The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls condemns the Public Service Association’s response to the recent violent incident inside Adelaide Women’s Prison.
‘The union’s call for higher wages and increased funding for prison staffing dangerously reframes this tragedy as a labour issue when the real issue is the expansion and normalisation of the carceral state,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘What happened in Adelaide Women’s Prison is not the result of “under-resourcing” or “low pay.” It is the inevitable outcome of a system built on punishment, overcrowding, deprivation, and despair,’ said Tabitha Lean. ‘This is not a workplace crisis, it is a humanitarian crisis,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Prisons are violent by design. Violence inside is not a breakdown of the system; it is the system functioning exactly as intended,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘Every time there is an incident behind bars, the same chorus of “more funding, more staff, more prisons” is repeated. Yet South Australia’s prison population continues to grow, with Aboriginal women among the fastest-growing imprisoned population in the country,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘More money, more officers, and more beds will not create safety, they only deepen the cycle of harm and expand the very system that produces this violence,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
The National Network call on the unions and the South Australian Government to stop using these tragedies to justify further carceral expansion.
‘Safety will never come from locking more people up or investing in punitive infrastructure. Real safety comes from investment in housing, healthcare, education, and community, the things that actually prevent harm before it happens,’ said Debbie Kilroy.
‘The solution is not higher wages for those employed to manage human suffering. The solution is to confront the root cause: a punitive system that relies on cages, coercion, and control. We need decarceration, not expansion. We need justice, not punishment. And we need the political courage to imagine something beyond prisons altogether,’ said Tabitha Lean.
For further comment, please contact Debbie Kilroy on 0419 762 474 or Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226
