ABSTRACT
This chapter presents details of the study context and methods and canvasses issues about researching this vulnerable cohort of women. It flags some of the views the women had about programme participation and reintegration. The Better Pathways strategy was launched in 2005 by Corrections Victoria in response to a growing number of women entering the Victorian corrections system. The majority of participants in the study were born in Australia, although Vietnamese women comprised 6.6 per cent of study participants. Overall, 26 per cent of the study participants returned to prison within 12 months of release; 70 per cent returned once, with the remaining women returning more than once. After prison, the dispersal of women throughout Victoria and out of Victoria or Australia, and the range of programmes they could access made this impossible. Community corrections officers (CCOs) who were parole supervisors offered women on parole a secure base for their reintegration into the community.
