Nursing Care In the early days of the Colony, untrained convicts were assigned to general nursing roles both in the community and in the prisons. Both male and female convicts acted as nurses, with the male convicts responsible for the male patients and female convict for female patients. They were not paid any wages although were provided their keep. Prisons often employed the wife of the prison superintendent as the ‘Matron’; however she was not a trained nurse. Gaols continued to employ prisoners as nurses.
The transfer of control of the Prison Medical Service to the NSW Ministry of Health in 1968 heralded a change in the provision of healthcare in the state’s prison system, including the employment of nursing staff. In 1969 two nurses were engaged to provide healthcare to inmates at the Long Bay Correctional Complex. Thereafter, a nursing presence at each of the correctional centres around NSW was established and today there are over 700 nurses providing health care in NSW prisons. Indeed, the prevailing situation in NSW is now one of nurse-led healthcare, with nurses providing most of the primary healthcare required.
This exhibition is a snapshot of provision of medicine in NSW gaols since colonial times. While the research has yielded much valuable and unique information, there remain some aspects of prison medicine about which we still know very little. The crucial and challenging role of nursing in NSW gaols since establishment of the penal colony is one such area.
Caring for the Incarcerated Exhibition Guide
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