Restoring culture in custody: The role of Indigenous businesses and community control
Professor Kerry Arabena
Managing Director
Creating space for humanity in custody
Prisons operate as systems of control, imposing routines, schedules, and compliance that quickly strip away individuality and humanity. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, incarceration not only reflects individual circumstances but also embodies the historical burden of systemic disadvantage spanning generations. The loss of cultural identity within these systems exacerbates this harm.
Indigenous businesses are instrumental in transforming this narrative. By integrating First Nations' leadership, they ensure that cultural practices and community priorities are central to custodial healthcare. A prime example in Victoria is the Aboriginal Community Controlled Correctional Health Service (ACCCHS). This service was developed in collaboration with VACCHO, VAHS, and individuals with lived carceral experience. Karabena Consulting's involvement highlights the capacity of Indigenous businesses to foster environments where reform ideas are tested, gain momentum, and establish legitimacy.
Using contagion theory as a framework
We used contagion theory to make sense of what was happening inside. The idea is simple: behaviours and emotions spread quickly in groups. In prisons, it’s often despair, withdrawal, or violence that dominates. But the same pathways can carry pride, cooperation, and healing when cultural authority is respected.
Change doesn’t always come from one big moment either. Some shifts need repeated exposure, what researchers call complex contagion, before they stick. That’s why ceremonies, Yarning Circles, and cultural mentoring only have real impact when they’re regular and visible across the prison, not treated as one-off events.
At the heart of this is the social climate: the emotional and relational atmosphere of a prison that staff and inmates alike experience. A positive climate makes it easier for pro-social behaviours to spread, for rehabilitation to feel possible, and for staff to approach their jobs with less stress and more respect. Within that kind of climate, cultural practices fuel hope. When people see others take on valued roles, it creates a ripple effect of possibility, belonging, and stronger chances of reintegration after release.
Communities in control
Community control is the engine of this work. Aboriginal Health Workers and custodial staff, when backed properly, can make space where Aboriginal identity is visible and respected. That advocacy needs to be acted on quickly, so inmates see that their voices actually matter.
Cultural safety training for corrections staff adds weight to this authority. When non-Aboriginal staff validate Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing, change stops being the job of Aboriginal leaders alone. It becomes a shared responsibility. That partnership shifts prison culture, making cooperation, healing, and accountability part of the everyday.
Pathways to impact
The community-led approach identified a clear sequence of change:
Short term: Greater visibility of Aboriginal culture, more participation in programs, fewer flashpoints and incidents.
Medium term: Peer mentoring strengthens, group norms move towards respect and responsibility, cultural identity deepens.
Long term: Lower reoffending, safer prisons, and Aboriginal-led models become normal practice across the justice system—supported by policies like the Indigenous Procurement Policy, Closing the Gap targets, and Treaty commitments.
These outcomes matter for inmates as well as for staff. A climate shaped by respect and cooperation makes prisons safer and more workable for everyone inside.
Conclusion
Indigenous businesses can act as facilitators of community control and cultural authority in custodial health. Their involvement embeds Indigenous leadership inside corrections, giving reform cultural legitimacy and the power to shift structures, not just programs.