

00:41aimed at helping female prisoners transition back into society.

00:45Prisons aren't very therapeutic

00:48and they don't offer women the chance to heal from the life that they were living.

00:54It's very hard for women to break that cycle

00:57once they're in the criminal justice system

00:59because very little changes for them when they exit prison.

01:02The Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that nationally

01:05the female prison population grew by about 62% between 2009 and 2024.

01:12For those who are in prison, almost 70% have previously been inside.

01:17Experts say to lower recidivism rates,

01:19there needs to be more long-term coordinated support,

01:23which is more effective when led by those with lived experience.

01:27Automatically, you get a synergy when there's that shared experience

01:31and a shared goal as well of getting on with life

01:34and not having to get caught up in that cycle.

01:37Miss Isaac wants others to rediscover a positive life,

01:41in the future just like she did.

01:44I feel like I'm accepted in my community

01:47and I have a group of friends and, yeah, life's pretty good.

01:51There's a huge lack of people whoãy in the end.

01:52And my father can always run away from that kind of thing

01:55that fare before I use a proportion with my children.

01:57If you've heard about Anybody

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