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Female offenders are housed in six facilities across the state.
There are three designated women's centres, Silverwater Women's, Dillwynia and Emu Plains and female-only units at Broken Hill, Wellington and Mid North Coast.
There are also designated female beds at Long Bay Hospital.
A residential program for women with children operates at Jacaranda Cottages at Emu Plains and at the Parramatta Transitional Centre.
There are two transitional centres, Parramatta and Bolwara at Emu Plains.
Miruma in Cessnock is a residential facility for women who are diverted from custody who have mental health disorders and long-term alcohol and other drugs issues.
The 2009 Inmate Health Survey found the following about women in custody:
A fourth edition of Female Offenders: a Statistical Profile was produced by CSNSW's Corporate Research, Evaluation and Statistics Branch. This showed that the majority of women were in custody for illicit drug offences (23.7%) followed by property offences (18.3%). The third most common offence was Acts intended to cause Injury (16.2%). Among women under CSNSW supervision in the community the most common offences were theft (30.4%) and assault (30.3%). Driving offences were the third most common offence (17.6%).
11 May 2023
We acknowledge Aboriginal people as the First Nations Peoples of NSW and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
Informed by lessons of the past, Department of Communities and Justice is improving how we work with Aboriginal people and communities. We listen and learn from the knowledge, strength and resilience of Stolen Generations Survivors, Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal communities.
You can access our apology to the Stolen Generations.