COVID-19: Incarceration, Policing and Family Violence

By Emma Carolan, CRA Justice Research Officer

The pandemic has highlighted a number of ongoing inequities that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples face. The Critical Condition - The Impact of Covid-19 Policies, Policing and Prisons on First Nations Communities report by Change the Record, the only national Aboriginal-led justice coalition, showed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have been disproportionately impacted by some of the more punitive and restrictive COVID-19 policy responses.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are overrepresented in both the adult and youth criminal justice systems and are exposed to conditions in prisons and Youth Detention Centres, which globally have been shown to facilitate the spread of COVID-19. Overcrowding, shared facilities, and high flow of traffic place inmates at a high risk of contracting the virus. Some states, such as NSW and the ACT, did pass legislation that would enable the early release of low-risk and high-vulnerability prisoners in a COVID-19 emergency, but the report believes that this has never been enacted. Instead, Aboriginal and Community Legal Services and Legal Aid Commissions were required to make bail and parole applications in an attempt to reduce the risk of COVID-19 for individual clients. Of further concern, the report noted that COVID-19 restrictions in correctional facilities have resulted in:

  • Increased use of lock downs and isolation.

  • Forced quarantine of incoming prisoners, including of youth.

  • Reduced access to programs and education.

  • Reduced access to family and legal visits.

The report has also found that policing and punishment for breaching COVID-19 restrictions has been disproportionately felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. They may be unable to comply with 'move on' orders because of housing insecurity and overcrowding, which often results in spending more time in public places. These conditions have also made it difficult to comply with restrictions on home gathering numbers which, as the report states, "risks criminalising people for what is essentially a housing issue - not a law and order one."

The report also notes that the small rural town of Coonamble NSW, where 1 in 3 residents are Indigenous, received 10% of NSW’s entire number of COVID-19 policy infringements, despite only 0.04% of the state’s population residing in Coonamble.

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A number of organisations joined together this year to form COVID-19 Policing in Australia, including Amnesty International and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS). Their purpose was to collect incidents, reports and examples of COVID-19 policing from members of the public for monitoring and legal advocacy. Their work will help to ensure that policing during this pandemic crisis is fair and properly aligned with Public Health restrictions. You can see their summaries here.

A Monash report published in June, Responding to the ‘shadow pandemic’: practitioner views on the nature of and responses to violence against women in Victoria, Australia during the COVID-19 restrictions, found that from a survey of 166 Victorian practitioners, COVID-19 had increased both the frequency (59% of respondents) and severity (50% of respondents) of violence against women. 42% of respondents also reported an in increase in women reporting first-time family violence. COVID-19 prevention restrictions, including stay-at-home orders, physical distancing measures and the closure of non-essential services that have been in place in various forms across Australia since March, have created conditions conducive to family violence. Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuke, called the increase in violence against women globally, the ‘shadow pandemic.’ You can see more of her message here.

Although not the only group impacted, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children face additional systemic barriers to seeking assistance for family violence. Chronic housing shortages can prevent Aboriginal women and children from finding safe and secure accommodation. Many also do not have mobile phone access or enough money or data to contact support services. Remote communities are further disadvantaged by lack of phone reception, limited internet, and limited services.

The COVID-19 precaution measures have also restricted parent access to children in out of home care. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are removed from their parents and families at much higher rates than non-Indigenous children, often due to house overcrowding, poverty and other circumstances related to trauma and inequality. Parents who might need to undergo drug and alcohol screenings before visits are finding that these services have been interrupted or closed, prohibiting fulfilment of these visit conditions. This has also been exacerbated by border closures and travel restrictions.

The new Closing the Gap agreement, announced in February 2020, has committed to tackling some of these inequities in its updated targets, including: 

- By 2031, reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults held in incarceration by at least 15 per cent (target 10)

- By 2031, reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years) in detention by at least 15 per cent (target 11)

- By 2031, reduce the rate of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent (target 12)

- A significant and sustained reduction in violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children towards zero (target 13)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of just how imperative it is that these “gaps” are closed. You can read more about the 2020 Closing the Gap agreement here.