4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2016 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/12/2016   
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Australian Capital Territory

Snapshot at 30 June, 2016

  • The number of adult prisoners in Australian Capital Territory prisons was 441, an increase of 11% (45 prisoners) from 2015. (Table 14)
  • The adult imprisonment rate was 144 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, an increase from 131 prisoners per 100,000 adult population in 2015. (Table 18)
  • Nearly three-quarters of prisoners (74% or 324 prisoners) had previously been imprisoned under sentence. This was the largest proportion of any state or territory (the national average was 56%). (Table 13)
  • The most common offence/charge was acts intended to cause injury (27% or 120 prisoners), followed by sexual assault (12% or 51 prisoners). (Table 15)

Sex
  • Males comprised 94% (413 prisoners) of the total prisoner population. (Table 13)
  • Since 30 June 2015, the male imprisonment rate increased from 253 to 274 prisoners per 100,000 male adult population, and the female imprisonment rate increased from 14 to 20 prisoners per 100,000 female adult population. (Table 14)

Age
  • The median age of adult prisoners was 34 years of age. (Table 13)

Country of Birth
  • Overseas born prisoners accounted for 14% (63 prisoners) of the Australian Capital Territory adult prisoner population. (Table 21)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prisoners
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprised 24% (105 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 13)
  • The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander age standardised imprisonment rate was 18 times the non-Indigenous age standardised imprisonment rate (1,904 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population compared to 108 prisoners per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population). (Table 17)

Legal Status
  • Unsentenced prisoners comprised 32% (139 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 13)
  • The median time spent on remand by unsentenced prisoners was 2.2 months. Time on remand as reported in the Prisoner Census is time spent on remand as at 30 June 2016, 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 2.5 years. (Table 25)