LEAP for Women

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The Legal Education and Advice in Prison (LEAP) for Women program assists women prisoners in realising and enforcing their human rights, in particular their rights in accessing justice.

Women’s Legal Service (WLS NSW) provides this service along with Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre and Western Sydney Community Legal Centre in recognition of the high levels of unmet need amongst prisoners for civil and family law services. LEAP addresses this need by providing and facilitating access to legal services for incarcerated women, in particular, Aboriginal women.

Through LEAP, the community legal centres provide regular, free legal advice clinics and some community legal education services at the three women’s correctional centres in metropolitan Sydney:

  • Dillwynia,
  • Emu Plains, and
  • Silverwater Women’s.

Legal advice clinics are held once a month at each location, so the women can develop a familiarity and trust in the service.

Commencing in 2018 WLS also offers legal services to prisoners at the Mary Wade Correctional Centre

LEAP received the 2009 NSW Law and Justice Foundation Community Legal Centre Award.

In 2013, a pilot program of legal information and literacy education commenced – the Legal Literacy in Prisons Project (LLiPP) – which developed out of LEAP.

We continue to seek funding to ensure we can keep assisting female prisoners in accessing justice and enforcing their human rights.

Women in custody can use the CADL system to contact WLS on #21.

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