Our Election Priorities – Week 2

At Drummond Street Services, we pride ourselves on centring community leadership, providing social justice-informed intervention, and evidence-based practice. Therefore, our Social Justice Committee is presenting a 5-week election campaign with some of the focus areas that we would like to see adequately considered and addressed, demanding that all political parties support inherent human rights, embrace expertise and evidence-based decisions and avoid backwards steps.

Week 2# – Protecting the rights of criminalised, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, trans and gender diverse people.

As a reaction to a misguided perception of increased criminal activities in Victoria, the political responses have been toughening legislation, criminalisation and incarceration of its population. Investments in prisons to accommodate the Bail Amendment Act 2025 continue to grow while the locations struggle to recruit and maintain a workforce. As a further consequence, a Corrections Amendment Bill was passed allowing incarcerated folks to be denied the minimum 1-hour access to fresh air based on prisons’ staffing challenges, preventing further legal actions to compensate people for breaches of their human rights during incarceration. Beyond financial compensation, the concerns we raise are around the negative impacts of incarceration conditions on people’s reintegration into the community.

On 24 October 2025, Corrections Victoria reported a total of 397 women included in the ‘prison population’; on 23 October 2026, that reported number increased to 491. In terms of men, the number has increased by close to one thousand. Corrections Victoria does not publicly report criminalisation and incarceration numbers of trans and gender diverse people.

Our Key Priorities:

1. Incarceration as a last resort

While Victorian Government and many political parties continue to introduce and propose tougher Laws and Reforms, we defend that discontinuing the last resort principle strengthens recidivism and disproportionately harms already oppressed and disadvantaged communities.

2. Ongoing reforms regarding criminalisation and incarceration of women, trans and gender diverse people

We advocate for a criminal legal system’s reform that recognises and responds to the unique needs of women, trans and gender diverse folks. Evidence suggests that some of the strongest of their interaction with the criminal justice system are: homelessness or unstable housing, unsupported mental health and cognitive disabilities, problematic alcohol and other drug use, racism and discrimination against Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, experiences of sexual and family violence. Therefore, we support ongoing law reform, policy and structural change that will promote early intervention and adequate reintegration support to women, trans and gender diverse folks at risk of criminalisation and experiencing incarceration.

3. Access to appropriate services and reintegration support

In addition to protection of basic human rights such as access to daily fresh air during incarceration and fully eradicating practices such as the use of physical restraints during childbirth, it is essential that all parties commit to ensuring access to adequate services during incarceration and the reintegration period. The significant increase in incarcerated people in Victoria in the past year has negatively impacted the prisons’ and services’ capacity to provide adequate support to those who have had their lives disrupted by imprisonment. It is essential that the impacts of incarceration are minimised and closely assessed, and community-based interventions are adequately designed and funded to identify the underlying causes of criminalisation and support reintegration as opposed to the current over-dependence on incarceration.

Final demands:

Divert funding for policing and prisons’ expansion into community services and community-led initiatives, including frontline health services and ACCOs;
Invest in research, evidence and adequate legislation to support the needs and human rights of criminalised women, trans and gender diverse folks;
Ongoing adequate funding of specialist reintegration support services, in addition to appropriate housing resources, mental health care, alcohol and other drugs intervention and family violence response services.

Increasing incarcerated population and the risks of criminalisation of Victorians are not the responses we want to see when talking about safety.

While we respect the importance of the community’s sense of safety, we urge all candidates and political parties to propose responses to safety and security based on evidence and expert advice.