Women in prison
Convicted
SBS documentary in the Cutting Edge series
Tuesday, March 23, 8.30 p.m. (8 p.m. in Adelaide)
Reviewed by Kath Tucker
"When you imprison a woman, you imprison her children." Eighty per cent of women in prison were sexually or physically abused as children; 8 out of 10 women in prison are there for drug-related offences.
The harsh realities of the situation for jailed women are brought to light in this powerful documentary. Statistics like these litter a program which pulls no punches.
The film crew went inside Northfield Women's Prison in South Australia to film "women behind bars". Directed by Kay Pavlou (also responsible for Not a Bedroom War and The Killing of Angelo Tsakos), the program explores the world of women in jail. Interviews are conducted with prison officers as well as the inmates.
The stories add up to a depressing and repeated tale of women as victims — often victims of sexual and physical abuse as children, and victims of the frequent violence inflicted in so many forms against women in our society throughout their lives.
The program points out the direct link between crime and personal experiences of violence, poverty and despair. However, it doesn't end there. Those who agreed to do the interviews also convey a strength and determination that they will get through, that they will survive the system. Their anger is tangible.
Being in prison isn't enough to prevent crimes from occurring again, even if the women "don't want to come back here". More is needed: an approach that deals with the causes of crime and that allows women to live independent lives, free from violence and abuse.
This is an insightful documentary, well worth seeing. It's much more an indictment of our society than of the women on the inside, whose only real crime was "getting caught".