Formerly incarcerated, Tahlia Isaac now leads push to support women as female prisoner numbers rise BBy Baz RuddickTopic:Rehabilitation1h ago1 hours agoSat 10 May 2025 at 9:13pmTahlia Isaac is helping women transition out of prison and into a positive life. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)abc.net.au/news/prison-rehab-women-female-population/105239722Link copiedShareShare articleTahlia Isaac's life today is a far cry from what it was just a few years ago.She's a mother of two boys, has positive relationships and has found purpose.When she was 18 years old she started smoking ice, using it off and on for about a decade.She was addicted, and in order to use, she had to sell.Ms Isaac holding one of her paintings. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)Eventually she was caught by police and charged with supply and possession."I was really numb at the time I was incarcerated. I had been on a warpath trying to destroy my life for the previous two years," Ms Isaac says."I just set my life on fire. I was being really destructive, taking cocktails of drugs."While she was charged in early 2017, it wasn't until the end of 2018 when she was finally sent to prison after months of destructive behaviour she says was fuelled by trauma.She says when she was first charged she was released on bail with no orders to treat her addiction and no tools or resources at her disposal — which allowed her to continue offending.Ms Isaac feels fortunate for her post-prison life. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)The now 34-year-old has well and truly moved on from a life that was dominated by drugs and crime.She has a postgraduate degree in criminology and works full time in advocacy.Through her charity, "Project:herSELF", she is helping women transition out of prison and into a positive life.The number of women incarcerated in Australia has more than doubled since 2000. (ABC News: Richard Mockler)Ms Isaac believes most women struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives when they live in prison."Prisons aren't therapeutic. They don't offer women the chance to heal from the life they were living," she says.Drawing on data from the international World Prison Brief database, Ms Isaac says Australia has imprisoned 3,473 women as of June 2024.Indigenous women incarcerated at growing ratePhoto shows A woman with long dark hair.Like her mother, Tarnika became addicted to drugs and went to prison.Half of these women were held on remand and not yet found guilty, and around 1,000 of those were in Queensland."Adjusted for population growth, it has more than doubled since records began in 2000," she says."These numbers represent people. Women, mothers, sisters, aunties and daughters. The glue that holds our social fabric together."Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that nationally the female prison population grew by 64 per cent between 2009 and 2019. This compares with an increase of 45 per cent for the male prison population.3,473 women are incarcerated in Australia. (ABC News: Richard Mockler)She believes that stigma, as well as a lack of support means that many women go back to the lives they were living before."You feel like you are walking around with this label on your head like 'I've been in prison, I've been addicted to drugs'," she says."You are shrouded in so much shame and stigma and discrimination."She says she found it particularly hard when it came to searching for a job, having been knocked back for jobs she was over-qualified for and even terminated from another when she was asked to disclose her conviction history.Complexity that isn't catered forProfessor Susan Dennison is from Griffith University's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.She says the rapid increase in the incarceration of women can in part be attributed to the level of disadvantage these women experienced prior to their incarceration, including poverty, homelessness, substance abuse and domestic violence.Professor Susan Dennison says a lot of women experience disadvantages prior to incarceration. (Supplied: Transforming Corrections to Transform Lives Centre)"We have about a third of women who have been homeless prior to incarceration," she says."It is very hard for women to break that cycle once they are in the criminal justice system because very little changes for them when they exit prison."A report from the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council found that one third of sentenced women and girls in the period between 2005 and 2019 had been charged before and that the number of women who received prison sentences had increased significantly.In the 2005/06 financial year, women received imprisonment sentences 485 times, while in 2018/19 the number had risen to 2,128.A third of women sentenced to prison have faced prior charges. (ABC News)Professor Dennison said about 70 per cent of women in prison have been locked up before."An inability to get access to this kind of support that they need when they need it leaves them very vulnerable to offending," she says.Suzanne Brumby, an associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice with the University of Southern Queensland, has spent 20 years working with people in prison and upon their release.Support for former female prisonersPhoto shows Back of a woman's head, her hair tied up in a ponytail, in a room with a display cabinet and TV on the wallDespite the growing number of adult female prisoners across Australia, advocates say there are few gender-specific support services to help them transition back into the community.She says there needs to be greater emphasis put on using peer support with people with lived experience to help the transition into life outside prison."Automatically you get a synergy when there's that shared experience and a shared goal," Professor Brumby says."It's probably the most valuable thing for helping people get on with their life once they're back in the community."She says politically she would like to see more courage from leaders when it comes to policies that help people reintegrate into society."At a social level, I think I would say that everybody has a role to play in re-integration. It is everybody's business because a safe community is everybody's business," she says."Sometimes it is just about being a friend, just accepting someone despite their past."A lot of these things we can't measure and so they don't become the emphasis in re-entry programs or in anything that's government funded because we can't KPI things like feeling values, feeling a sense of community."Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Suzanne Brumby wants more courage from political leaders. (Supplied)A 'wrap around' communityMs Isaac says while she was able to use her time in prison to get clean, she quickly found the new life she had dreamt of while inside was not going to come easy."I didn't know how to advocate for myself and find a job. I didn't know anything about living life as a contributing member to society because I was so disconnected from that before," she says.She says each point of contact with a government or social service had given her self esteem a blow, as she was reminded of her criminal convictions.Experts are calling for more support to help with the transition to life outside prison. (ABC News)When looking at the numbers, she often thinks about other women she met in prison."One gave birth to baby twins just days before she was eligible for release, separated from them straight after birth until her release date came," she says.She says there are countless others who lose their homes and jobs for crimes most would deem not worthy of prison, like driving unlicensed or low level drug offences."Another who defended herself against her knife wielding husband. While she got out with her life, she paid for it by being charged and sentenced for six years,' she says.It's these women she wants to help transition out of prison and into a positive life.Ms Isaac is building a community that offers practical support. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)Her charity works through one-on-one sessions, every week with a mentor over 12 weeks.She also goes into prisons with a release planning project."We support women to self-determine their plans for release, with a journal that has all the elements women need to consider when planning for release into their community," she says."In an informal setting we help women with practical support; writing resumes, discussing relationships, connecting them in with existing services, and just lending an ear from a place of knowing."It's about building a community that wraps around and helps women find their way to a positive future."The women who are in prison are smart, resourceful and resilient. They are incredible," she says."If we as a community can see how much these women can offer we can see communities start to thrive."Ms Isaac in her home. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)She wants to see more support in place to help all women achieve what she has post-prison."I'm happy and I don't feel like I walk around with a big sign on my head. I feel like I am accepted in my community and I have a group of friends and yeah that life's pretty good," she says."It is almost like society feels there's something fundamentally wrong with [imprisoned women] because women aren't supposed to go to jail."They are meant to be good and if you go to prison obviously that's not what you are, is it?"Posted 1h ago1 hours agoSat 10 May 2025 at 9:13pmShare optionsCopy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesIsrael is keeping up its blockade of aid as kids starve to deathTopic:WarPhoto shows A small baby in a pink onesie sleeps on a blue and yellow blanket.India-Pakistan ceasefire breaks down hours after truce announcedTopic:Unrest, Conflict and WarPhoto shows Two soldiers walk down a path next to people taking photos on the banks of a riverHow Australia's biggest pokies dynasty is rewriting its legacyTopic:GamblingPhoto shows Len Ainsworth poses for a portrait at a table in a dark room with poker machines behind him.Harry, Charles and the grief dilemma tearing apart the royal familyTopic:RoyaltyPhoto shows An older man and two younger men Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 plunges to Earth after 53 years in orbitTopic:SpacecraftPhoto shows A small circular spacecraftPopular nowHarry, Charles and the grief dilemma tearing apart the royal familyTopic:RoyaltyPhoto shows An older man and two younger men Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 plunges to Earth after 53 years in orbitTopic:SpacecraftPhoto shows A small circular spacecraftAfter 40 years calling the Sunshine Coast home, Narelle has been forced out Topic:Housing PolicyPhoto shows A woman stands at a doorway looking out.Related topicsAlcoholDrugsPrisonsQLDRehabilitationSubstance AbuseTownsvilleTop StoriesIsrael is keeping up its blockade of aid as kids starve to deathTopic:WarPhoto shows A small baby in a pink onesie sleeps on a blue and yellow blanket.India-Pakistan ceasefire breaks down hours after truce announcedTopic:Unrest, Conflict and WarHow Australia's biggest pokies dynasty is rewriting its legacyTopic:GamblingHarry, Charles and the grief dilemma tearing apart the royal familyTopic:RoyaltySoviet spacecraft Kosmos 482 plunges to Earth after 53 years in orbitTopic:SpacecraftJust InTasmanian poppy processor taps into weight-loss drug marketTopic:Pharmaceuticals12m ago12 minutes agoSat 10 May 2025 at 10:17pmItalian crowd compares Sinner's victorious return to pope's ascentTopic:Tennis33m ago33 minutes agoSat 10 May 2025 at 9:56pmAfter 40 years calling the Sunshine Coast home, Narelle has been forced out Topic:Housing Policy37m ago37 minutes agoSat 10 May 2025 at 9:52pmLey's leadership push met with mixed response in home electorateTopic:Political Leadership50m ago50 minutes agoSat 10 May 2025 at 9:39pmMore Just InBack to top