Assessing the Prison Experience for Australian First Peoples: A Prospective Research Approach

Abstract

Australian First Peoples hyperincarceration is concomitant with the trauma of historical and contemporary colonisation in perpetuating social dysfunction. Ongoing colonisation has been sustained by research that does not respect First Peoples epistemology, axiology, and ontology. Given this, the impact of prison quality and the potential association with First Peoples imprisonment and recidivism has been inadequately researched. Therefore there is a need to examine prison quality as experienced by Australian First Peoples. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise a decolonising prison quality research method that is respectful of and culturally sensitive to Australian First Peoples. The proposed method interfaces First Peoples yarning with Appreciative Inquiry. Underpinning the proposed method is that all researchers, First Peoples or non-Indigenous, are attuned to cultural awareness and sensitive to the engagement process. When yarning is interfaced with Appreciative Inquiry and the latter is modified in consultation with First Peoples input, the proposed research method empowers research participants, potentially contributing to de-colonisation.