Prisoners as change makers
Life-changing work in Australian prisons through the Community Based Health and First Aid program.
Since launching in Australia in 2018, the Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) program has been bringing prisoners, prison staff and Red Cross together to implement meaningful health, safety and wellbeing projects within prison communities.
Now running in three Australian prisons, the program trains prisoners to become Special Status Red Cross volunteers within their correctional facility.
Volunteers learn skills and build confidence and self-worth, which has impact on their lives beyond the prison gate.
Prison communities benefit in a range of ways, from improvements in safety and relations between prisoners and officers, to general hygiene and cleanliness and capacity to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis.
Inmates could come to us with their problems and we could work towards solving them. And when we got projects done inmates started looking up to us, like we were someone… it gave me a reason to do the right things, to fall on the right side of the fence.
The CBHFA program, first introduced into prisons by Irish Red Cross, was designed as a community health program by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Here, the program is delivered in Queensland, with growing interest from other states and territories.
- Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre, Queensland – the first female site in Australia. Projects started mid-2019
Watch what is happening with CBHFA at St Heliers Correctional Centre in NSW.
One woman’s behaviours were problematic. She was loud, forceful (in a bad way), involved in altercations, manipulation and other adverse behaviours. Then she went into Sisters for Change and not only have those behaviours disappeared, there’s no negative case notes, and no negative behaviours.
Projects introduced through CBHFA
CBHFA special status volunteers, prison staff and Red Cross facilitators work together to develop and implement projects which respond to the needs of their particular prison community. A range of different projects have been introduced across Australia, including:
- Hepatitis C awareness campaign
- Let’s talk about bullying campaign
- Drug and alcohol harm minimisation
- Hygiene promotion including the installation of soap dispensers
- The collection and creation of Christmas gifts to support strong family connection
- Safe Women Workshops to reduce prisoner-on-prisoner violence and assaults
- Clean up crew to improve the hygiene of the detention units
- Introducing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Training
- Elders as volunteers in the prison for cultural continuity and support
- Mum’s in Jail book for children of prisoners
An overview of the Australian correctional system
Our prison numbers are growing - Up 4% in 2017/18 with 42,974 people in prison in Australia
Prison costs continue to rise - $4.7 billion total cost for the Australian Corrections system
People being imprisoned for less serious offences - 45% imprisoned for traffic offences
The number of Aboriginal people in prisons continues to rise -– making up 27% of the prison population, despite being only 3% of the general population.
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