Medicare in Prisons: Lobbying for reforms in custodial healthcare

On 5 December 2022, the Centre for Law and Social Justice supported a round-table event discussing the need for Medicare in prisons. Most people are surprised to hear that incarcerated people lack access to Medicare, Australia’s ‘universal’ health care system. The lack of Medicare access causes many issues not only for people in prison themselves, but also for the general community. The consequences include unnecessary deaths, the exacerbation of mental health conditions, increased recidivism, and increased strain on public health services once those in custody are released. While the costs of providing Medicare access in prisons may appear substantial, all available evidence suggests it would be highly cost effective as improved mental and physical health is known to reduce reoffending, thereby avoiding the high costs of reincarceration.

While the need for Medicare in prisons is clear from public health, human rights and economic perspectives, all efforts to make it available in prisons have thus far been unsuccessful. It is noted that government reports, community organisations and academics have called for and lobbied unsuccessfully for Medicare in prisons since at least 1985. Accordingly, this round-table discussion talked about the need for and logistics of making Medicare available in prisons, and the most effective way to lobby for this issue considering the complete lack of action taken by previous Federal Health Minister's on the matter.

This event was co-organised by the Centre For Law and Social Justice and the Justice Health Unit (Curtin University, University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children's Research Institute).