The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls expresses deep concern about the newly announced review of the Bail Act 1985 by the South Australian Law Reform Institute (SALRI).
‘While this review is framed as a balanced and inclusive process, we fear it will once again be used to tighten already punitive bail laws and further entrench a carceral response to social issues,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Across the country, we are seeing governments lean on ‘law and order’ policies as knee-jerk reactions to complex social problems—using bail law reform as a populist tool to appear tough on crime. These changes don’t make communities safer. They make prisons bigger, harsher, and more lethal,’ said Tabitha Lean. ‘We know from lived experience that stricter bail laws simply mean more people locked up, more cages built, and more lives lost to a system that punishes people for being poor, Black, disabled, sick, or homeless,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘We are already living with the consequences of decades of disinvestment in social services—rising poverty, increasing homelessness, and a mental health system in crisis. Instead of addressing these root causes, governments continue to criminalise people for their survival. Bail laws are now being weaponised against our most marginalised, and we are told this is justice,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Let us be clear: what we need is not tougher bail laws, but bold investment in community. We call on researchers and legal institutions to use their evidence and influence to convince governments that the solution is not more prison beds, but more housing, more mental health care, and more income support,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘This review cannot succeed if it keeps asking the same questions to the same kinds of experts. If we are serious about transforming justice in this country, we must be willing to listen to those who have survived the system—not just those who have studied it,’ said Debbie Kilroy. ‘That means placing formerly incarcerated people, especially criminalised women, and criminalised Aboriginal people, at the centre of those conversations. We don’t need more theory about how bail works; we need truth about how it harms,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people, shaped by a neoliberal capitalist system that ensures not everyone can meet their basic needs. If the only response to this inequality is criminalisation, surveillance, and incarceration, we will see only more suffering and more deaths in custody. There is nothing rational about reinforcing violence,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘The National Network urge SALRI and the South Australian Government to not let this review be another excuse to expand the prison system. If you want real change—change that is transformative, not performative—you must be brave enough to break the cycle of harm,’ said Tabitha Lean.
For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0419 762 474 or Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226.
