ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 delves deeply as well as broadly into the preponderance of unresolved trauma and loss issues in the lives of intergenerational incarcerates. Particular attention is paid to the complex array of historical and contemporary factors that have made trauma and loss issues such a pervasive part of Aboriginal prisoners’ lives. This is a seminal issue to emerge from the data (for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal prisoners alike). As such, grasping its dimensions will pave the way for comprehending other causal factors outlined in subsequent parts of the book. The chapter examines how and why successive generations of prisoners (within the same family) fall short of obtaining, are not offered, or are ill-equipped to respond to, initiatives within and beyond custodial environments capable of addressing trauma and loss dimensions.
