
Heather, a Noongar woman incarcerated at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women's prison in Victoria, talks about the impact of COVID-19 on prisons and inmates, and how small infractions can send people to jail.
This interview excerpt comes from a compilation of recordings drawn on for the Beyond the Bars broadcast by 3CR radio.
Beyond the Bars is a long-running prison broadcast celebrating National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Victorian jails.
In 2020, because of COVID-19 restrictions, Beyond the Bars recorded short recordings over the phone, rather than their usual live prison broadcasts.
These individual recordings were compiled and broadcast from 6–10 July, when NAIDOC Week would normally have been taking place (in 2020, it was rescheduled from July to November).
These recordings include the voices of the men and women from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Loddon/Middleton Prison, Barwon Prison, Karreenga Annex and Fulham Correctional Centre.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.