Three charts on: Australia’s booming prison population

The prison population in Australia is at its highest-ever recorded level. Over the past decade, the number and rate of people imprisoned across all Australian states and territories has risen rapidly.

Data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last week show there were, on average, 40,577 people in prisons in Australia during the first quarter of 2017. This is up from 25,968 ten years ago. The largest increases have been in remand, Indigenous, and women prisoners.

More people in prison are on remand¶

Prisoners held on remand are those who have been charged, not granted bail, but not yet found guilty. They are held in prison custody awaiting their court appearance or trial.

According to the latest data from the ABS, across Australia 33% of the total prison population (13,182) is on remand.

It is important to point out that the numbers the ABS presents are the average daily prisoner numbers. These numbers do not show the more dramatic picture of how many people flow in and out of prison over a year.

Prisoners on remand form a large proportion of this churning flow prisoner population. While we don’t know the exact number, it is estimated that the flow population is close to double the census number.

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