What are the Lived Experiences of Adult Sentenced Prisoners in Australia When Attempting to Satisfy Their Legal Information Needs?

Abstract

This research project into the lived experiences of adult sentenced prisoners in Australia as they attempt to satisfy their legal information needs is being undertaken as part of PhD study at Charles Sturt University. In Australia, 115 adult custodial facilities hold 29,030 sentenced male and female prisoners (ABS, 2022; SCGRSP, 2021). Victoria Legal Aid identi fi es that of the 4,000 prisoner enquiries they receive annually, 37% are from sen-tenced prisoners seeking help for outstanding legal matters (Husper & Ferrari, 2018). This percentage suggests that a signi fi cant number of sentenced prisoners across Australia could require access to legal information. Relying on mixed methods for data collection, government reports into the legal information needs of prisoners recognise that a sentenced prisoner ’ s access to legal information is often compromised due to limited access to telephones, the location of some prisons preventing solicitor visits, fewer services being available to country prisons (such as legal resources), delays in receiving assistance and prison rules that prevent prisoners from controlling the process. The reports also found that some prisoners had positive experiences and outcomes when engaging in seeking to satisfy their legal information needs (Husper & Ferrari, 2018; Vic-torian Legal Assistance, 2015). Although these studies identify that prisoners can have positive and negative outcomes when seeking legal information, there has yet to be any published research on the lived experience of adult sentenced prisoners in Australia attempting to satisfy their legal information needs, so little is known about the phenomenon. Research into this phenomenon will be signi fi cant as it will lead to a deeper understanding and generate new knowledge of the lived experiences of prisoners attempting to satisfy their legal information needs, and the research will also add to the theoretical scholarly collection of phenomenological research studies into prisons and the experiences of prisoners within the prison context.