This review was commissioned by Arts Access Australia to examine evidence for the value of visual arts programs in Australian prisons and their impact on adult inmates. It considers current philosophies behind art programs, how they are implemented and how ‘success’ is measured, and includes an annotated bibliography of relevant literature.

With the incidence of blood borne viruses being far higher in Australian prisons than in the community, this report calls for a trial of a controlled needle and syringe exchange program for inmates.

The bulletin briefly summarises the case for legally coerced drug treatment, describes the different approaches that have been used to implement it, discusses the ethical issues raised by different types of legally coerced drug treatment, and summarises the evidence on the effectiveness of community-based drug treatment with and without legal coercion. The case for, and...

The number of women imprisoned in Victoria has increased by 25% over the past year, with a disproportionate number of the women imprisoned coming from Calturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The number of women born in Vietnam who are imprisoned in Victoria has almost doubled during the period of June 2008 to June 2009...

The State-wide Community and Court Liaison Service in New South Wales reduces the frequency with which people with a mental health problem come into contact with the court system, according to this report. This is one of the key findings to emerge from an evaluation of services designed to assist the courts in dealing with...