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Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee

The Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee was established by the Minister for Corrections in 2003 to provide an external source of expert advice on the delivery of correctional services to women.

The precursor to the Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee was the Victorian Women's Prisons Council, which was established in 1953 by Dame Phyllis Frost as a consultative council advocating for female prison reform. The council's voluntary members worked tirelessly to improve prison conditions for women up until its formal cessation in May 2002.

The Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee is chaired by Joanne Duncan, MP and reports to the Minister for Corrections. The committee consists of 14 non-government members with a range of experience and expertise in the areas of program development, service delivery, advocacy, management, research and academia relevant to women's corrections. The Commissioner, Corrections Victoria and General Manager of the Women's Prisons Region represent Corrections Victoria.

The committee's terms of reference are to:

• provide advice to the Minister for Corrections on strategic directions and service requirements for women in the Victorian correctional services system
• have input into the development of policy, including research and evaluation that leads to the development of best practice in the delivery of services and programs for women offenders and prisoners
• provide a forum for discussion of ongoing issues that arise in relation to women in the correctional services system
• consider matters referred by the Minister for Corrections.
  

Chair: Joanne Duncan

Government members:

• Robert Hastings APM, Commissioner, Corrections Victoria
• Emma Cassar, General Manager, Women's Prisons Region

Non-government members:

• Marilyn Beaumont, Executive Director, Women's Health Victoria (Member of Corrections Health Board)
• Jocelyn Bignold, CEO, McAuley Community Services for Women (expertise in pre- and post-release support services for women  including housing)
• Maud Clark, Somebody's Daughter Theatre (expertise in women's experience of custody and community reintegration through theatre work)
• Jenny Hayes, Regional Liaison Chaplain, Women's Prisons Region (expertise in providing spiritual support for women prisoners)
• Liz Hogan, Women's advocate (expertise in women's experience of custody)
• Sandra Kahan, A/Manager, Caraniche (expertise in drug and alcohol treatment for women offenders and prisoners)
• Andrea Lott, CEO, VACRO (expertise in pre- and post-release support services for women, including job readiness and post-release employment)
• Sue Macgregor, Barrister and Solicitor, Macgregor Solicitors (expertise in providing legal representation for disadvantaged women offenders)
• Naomi Ngo, Manager, Multicultural Health and Support Service (expertise in working with culturally and linguistically diverse youth on drug-related health issues)
• Dr Rosemary Sheehan, Senior Lecturer, Monash University (research expertise around judicial and correctional responses for women offenders)
• Lisa Ward (policy, research and criminology expertise).

Key achievements

Key achievements of the Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee since its establishment in 2003:

• The Mothers and Children Program Policy developed to govern the residential program for prisoners and their children operating in the Women's Prisons Region (updated in June 2009)
• Initiation of the creation of the Mothers and Children Program Support Worker role for the Women's Prisons Region, in conjunction with the development of the policy, to ensure expertise in the assessment and ongoing support for participating mothers and children, as well as providing a broader family support role for all female prisoners
• The set of standards developed on committee recommendation to govern prison services for women in Victoria, to enhance the gender responsiveness of services for women prisoners
• The providing of non-government stakeholder input into the development of the strategy Better Pathways: An Integrated Response to Women's Offending and Re-offending
• The committee is called upon to advise on relevant policy development.
• The Correctional Management Standards for Women Serving Community Correctional Orders was endorsed by the Commissioner, Corrections Victoria on 10 February 2009. The implementation of management standards specifically for woman ensures that Corrections Victoria delivers a system that provides a differential response to the needs of women under CCS supervision.

The committee is currently providing input into the development of a Women's Correctional Services Framework, incorporating a unifying set of principles to guide the future development and delivery of women's correctional services.  The framework is a key initiative of the Better Pathways strategy.