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Corrections

Corrective services, in this chapter, include prison custody, community corrections and juvenile detention.

Corrective services agencies manage offenders sentenced to prison, community corrections, or periodic detention.

• Sixty-six percent of offenders managed by corrective services authorities in 2006–07 were placed on community-based programs.
• Thirty-four percent were in prison serving sentences or on remand.

Source: Reference 22

Prisons

A national census of adult prisoners is taken on 30 June each year. Prisoner counts include both sentenced prisoners and those on remand (awaiting trial or sentence), unless otherwise specified.

On 30 June 2007, a total of 27,244 persons were in custody in Australian prisons, a 5.6 percent increase on the number recorded in 2006. This corresponds to a rate per 100,000 of the adult population of 169, 3.7 percent higher than the 2006 rate of 163, and continues a trend over the last two decades. The majority (21,128) were sentenced prisoners, and 6,096 were remandees.

Source: Reference 24

Trend in prison population

• Between 1984 and 2007, the overall imprisonment rate per 100,000 of the adult population increased from 88 to 169. The prison population has grown by an average four percent per year.
• In this period, the rate of sentenced prisoners nearly doubled (from 77 to 131 per 100,000), and the rate of prisoners remanded in custody quadrupled (10 to 38 per 100,000).
• At 30 June 2007, remanded prisoners (those awaiting trial or sentence) accounted for 22 percent of the total prisoner population, a rise from 12 percent in 1984.

Source: Reference 2 and Reference 24

Most serious offence

Some offenders are sentenced to a prison term for more than one offence. The offence that they are categorised as being in prison for is the one deemed most serious, that is, the one with the longest sentence. Violent prisoners are those convicted of homicide, assault, sex offences, or robbery. Prisoners convicted of property offences include those charged with breaking and entering or with other theft (including motor vehicle theft). Other offenders are those who have been convicted of fraud; offences against justice procedures, government security, and government operations; drug offences; and others, such as public order and driving offences.

On 30 June 2007, there were 10,080 sentenced prisoners in Australia whose most serious offence was a violent offence; 3,624 whose most serious offence was a property offence; and 7,424 who were sentenced for other offences.

• The percentage of prisoners sentenced for violent offences as their most serious offence increased from 38 percent in 1986 to 47 percent in 1995 and has remained steady thereafter.
• Those sentenced for property offences as their most serious offence declined from 25 percent in 1986 to 17 percent in 2007.
• The proportion who had been sentenced for other offences as their most serious offence has remained steady, at about one-third.

Source: Reference 24

Table 9 Most serious offence of prisoners sentenced in 2007, by sex

	Male		Female
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
a: Includes motor vehicle theft
b: Includes offences such as breach of court order; breach of parole; escape from custody; offences against justice procedures; treason; sedition; and resisting customs officials
c: Includes other offences against the person and property, public order offences, and driving offences
Violent
Homicide	2,006	10	155	11
Assault	3,103	16	190	13
Sex offences	2,631	13	26	2
Robbery	1,878	10	91	6
Property
Break and enter	2,403	12	142	10
Other thefta	940	5	139	10
Other
GSJb	1,866	9	172	12
Drug offences	1,956	10	212	15
Fraud	514	3	172	12
Otherc	2,391	12	142	10
Total	19,688	100	1,441	100

• The most serious offences for which adult male prisoners were sentenced included assault, sex offences, and breaking and entering.
• The most serious offences for which adult female prisoners were sentenced were drug offences, assault, fraud, and offences related to government, security and justice procedures.
• Adult males imprisoned for the violent offences of homicide, assault, sex offences, or robbery as their most serious offence accounted for almost half of all sentenced adult male prisoners in 2007 (49%).
• One-third of sentenced adult female prisoners (32%) were imprisoned for violent offences as their most serious offence.

Source: Reference 24

Sex

• In June 2007, the ratio of male (561) to female (87) federal prisoners was greater than 6:1.
• From June 2002 to June 2006, the number of male federal prisoners decreased by 19 percent, and the number of female federal prisoners increased by 17 percent.

Source: Reference 26

Recidivism

One measure of recidivism is rate of return to prison, which has remained stable in Australia over the past five years of data collection. Of those prisoners released in 2004–05, 38 percent had returned to prison under sentence by 30 June 2007.

Source: Reference 22

Another measure, collected by the ABS, is previous imprisonment of inmates currently serving custodial sentences. Note that the prior imprisonment was not necessarily for the same type of offence.

Table 10 Detainees as at 30 June 2007 previously imprisoned, by current offence and Indigenous status

	Indigenous		Non-Indigenous
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
AICI: Acts intended to cause injury
UEWI: Unlawful entry with intent
Homicide	422	64	2,218	37
AICI	2,138	75	2,869	54
Sexual assault	660	66	2,443	30
Robbery	598	69	1,995	61
UEWI	916	74	2,329	75
Theft	284	70	1,220	64
Illicit drug offences	100	63	2,569	33

• Indigenous prisoners serving time for any of the selected current offences were more likely than non-Indigenous prisoners to have had a history of prior imprisonment.
• Rates of prior imprisonment of these Indigenous prisoners were consistently high in all offence categories.
• The least likely causes of prior imprisonment of non-Indigenous prisoners were homicide, illicit drug offences, and sexual assault.

Source: Reference 24

Community corrections

• Community corrections comprise a variety of non-custodial programs, varying in the extent and nature of supervision, the conditions of the order, and the restrictions on the person's freedom of movement in the community. They generally provide either a non-custodial sentencing alternative or a post-custodial mechanism for reintegrating prisoners into the community under continuing supervision.
• Due to different definitions in the source material, the definition of community corrections in this chapter is somewhat different from the definition of non-custodial sentences given in Chapter 5. Whereas in that chapter weekend detention and home detention are considered custodial sentences, this chapter includes them as community-based sentences.
• In Australia during 2006–07, an average of 52,658 offenders per day were serving community corrections orders, a decrease by one percent from the number recorded in 2005–06. This corresponds to a rate of 328 per 100,000 adults: 544 per 100,000 adult males and 117 per 100,000 adult females. As in previous years, females accounted for a larger proportion (18%) of the community corrections population than of the prison population (7%).

Source: Reference 2, Reference 22 and Reference 26

• The number of Indigenous persons in all juvenile detention centres (excluding Tasmania) on 30 June 2007 was 426. This represents 59 percent of the total number of persons detained in juvenile detention centres, a rise from 51 percent in the previous year.
• The detention rate per 100,000 of Indigenous juveniles was 397, more than 28 times as high as that of non-Indigenous juveniles (14).
• There has been a 15 percent decline in the rate per 100,000 of Indigenous juvenile detention since the high of 468 recorded in March 1997.

Source: Reference 2, Reference 25 and Reference 27