Prison Release, Women

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (15:06): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services on the topic of housing for women leaving prison.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: This morning the ABC reported that advocates are calling for more gender specific support to help women who have been incarcerated in their transition back into the community. According to Linda Fisk, the co-founder of a support service for women leaving prison, the main challenge is finding long-term housing, with many struggling with homelessness after leaving the system. Without references, it is very difficult to obtain private rentals and these women can often end up waiting for a long time for public housing.

Women's Justice Network chief, Gloria Larman, told the ABC, 'They get put into what is often referred to as temporary accommodation, which quite often is a dodgy hotel that's quite often not safe for women.' My question, therefore, to the Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services is: what is the minister doing proactively to reduce the risk of homelessness for women who exit the prison system?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:08): I thank the honourable member for his question and interest in this space. Following on from the program that I was just mentioning—obviously that was not about housing but about giving people opportunities for employment, which starts whilst they are in the correctional system and follows them out of the system as well—I know there are many opportunities available. It is about DCS working with a number of private organisations, but also organisations that can provide that appropriate housing, like SA Housing Trust.

I am meeting with many organisations about this—Seeds is one of them—and I look forward to hearing what they can provide in this space. Programs available that women can go to would be Catherine House placement for women on bail who require support housing. This can be either on bail or prerelease.

Also, there is the Integrated Housing Exits Program, a partnership between DCS, OARS and another couple of organisations, whereby they can provide appropriate housing for up to 12 months. I believe there are about 60 properties that are scattered throughout regional and metropolitan South Australia. I am happy to try to find more details for you about the particular details of each of those programs, if that is of help.