Myers Helen, Segal Leonie, Lopez Derrick, Li Ian W, Preen David B
School of Population and Global Health,University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
BMJ Open. 2017 Aug 23;7(8):e016302. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016302.
Female imprisonment has numerous health and social sequelae for both women prisoners and their children. Examples of comprehensive family-friendly prison policies that seek to improve the health and social functioning of women prisoners and their children exist but have not been evaluated. This study will determine the impact of exposure to a family-friendly prison environment on health, child protection and justice outcomes for incarcerated mothers and their dependent children.
A longitudinal retrospective cohort design will be used to compare outcomes for mothers incarcerated at Boronia Pre-release Centre, a women's prison with a dedicated family-friendly environment, and their dependent children, with outcomes for mothers incarcerated at other prisons in Western Australia (that do not offer this environment) and their dependent children. Routinely collected administrative data from 1985 to 2013 will be used to determine child and mother outcomes such as hospital admissions, emergency department presentations, custodial sentences, community service orders and placement in out-of home care. The sample consists of all children born in Western Australia between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2011 who had a mother in a West Australian prison between 1990 and 2012 and their mothers. Children are included if they were alive and aged less than 18 years at the time of their mother's incarceration. The sample comprises an exposed group of 665 women incarcerated at Boronia and their 1714 dependent children and a non-exposed comparison sample of 2976 women incarcerated at other West Australian prisons and their 7186 dependent children, creating a total study sample of 3641 women and 8900 children.
This project received ethics approval from the Western Australian Department of Health Human Research Ethics Committee, the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee and the University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee.
女性监禁对女性囚犯及其子女会产生诸多健康和社会方面的后果。旨在改善女性囚犯及其子女健康状况和社会功能的综合性家庭友好型监狱政策实例虽已存在，但尚未得到评估。本研究将确定置身于家庭友好型监狱环境对被监禁母亲及其受抚养子女的健康、儿童保护及司法结果的影响。
将采用纵向回顾性队列设计，比较在拥有专门家庭友好型环境的女子监狱博洛尼亚提前释放中心被监禁的母亲及其受抚养子女的情况，与在西澳大利亚其他监狱（不具备这种环境）被监禁的母亲及其受抚养子女的情况。将使用1985年至2013年定期收集的行政数据来确定儿童和母亲的结果，如住院、急诊就诊、监禁判决、社区服务令以及被安置在家庭外照料机构等情况。样本包括1985年1月1日至2011年12月31日在西澳大利亚出生、其母亲在1990年至2012年期间在西澳大利亚监狱服刑的所有儿童及其母亲。如果儿童在其母亲被监禁时存活且年龄小于18岁，则纳入样本。样本包括在博洛尼亚被监禁的665名女性及其1714名受抚养子女这一暴露组，以及在西澳大利亚其他监狱被监禁的2976名女性及其7186名受抚养子女这一非暴露对照组，从而形成一个由3641名女性和8900名儿童组成的总研究样本。
本项目获得了西澳大利亚卫生部人类研究伦理委员会、西澳大利亚原住民健康伦理委员会以及西澳大利亚大学人类研究伦理委员会的伦理批准。
