Theresa over on the TropicalVegan posits an interesting question based on statistics from a recent study in Australia: She asks if:

• 89% of women in prison have been sexually assaulted

• 70% of men in prison have been sexually assaulted

and:

• only 10% of sexual assault is reported to the police

• only 10% of this reported crime results in a conviction and not always a prison sentence

Are there more victims of sexual abuse incarcerated into our ‘Correctional Centres’ than perpetrators of sexual assault?”

Could probably ask that same question in the U.S. and a good number of other countries as well.

All of this musing came about in conjunction with a visit she paid to the Townsville Correctional Centre to help women there celebrate International Women’s Day:

“On Monday afternoon, I went to the Townsville Correctional Centre with the Women’s Centre, to celebrate International Women’s Day with a group of women who are often forgotten about. Currently living their lives behind razor wire, these women are often treated as less-than-human by the prison guards who work in the Women’s Secure section. But, the majority of women are in prison for minor offenses, many of which are related to poverty–break and enters, centrelink (welfare) fraud, stealing. But they are still women, and they deserve to be a part of International Women’s Day.

So a group of women went up to the prison to spread the IWD cheer. We brought with us a proper deadly Aboriginal poet (proper deadly means really good in local Murri slang). We were met at the prison by an Aboriginal women’s dance group and Soroptomist International (a moderate group of older women)–the Soroptomists had funded a visitor from the Pacific, a UN delegate. There were the obligatory speeches, and then there was dancing. A vast majority of the prison population is indigenous, and many of the women got up to join in with the dancers. (I joined in for the freestyle dance at the end, dancing like a turtle.) We heard heart-wrenching stories of homeless women who were victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and poverty, and they don’t know what to expect when they leave the prison–will the law protect them at all?”

What a wonderful and inspiring celebration!