Origins of the research

In August 2001 members of the Prison Reform Group of Western Australia and the combined Social Justice Commissions of the Uniting Church of Australia and the Anglican and Catholic Churches gathered together at the decommissioned Fremantle Jail to commemorate International Prisoners’ Justice Day. Their focus that year was on the plight of women in prison in Western Australia. In particular, they sought to raise community consciousness about the predicament of imprisoned mothers and the traumatic effects on their families.

Unlike previous years when International Prisoners’ Justice Day went largely ignored by the media, this event was given significant coverage by the West Australian newspaper. From this publicity, several events ensued.

Jill Soderstrom, then Assistant Director of the newly established Centre for Social and Community Research at Murdoch University, read the article in the West Australian and saw that one of the speakers at the event was a recent doctoral candidate from Murdoch University whose thesis topic was a study of the effects of long-term imprisonment. Jill, immediately recognising the potential for a socially significant research project, approached the social justice consultant from the Uniting Church of Australia and relevant academics.

And so, the first seeds of an idea for this study were sown. Running parallel to the development of this research project, a proposal of a similar nature, focusing on the problems associated with women who were newly released from prison, was being put together by Ruah Women’s Support Service. Both projects sought funding from Lotterywest at around the same time and were subsequently advised by the funding body that a collaborative project might be worthwhile.

The result of this was a successful application for funding from Lotterywest through a joint effort between Ruah Women’s Support Service, the Social Justice Commission of the Uniting Church of Australia and the Centre for Social and Community Research, Murdoch University. Subsequently, the research project, An Exploration of the Impact of Imprisonment on the Familial and Social Connectedness of Women, was funded for a two-year study and the project representatives accepted a cheque from Lotterywest at the 2002 commemoration of International Prisoners’ Justice Day, exactly one year later again at the old Fremantle Jail.

The research commenced in October 2002. In keeping with its genesis, this study has its ethos firmly grounded within a framework of prison reform.