SUPPORTING LIFE AFTER PRISON: SOLUTIONS ON OFFER AT REINTEGRATION CONFERENCE
BY GERARD MAZZA AND MARION CHEEDY
Keeraaywoorrong Gunditjmara artist Chris Austin is an Indigenous Arts Mentor in prisons in Victoria. Credit: Supplied, Reintegration Puzzle Conference.
Last week in Boorloo (Perth), more than 250 people from across Australia gathered to discuss how ex-prisoners can be supported to successfully reintegrate into the wider community.
The annual Reintegration Puzzle conference, presented by Deakin University, was held from March 1-3 with the theme ‘Changing Seasons, Changing Lives’.
Director of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Unit Leanne Liddle, who presented at the conference, said attendees had the opportunity to hear from people with relevant lived experience.
Leanne Liddle is Director of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Unit. Credit: Supplied, Reintegration Puzzle Conference.
“We hear the stories and the experiences that people have had in the criminal justice system, but more so, the best thing about this conference is we hear what the solutions need to be,” she said.
“A lot of the sessions hold governments and contracted parties to account about how they’re not meeting Aboriginal people’s needs.”
Around 40 attendees had lived experience of the criminal justice system, according to organisers.
Ms. Liddle said it was clear the justice system was not meeting the needs of Aboriginal people.
“A lot of programs are either not available in communities, or they're not available in a way that is culturally safe or designed to meet the experiences of Aboriginal people and our history.
“People think that if a program works well overseas or works in another state, it’s immediately transferable to whereever they may be. That's not the case. You have to reflect on the individual histories of states and territories. You have to look at the type of profile of Aboriginal people in the community.”
Another speaker at the conference, Keeraaywoorrong Gunditjmara artist Chris Austin, has his own lived experience of the justice system, having spent more than 30 years in and out of prison.
He has been living in the community for more than four years, and now works as an Indigenous Arts Mentor for a Victorian organisation called the Torch which supports Indigenous prisoners and ex-prisoners through arts and cultural programs.
Mr. Austin presented at the conference with The Torch Program Manager Susannah Day on ‘The Power of Art in Transforming Life’.
He said connecting with culture through art can transform the lives of Aboriginal people in prison.
“When you’re going back to your culture, everything just starts working out right,” he said. “That’s what happened to me.”
Mr. Austin said the justice system could be improved by “more programs on the outside than inside.”
“Most of the programs that are there for us now, you have to get in trouble to be able to attend. Prevention programs are more beneficial.”
Whadjuk Noongar justice campaigner Marianne Headland Mackay attended the conference and said it was a rewarding experience.
“It was good to see people doing things within their own communities and providing alternatives to custody,“ she said.