“I don’t use in here,” says Shannon*, a 28 year-old inmate at the Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre, on the banks of the Parramatta River.
A former ice-addict who would go through “a couple of grams a day, easily”, she is speaking with Insight’s Jenny Brockie as part of the program’s .
“Could you?” asks Brockie.
“Absolutely,” says Shannon. “Of course we could, we all could.”
Drugs are a significant factor among the female prison population, in terms of both use and crime. Illicit drug offences are one of the most common convictions, accounting for of felonies.
by the Australian Institute of Family studies also identifies substance abuse and dependency as a primary characteristic of female offenders.
Ice, in particular, is endemic. “It’s the heroin of the millennium,” says Angela, an Assistant Superintendent in Silverwater. “Almost every girl I see uses or has used ice … Even grandmothers, I see grandmothers that have been using ice and that blows my mind.”
“It has definitely made things a lot more volatile,” says Matt, who is in charge of the prison’s Immediate Action Team. “It’s definitely increased our workload in relation to managing the inmates. When an inmate’s under the influence of ice it makes it very difficult to manage them in various ways. They have an increased strength.”
Meagan*, a fellow inmate of Shannon’s, says she does not use drugs but has tried ice while incarcerated. She says it is “pretty easy” to get, though Shannon counters that “of course [drugs are] available but [they’re] not as available as what everybody thinks it is either.”
Matt, a senior corrections officer at Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre Source: Insight
“How do people get it in here?” Brockie asks Shannon.
“Oh, all different sorts of ways, there's balls over the fence, there's visits,” she says. “A lot of outside people always think that the officers are corrupt but they're really not. I've never come across a corrupt officer.”
Despite their vigilance, the officers admit contraband still makes its way into the prison. “There’s a lot of places where inmates, whether it’s male or female, can secrete contraband,” says Matt. “We can conduct a strip search but if it’s hidden well enough, well then it’s hidden.”
Anecdotally, prisoners interviewed by Insight said a wide variety of drugs are available in the jail, with some saying the majority of women use or have used during their incarceration. “I would say 90 per cent of the jail, maybe even 95”, says Meagan, when asked how many people she thought were using inside. In response to this statement, Corrective Services directed Insight to its which reported 39 per cent of female prisoners surveyed in 2009-10 had used illicit drugs on at least one occasion while incarcerated. This was higher than among male prisoners (36 per cent).
We can conduct a strip search but if it’s hidden well enough, well then it’s hidden.
In 2014, a 41 year-old woman on heroin in a women’s prison around 40 minutes west of Silverwater. Although deaths in custody due to drugs are , the corrective services minister and commissioner were forced to admit that contraband had made its way into the prison.
Matt concedes illicit drugs are a common cause of fights in the jail. “I would say probably assaults in relation to drug debts, or debts that are formed,” he says, in answer to a question from Jenny Brockie about the biggest risks to women in prison. “That would be the biggest threat to them.”
“Do you think you can ever solve [the issue of drugs in prison]?” asks Brockie.
“I don't think we should ever give up,” says Matt. “I think it should, we should always be as proactive as possible to try and reduce the risk of, reduce the occurrence of drugs inside.”
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*Names have been changed
