NOTES
FORTHCOMING ISSUES
| ISSUE (QUARTER) | Release Date |
| September 2006 | 1 December 2006 |
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This publication presents information on persons in custody and community-based corrections. The statistics are derived from information provided to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) from administrative records held by corrective services agencies in each state and territory, and from the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department for details on federal prisoners. Details are provided for each state and territory on: prisoner numbers and imprisonment rates by type of custody (i.e. open or secure custody or periodic detention); prisoner numbers by legal status (sentenced or unsentenced) for all prisoners and for Indigenous prisoners; the number of sentenced receptions into custody; the number of federal prisoners; and the numbers and rates of persons serving community-based corrections orders.
The ABS acknowledges the valuable contribution of the Board of Management and the Advisory Group of the National Corrective Services Statistics Unit as well as the staff of the various agencies that provide the statistics that are presented in this publication.
CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE
For the first time 'average daily number' counts for Indigenous persons by sex (tables 6 and 7) have been published. These replace previous counts for Indigenous persons by sex using 'number on first day of month'. As a result, there is now greater alignment with the counting unit used for the total population. The 'number on first day of month' counting unit remains for counts of persons in community-based corrections, federal prisoners and legal status for persons in full-time custody.
The appendix presents experimental data for Indigenous persons in community-based corrections. The tables contained in the appendix are available as data cubes.
FURTHER INFORMATION
More information about ABS activities in the field of crime and justice statistics is available from the Crime and Justice theme page on the ABS web site <www.abs.gov.au>. Details of other ABS publications relating to Crime and Justice statistics can be found in paragraphs 40-41 of the Explanatory Notes.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Nick Skondreas on Melbourne (03) 9615 7375.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
PERSONS IN CORRECTIVE SERVICES
Based on first day of the month averages, for the June quarter 2006 there were 76,974 persons under the authority of corrective services (excluding those in periodic detention). The total comprised 24,762 persons in full-time custody and 52,212 persons in community-based corrections. This represents a decrease of less than 1% (471 persons) from the June quarter 2005. From the June quarter 2005, persons in full-time custody increased by 2% (371 persons) and persons in community-based corrections decreased by 2% (842 persons).
PERSONS IN CUSTODY
Number of prisoners
PERSONS IN PRISON CUSTODY, Average daily number per month
The average daily number of full-time prisoners in Australia in the June quarter 2006 was 24,787, an increase of 1% on the previous quarter and an increase of 2% on the June quarter 2005.
Rates per 100,000 adults
AVERAGE DAILY IMPRISONMENT RATE(a), By State and Territory
Nationally, the June quarter 2006 average daily imprisonment rate was 158 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, an increase of 1% from the June quarter 2005 (157 prisoners). The Northern Territory had the highest imprisonment rate (555 prisoners per 100,000 adult population), followed by Western Australia (225) and Queensland (181). However, the imprisonment rate for the Northern Territory and Western Australia had declined by 4% from June quarter 2005 (580 and 234 respectively).
The Australian Capital Territory (including Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons) and Victoria had the lowest imprisonment rates (74 and 95 prisoners per 100,000 adults respectively).
The largest proportional increase in imprisonment rates from the June quarter 2005 was recorded in South Australia (5%). The largest proportional decrease over the same period was recorded in Tasmania (9%).
Sex
Of the average daily number of full-time prisoners in Australia in the June quarter 2006, 23,091 (93%) were male and 1,696 (7%) were female. The average daily imprisonment rate for males was 299 prisoners per 100,000 adult male population, while for females it was 21 prisoners per 100,000 adult female population. Males were more than 14 times more likely to be in prison than females.
Indigenous Prisoners
The average daily number of full-time Indigenous adult prisoners in Australia in the June quarter 2006 was 6,041, comprising 5,528 (92%) males and 513 (8%) females. Almost 80% of the total Indigenous prisoner population was located in New South Wales (1,899), Queensland (1,505) and Western Australia (1,396).
AVERAGE DAILY INDIGENOUS IMPRISONMENT RATE(a), Per month
The national average daily Indigenous imprisonment rate in the June quarter 2006 was 2,110 per 100,000 adult Indigenous population, an increase of 4% from the June quarter 2005 and an increase of 2% from the previous quarter.
The highest Indigenous imprisonment rate was recorded in Western Australia (3,376 Indigenous prisoners per 100,000 adult Indigenous population), followed by New South Wales (2,324).
AVERAGE DAILY INDIGENOUS IMPRISONMENT RATE(a), By State and Territory
The largest proportional increases in the Indigenous imprisonment rate from the June quarter 2005 were recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (including Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons), South Australia and Victoria with increases of 60%, 13% and 12% respectively. The largest proportional decrease was in Tasmania (17%) followed by Western Australia (6%).
Different age profiles of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population can affect the imprisonment rate numbers. The quarterly collection is unable to take age into account, however, data from the Prisoner Census collection can provide this level of detail.
The national age standardised Indigenous imprisonment rate from the annual Prisoner Census conducted at June 2005 was 12 times higher (1,561 per 100,000 adult Indigenous population) than the rate for non-Indigenous persons (129 per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population). Further information on the comparison of imprisonment rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations can be found in Prisoners in Australia 2005 (cat.no.4517.0).
Type of full-time custody
The average daily number of prisoners in secure prison custody in the June quarter 2006 was 18,725 (76% of prisoners in full-time custody). Open prison custody comprised 6,061 (24%) prisoners.
In the June quarter 2006, all prisoners held in full-time custody in the Australian Capital Territory were in secure custody. Of the other states and territories, Victoria and South Australia had the highest proportion of prisoners in secure custody (both 89%). New South Wales (including Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons) had the lowest proportion of prisoners in secure full-time custody (61%).
Legal status
The average number of prisoners in full-time custody on the first day of each month in the June quarter 2006 was 24,762, comprising an average of 19,351 (78%) sentenced and 5,412 (22%) unsentenced prisoners. The Australian Capital Territory (including Australian Capital Territory prisoners held in New South Wales prisons) and South Australia had the highest proportions of unsentenced prisoners (38% and 36% respectively). The lowest proportions of unsentenced prisoners were recorded in Western Australia (17%) and Victoria (18%).
UNSENTENCED PERSONS IN PRISON CUSTODY, Proportion per month
Sentenced Prisoner Receptions
There were 6,138 sentenced prisoner receptions into full-time custody in Australia in the June quarter 2006. The number of sentenced receptions increased by 207 (3%) from the March quarter 2006, and increased by 96 (2%) from the June quarter 2005.
Periodic detention
Periodic detention is a form of custody or order where a sentenced prisoner is required to be held in custody on a part-time basis. This type of custody order is only used in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. During the June quarter 2006 there was an average daily number of 733 persons in New South Wales and 54 persons in the Australian Capital Territory held in periodic detention. The rate of imprisonment for periodic detainees decreased in the Australian Capital Territory (by 9%) and New South Wales (by 5%) from the March quarter 2006 to the June quarter 2006.
Federal prisoners
In the June quarter 2006, there were 665 federal prisoners in Australia, an increase of 7 (1%) from the June quarter 2005. More than half (58%) of these federal prisoners were sentenced in New South Wales.
PERSONS IN COMMUNITY-BASED CORRECTIONS
Community-based corrections orders are non-custodial orders under the authority of corrective services and include restricted movement, fine option, community service, parole, bail, and sentenced probation. Unless otherwise specified figures are based on first day of the month. In the June quarter 2006, there were 52,212 persons in community-based corrections in Australia, a decrease of less than 1% (160 persons) from the March quarter 2006 and a decrease of 2% (842 persons) from the June quarter 2005.
Sex
Of the average number of persons in community-based corrections in Australia in the June quarter 2006, 42,661 (82%) were male and 9,455 (18%) were female.
Rates per 100,000 adults
Nationally, the rate of persons in community-based corrections was 333 persons per 100,000 adult population for the June quarter 2006. This was a decrease of 3% from the June quarter 2005 (341 persons per 100,000 adults), and a decrease of 1% from the March quarter 2006 (335 persons per 100,000 adults). The largest increase from the June quarter 2005 was recorded in Tasmania (10%). The largest decreases were recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (10%) and Victoria (8%).
COMMUNITY-BASED CORRECTIONS RATE(a), Per month
COMMUNITY-BASED CORRECTIONS RATE(a), By State and Territory
In the June quarter 2006, the rate of community-based corrections for males was 552 per 100,000 adult male population compared to 119 females per 100,000 adult female population. Males were almost five times more likely to be in community-based corrections than females.
Type of orders
In the June quarter 2006, there were 8,905 persons serving parole orders following a period of imprisonment. More than three quarters (76%) of persons serving parole orders were located in three states: New South Wales (3,967 persons); Victoria (1,482); and Western Australia (1,316).
For this same period, there were 32,427 persons under sentenced probation and 11,516 persons serving community service orders.
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