‘Always a bed in prison’: Australia’s housing crisis blamed for rise in unsentenced prisoners

The number of people in jail on remand has nearly doubled across Australia over the past decade while the sentenced prison population has increased just 1.5%, according to ABS data. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

The number of Indigenous inmates imprisoned without a sentence increased by 13.2% last year, amid an ongoing boom in Australia’s remand prison population.

Campaigners say the rise perpetuates a “grave injustice”, with experts saying the housing crisis and culturally challenging bail laws are having greater impact on First Nations people.