Description

The physical facilities and service delivery models of the Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women were explicitly designed around a women-centred approach to corrections. This inspection report finds that it has purpose-built buildings and has been well planned, well funded and well resourced. The prison has bedded in very well and some initial community concerns have been assuaged. There has been careful management, good community liaison and a very gradual fill of prisoners. Boronia has attracted national and international interest. It has numerous visitors each year and, for good reason, has been acclaimed as an exemplar of women’s imprisonment. Significant achievements are identified: high occupancy, quality education and training, engagement with service providers, reductions in cost, reductions in recidivism. Although overall performance is high, areas for improvement include the needs of Aboriginal women, targeted provision of family violence treatment programs, the complaints process, the health service and community-based engagement for residents in work, education and leisure. The report regrets that good women-centred practices have not spread into the rest of the custodial system, particularly for Aboriginal women, whose conditions and services are of a particularly low standard.