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South Australia

Snapshot

At 30 June 2015:

• The number of adult prisoners in South Australian prisons was 2,732, an increase of 10% (242 prisoners) since 2014. (Table 14)


• The adult imprisonment rate was 204 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, an increase from 188 prisoners per 100,000 adult population in 2014. (Table 18)


• Just under half (49% or 1,330 prisoners) of all prisoners had previously been imprisoned under sentence. (Table 13)


• The most common offence/charge was acts intended to cause injury (18% or 505 prisoners), followed by offences against justice (14% or 376 prisoners) and sexual assault (14% or 373 prisoners). (Table 15)

• Males comprised 94% (2,568 prisoners) of the total prisoner population. (Table 13)


• Since 30 June 2014, the male imprisonment rate increased from 357 to 392 prisoners per 100,000 male adult population. This was the highest male imprisonment rate since 2005. (Table 14)


• For the same period, the female imprisonment rate remained steady at 24 prisoners per 100,000 female adult population. (Table 14)

• The median age of adult prisoners was 35.5 years of age. (Table 13)

• Overseas born prisoners accounted for 12% (337 prisoners) of the South Australian adult prisoner population, with the largest proportion from the United Kingdom (77 prisoners or 23% of overseas born prisoners) followed by Vietnam (52 prisoners or 15% of overseas born prisoners). (Table 21)

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprised 23% (629 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 13)


• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander age standardised imprisonment rate was 13 times the non-Indigenous age standardised imprisonment rate (2,243 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population compared to 180 prisoners per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population). (Table 17)

• Unsentenced prisoners comprised 36% (981 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 13)


• The median time spent on remand by unsentenced prisoners was 2.1 months. Time on remand as reported in the Prisoner Census is time spent on remand as at 30 June 2015, and not the total time on remand. Time on remand is influenced by a number of factors, particularly the time it takes for a case to come before a court. (Table 31)


• The median aggregate sentence length for sentenced prisoners was 4.5 years. (Table 25)


• Nationally, South Australia had the highest median expected time to serve for sentenced prisoners (4.5 years). (Table 23)