Spike in number of Vietnamese women in Australian prisons

Updated June 24, 2010 15:08:40

It's emerged that a disproportionate number of Vietnamese women are currently being held in Australian prisons. In the south-eastern state of Victoria, for example, Vietnamese-born women make up the fastest-growing group within the women's prisoner population They make up about one per cent of the general population but once behind bars, they account for about 14 per cent. And often there's a common thread linking their crimes: gambling.

Presenter: Helene Hofman
Speakers: Cam Nguyen, Founder and CEO, Australian Vietnamese Women's Association; Than Nguyen, lawyer and Vice-President, Vietnamese Community in Australia, New South Wales Chapter; Dinh Trong Dang, Counsellor, Vietnamese Community in Australia Problem Gambling Project, New South Wales

HELENE HOFMAN: Their crimes range from fraud to drug smuggling to theft and worse, but there is one thing many of the Vietnamese women in Australia's jails have in common and that's gambling.

Community leaders can't explain exactly why, but in the last ten years an increasing number of young Vietnamese women have been drawn to casinos and slot machines.

The result is mounting debts, isolation from their families and community, and increasingly: prison.

Cam Nguyen is the founder and CEO of the Australian Vietnamese Women's Association, based in the state capital of Victoria, Melbourne.

She has been looking out for Vietnamese women in the city's prison for about 25 years, and says that in the last five years there's been a worrying spike in numbers.

CAM NGUYEN: 13, 15 years ago there were 1 or 2 and then 8,9 years ago there would be 5 or 6 or something like that. But now there would be 45. The numbers have increased tremendously. Women are in there for a variety of offences but when you get to know them, when our workers get to know them, under the layer of various crimes we learn that they committed those crimes because they needed the money because they had gambled and lost and were the victims of loan sharks.

HELENE HOFMAN: And the problem isn't just limited to the state of Victoria.

Futher north, community leaders in New South Wales have noticed a similar trend.

Than Nguyen is a lawyer and vice-president of the Vietnamese Community in Australia's New South Wales chapter.

He says the problem of gambling-related crimes is escalating, and needs to be urgently addressed.

THAN NGUYEN: Gambling has always been a big problem among the Asian community, but more particularly in the Vietnamese community. The problem has always been there but it's getting to a stage where the adddiction is getting more and more serious. Gambling can cause so much damage to families, to the fabric of our society and it leads to criminal activity and it has a huge cost to society as a whole.

HOFMAN: In fact in the last ten years, the problem has become so prounounced in Western Sydney that a dedicated gambling support program for the Vietnamese community has been in place since 1999.

Until last year, the Vietnamese Community in Australia Problem Gambling Project was manned by one counsellor, Dinh Trong Dang.

However, the demand for the service has been so strong - paricularly from women - that last year, an additional female counsellor was hired to work part-time.