There is no doubt in Hayley’s mind about the importance of the program that allowed her to care for and train a dog while in prison. “It saved my life,” she says. 

Port Phillip Prison will close at the end of next year as part of a growing move away from privately run prisons in Australia.

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There are renewed hopes that phone calls in Australian prisons will soon be more affordable or completely free, with campaigns advocating for the change ramping up around the country.

Queensland has become the first state to allow people in prison to purchase basic painkillers through the canteen buy-up process, marking a significant step forward in the provision of healthcare in the prison system.

Several states are looking to improve access to technologies in prison cells, with some also to provide limited access to the internet and email.

Prison pen-pal programs have been found to improve the health and wellbeing of those in prison, and their rehabilitation, thanks to improved connections with
the general community.

When a flyer was put up in the NSW Dillwynia Correctional Centre for a new book club last year, the program was filled in just three hours.

From the start of February, people in prison in Victoria will now be charged 25c per minute to make a mobile phone call, down from the previous 57c per minute rate.

“We can’t get information about how a party or candidate’s policies must impact prisoners,” Kelly told About Time. “Prison officers also will not provide us with any information as it is seen as political.”

The Living with Mum program is one of many across the country that permit women to raise their baby in a dedicated area of a prison. These programs vary in eligibility and age restrictions.

Historically, the party in power (the ‘incumbent’) has had an advantage going into an election. That all changed last year.

A lack of access to stable housing is a key reason why many people reoffend and return to prison. It’s also a main reason why people are denied parole and kept in prison for longer.

The regular use of lockdowns across the Australian prison system has been in the spotlight in recent weeks, with governments under pressure to address the growing issue that is having a devastating impact on those inside.

Naloxone is a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an overdose on opioids.

Nearly 10,000 people in prison voted in the recent federal election – a massive increase from previous polls.

It’s estimated that about a third of all people in prison in Australia have a mental health diagnosis. Despite the huge need for support and care, a lack of staffing across the country has meant that many people in prison have been unable to get help.

Kathleen Folbigg walked free from a prison in New South Wales in 2023 after serving 20 years in jail following a wrongful conviction.

“I went from writing every day to basically not writing at all by the end, because it was so poorly photocopied or it was delayed,” Sarah told About Time.

While access to clean drinking water is a basic human right for people in prison, there have been a number of recent reports of dirty and metallic-tasting drinking water in prisons around the country, raising concerns over the health impact of consuming such water.

The NSW Government has moved to make it easier to find incarcerated people guilty of a “prison offence”, against the advice of independent experts.

Every year in early December, a group of volunteers come together to pack a hamper for every woman in prison in Victoria.

“It is our assessment that Victoria Police did not comply with the Surveillance Devices Act when installing and maintaining integrated listening devices,” the report said.

The death of a 16-year-old First Nations teenager in a notorious youth unit of an adult prison in Western Australia was preventable and predictable, and the result of “serious longstanding deficiencies in the system, a Coroner has found.

There are no nation-wide policies or guidelines for managing extreme heat in Australian prisons, or for the regular measurement of temperatures within prison buildings and cells.

Currently, people in prison serving a sentence of fewer than three years in the state can vote in state and local government elections, as well as federal elections. This plan would restrict voting rights to only those serving a sentence of one year or less for state elections.

A number of Victorian prisons may have to be renovated or rebuilt after the Supreme Court found that no “open air” was being provided to inmates in multiple units.

In October last year, thousands of New South Wales prison officers also went on strike, plunging incarcerated people into abrupt and extended lockdowns.

“Keep your shit together, don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

Every Saturday morning in four prisons around the country, a 5km fun run takes place.