Women's Lived Experience in Decarceration & Carceral Resistance
In this episode of Done By Law we feature audio from the wonderful seminar ‘Women’s Lived Experience in Decarceration and Carceral Resistance’, held on Monday 24 October 2022 at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.This evening of discussion, reflections and solutions was hosted by Fitzroy Legal Service and featured the insightful contributions of a number of expert panellists, including practitioners, and women with lived experience of incarceration and the criminal justice system. Panel 1 – Systemic changes required to address women’s over-incarcerationElena Campbell (Moderator) – Centre for Innovative JusticeKaren Fletcher – Flat OutLisa Abbott – TaskForceElena Pappas – LACWMegan Pearce – VLAPanel 2 – Women’s Lived ExperienceNina (Moderator) – Homes Not Prisons, Women Transforming JusticeJacqui Bampton – Women Transforming JusticeSara – Homes Not Prisons, Women Transforming JusticeWe have unfortunately only been able to feature 30 minutes of this jam packed two and a half hour evening. To watch the whole event, head to YouTube via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB_TlMR3tTo&ab_channel=FitzroyLegalService ***Full biographies Panel 1: Elena Pappas LACWElena is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, and community legal centre established specifically to combat women's increasing criminalisation and imprisonment. She also sits on the Board as an Executive Director. Elena is a passionate advocate and leader who is dedicated to working collaboratively with organisation and individuals to address the causes of women’s criminalisation. She currently leads LACW’s policy and systemic advocacy work, and is Co-Convenor of Smart Justice for Women, a sub-committee of the broader Smart Justice coalition convened by the Federation of Community Legal Centres. Elena previously worked at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service where she held the position of Senior Lawyer in the Criminal Law team. She advised and appeared on behalf of clients in complex criminal matters and shared responsibility for the mentoring and management of junior and support staff. Prior to this, Elena was an Associate in the Workplace Relations team of a private law firm in Melbourne. She holds a Master of Public and International Law from the University of Melbourne. She has worked as a volunteer with the Mental Health Legal Centre, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Fitzroy Legal Service.Lisa AbbottTaskforceLisa Abbott is the Executive Manager Social Impact and Growth at TaskForce Community Agency, a not-for profit operating in Victoria delivering a suite of services to our most marginalised. Lisa has worked with those in contact with the justice system for 20 years in Government and community and over the last five years has been leading the development and delivery of the Living Free Project, a project supporting vulnerable girls and women who are at risk of, or are in early contact with, the justice system. The project drives cross sectoral collaboration and seeks to improve service system responses to enhance how our health and community sectors support women who often fall through service gaps.Karen FletcherFlat OutKaren Fletcher is the Executive Officer of Flat Out Inc, a community organisation that supports and advocates for women and trans and gender diverse people to get out and stay out of prison. She is a lawyer by trade has worked as a prison advocacy lawyer at Fitzroy Legal Service and Prisoners Legal Service QLD and as a public health lawyer, with a special interest in drug decriminalisation, in government and non-government agencies. She is an activist in the Homes not Prisons campaign in Victoria.Megan PearceVLAMegan has spent much of her career working alongside criminalised people, particularly women and children. Having started her career as a criminal defence lawyer at Legal Aid Queensland, Megan has also led major law reform inquiries into Victoria’s criminal trial process and child protection sy