Record incarceration rates of Indigenous Australians prompt calls for community-led solutions

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TRANSCRIPT
New government data has revealed rates of Indigenous incarceration are worsening in New South Wales.
It suggests in September of this year, there were a record number of Aboriginal adults in custody in the state, at over 4,100 (4,103).
Although Indigenous Australians only represent around 3.4 per cent of the state’s population, they make up 32 per cent of the adult custody population.
Jackie Fitzgerald is the Executive Director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
She says it’s the highest proportion on record.
“What we’re seeing is a remarkable increase in the number of Aboriginal people in custody. Over the past year, we’ve seen an 8 per cent increase in Aboriginal adults in custody, and we are now at the highest custody volumes we’ve ever had for Aboriginal people and the highest proportion of the prison population being Aboriginal. Really reaching record numbers. And one of the other interesting aspects of this is that actually the general prison population is down.”
In New South Wales, one in 27 Aboriginal men and one in 280 Aboriginal women are currently incarcerated.
The state’s adult custody population generally was almost 13,000 in September [[12,897]], up 5 per cent from the previous year – despite being lower than pre-pandemic rates.
So what has caused that increase in the last 12 months?
Ms Fitzgerald says it’s due to an increase in people held on remand – which is when someone is held in custody while waiting for their trial or sentencing.
“The primary driver for this increase is really more people being held on remand in New South Wales. So the number of remandees has increased by 13 per cent over the past year. So that’s a really a huge rise. And this is primarily being driven by an increase in domestic violence offenders. So over the past year, we’ve seen more people being charged with domestic violence offences, but also a change in the bail refusal rate for domestic violence offences.”
Our Watch is an organisation working in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia.
It says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionate rates of violence, and violence which is often more severe and more complex in its impacts, compared with non-Indigenous women.
It emphasises violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is perpetrated by men of all cultural backgrounds and has its roots in Australia’s history of colonisation.
ANTAR is a national advocacy organisation dedicated to achieving rights, justice and respect for First Nations people.
Director and Anaiwan man Blake Cansdale says the overrepresentation of Indigenous adults in custody is an issue nationally.
“It’s deeply concerning, namely that contrary to the commitments in the national agreement on closing the gap, wherein all Australian governments have the responsibility to work to reduce the national rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in prison by at least 15 per cent by 2031. Nationally at 30th of June, 2023, the age-standardised rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was just over 2,000 –  it was 2265.8 per 100,000 adult population. That rate represents an increase from the previous year and a further increase from the rate of incarceration observed in 2019.”
Mr Cansdale says the solution needs to come from the community.
“We need to fight back against populist tough-on-crime agendas which we are seeing across several state and territory governments throughout 2024. Instead of reforms that have proven to fail time and time again and which waste enormous amounts of public funds, we must be focusing on evidence-based and community-led solutions to justice issues, which are ostensibly socioeconomic and health-based issues. If our governments are generally committed to improving justice outcomes in our communities, they would be investing in community-based supports and early intervention services as a matter of priority.”
Susannah Day is the Chief Executive of The Torch, an organisation in Victoria helping to break the cycle of incarceration for First Nations people.
“The Torch works annually with 900 First Nations artists incarcerated or post-release from all 15 prisons across Victoria. We provide Aboriginal men and women with access to their culture and work with them to develop an arts practice whilst inside. One of the ways that we support people is providing an economic participation pathway, so we sell their artwork on their behalf, and people in the general public and organisations and government buy their artwork, providing them valuable economic participation and economic self-determination.”]]
The Martu woman says it’s a deeply meaningful project for incarcerated Indigenous artists.
“We have 900 artists, so just over half are currently still incarcerated in Victoria, so the feedback is universally pretty positive. We’re giving people access to a new life and a new pathway. So many of our artists have been disconnected from their culture, possibly even from the Aboriginal families, perhaps living and being brought up in resi(dential) care. So we’re giving them access to a culture and a cultural connection and a cultural practice that they may never have had before.”