4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2018 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/12/2018   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All


QUEENSLAND

Snapshot at 30 June 2018

Graph Image for PRISONERS, Queensland, 30 June 2008 to 30 June 2018

Source(s): Prisoners in Australia


  • The number of adult prisoners in Queensland prisons was 8,840, an increase of 4% (364 prisoners) from 2017. (Table 15)
  • The adult imprisonment rate was 227 prisoners per 100,000 adult population, an increase from 222 prisoners per 100,000 adult population in 2017. (Table 19)
  • Just under two-thirds (64% or 5,618 prisoners) of prisoners had previously been imprisoned under sentence. (Table 14)
  • The most common offences/charges were:
    • Acts intended to cause injury (23% or 2,051 prisoners);
    • Illicit drug offences (16% or 1,423 prisoners); and
    • Sexual assault and related offences (12% or 1,049 prisoners). (Table 16)

Sex
  • Males comprised 91% (7,998 prisoners) of the total prisoner population. (Table 14)
  • Since 30 June 2017, the male imprisonment rate increased from 415 to 420 prisoners per 100,000 male adult population, while the female imprisonment rate increased from 36 to 42 prisoners per 100,000 female adult population. (Table 15)

Age
  • The median age of adult prisoners was 33 years of age. (Table 14)

Country of Birth
  • Overseas born prisoners accounted for 12% of the Queensland adult prisoner population, with the largest proportion from New Zealand (33% of overseas born prisoners) followed by the United Kingdom (10% of overseas born prisoners). (Table 22)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prisoners
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders comprised 31% (2,745 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 14)
  • The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander age standardised imprisonment rate was 10 times more than the non-Indigenous age standardised imprisonment rate (1,745 prisoners per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population compared to 175 prisoners per 100,000 adult non-Indigenous population). (Table 18)

Legal Status
  • Unsentenced prisoners comprised 30% (2,652 prisoners) of the adult prisoner population. (Table 14)
  • The median time spent on remand by unsentenced prisoners was 3.6 months, which was higher than the national average of 3.2 months. (Table 32)
  • The median aggregate sentence length for sentenced prisoners was 3.0 years. (Table 26)