Like her mother, Tarnika became addicted to drugs and went to prison. The number of First Nations women being incarcerated is on the rise.
Tarnika Roma was 13 when she decided to run away from her home in Queensland's west to be with her mum."She was in the Valley, on the stairs, in a cardboard box," Tarnika told 7.30.Her mother's situation was new to Tarnika, who had been raised with her siblings by her stepfather since the age of seven, when her mother had left.
By the time Tarnika was in her early 20s she had experienced domestic violence and a string of traumatic life events, which led to her own nine-year drug addiction."I used it to self-medicate, to just get me by my days so I didn't feel anything." They're known around here as Aunties to the women being housed in the centre, and upon entering the sunlit courtyard, see faces that have become familiar.
Florence says the women see her "like family" because so many of the women are from far-flung parts of the state and often don't have family visiting them.Florence is part of the Elders for Change community-led initiative, which helps First Nations women on the inside stay connected to culture, find legal representation and prepare for life after prison."Just because they're inside here, it doesn't define their future.
Earlier this year, the federal government invested in supporting Elders for Change as part of its justice reinvestment program, an initiative aimed at helping Aboriginal communities find solutions to incarceration and drivers of crime."The gap is getting wider because no one's listening to us," she said.On remand for up to one year
Ms Schwartz says being homeless or having no fixed address can be just one of the reasons courts will deny someone bail. "If our women are going to jails, our children are going into the system with child protection," she said. A spokesperson for Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D'ath told the ABC that the government remains committed to achieving the Closing the Gap targets, "but it can't be at the expense of community safety".
Others were to uphold the right to bail, to monitor the charge of offensive language and also to decriminalise public drunkenness — which remains a criminal offence in Queensland more than 30 years later.
First Nations Prison Jail Behind Bars Remand Justice Women
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