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South Australia

Snapshot at 30 June, 2016

• The number of adult prisoners in South Australian prisons was 2,948, an increase of 8% (216 prisoners) since 2015. (Table 14)

• The adult imprisonment rate was 219 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, an increase from 204 prisoners per 100,000 adult population in 2015. (Table 18)

• Half of all prisoners (50% or 1,468 prisoners) had previously been imprisoned under sentence. (Table 13)

• The most common offence/charge was acts intended to cause injury (18% or 534 prisoners), followed by sexual assault (13% or 374 prisoners) and offences against justice/government (12% or 350 prisoners). Of the 350 prisoners with an offence against justice/government, 195 were sentenced prisoners with an offence of breach of community based order. (Tables 15 and 22)

• Males comprised 94% (2,757 prisoners) of the total prisoner population. (Table 13)

• Since 30 June, 2015, the male imprisonment rate increased from 392 to 417 prisoners per 100,000 male adult population and the female imprisonment rate increased from 24 to 28 prisoners per 100,000 female adult population. These were the highest imprisonment rates over the past decade. (Table 14)

• The median age of adult prisoners was 36 years of age, which was the highest median age of all states and territories (along with Victoria). (Table 13)

• Overseas born prisoners accounted for 13% (372 prisoners) of the South Australian adult prisoner population, with the largest proportion from the United Kingdom (83 prisoners or 22% of overseas born prisoners) followed by New Zealand and Vietnam (representing 45 prisoners or 12% each of overseas born prisoners). (Table 21)

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprised 19% (571 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population, which was the lowest proportion since 2006 (when it was also 19%). (Tables 13 and 14)

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander age standardised imprisonment rate was 10 times the non-Indigenous age standardised imprisonment rate (2,008 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population compared to 204 prisoners per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population). (Table 17)

• Unsentenced prisoners comprised 41% (1,196 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. This was both the highest proportion of unsentenced prisoners for South Australia over the past decade, and the highest proportion nationally in 2016. (Tables 13 and 14)

• The median time spent on remand by unsentenced prisoners was 2.3 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)

• For sentenced prisoners, South Australia was the highest nationally for both median aggregate sentence length (4.5 years, compared to the national average of 3.0 years), and median expected time to serve (3.0 years compared to the national average of 1.8 years). (Tables 24 and 25)