The proportion of Aboriginal people in prisons across New South Wales has reached a record high, prompting an urgent call from key groups for governments to end the “overpolicing” of Indigenous communities.
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) figures revealed Aboriginal people accounted for a record 29.7% of the state’s adult prison population in February, dipping slightly to 29.5% in March.
More than half of imprisoned children in NSW are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, with three-quarters of those young people on remand.
The NSW Aboriginal Legal Service’s chief executive, Karly Warner, said the system was “stacked against Aboriginal people at every step of the way”.
“Our communities are overpoliced, overcharged, denied bail at higher rates, and vastly over-represented in prisons,” she said.
“This is tearing families apart, building on intergenerational trauma, and leaving loved ones in constant fear that their relative may be the next Aboriginal death in custody.”
Warner called on the state and federal governments to examine the figures and work to urgently address the problem, as well as provide further funding for the legal service she said is needed.
The Aboriginal Legal Service recently froze criminal law services in 13 local courts due to funding issues.
The Bocsar figures also revealed the total number of Aboriginal people behind bars is nearing a record high, after a decline during the pandemic.
In March, there were 3,709 Aboriginal people in prisons across the state, slightly less than the pre-Covid peak of 3,727 in February 2020.
The state’s attorney general, Michael Daley, agreed that the overrepresentation was “of serious concern”. He said the government had a goal to reduce the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults held in custody.
“The new NSW government will work closely and collaboratively with Aboriginal communities to address the causes contributing to the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system,” he said.
He pointed to a number of government initiatives aimed at addressing Closing the Gap targets, including almost $10m for justice reinvestment initiatives and $4.2m to expand the circle sentencing program to 20 local courts.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows First Nations people make up about 3.8% of the nation’s population, but account for 31.8% of people behind bars.
In the Northern Territory, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up almost a third of the population, they account for close to 90% of its prison population.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre’s chief executive, Jonathon Hunyor, said the government and justice systems needed to change the way they were operating, citing the worsening “genuine crisis” for Indigenous people in NSW.
“Arrest and detention should be a last resort, but the figures show police are not taking that seriously,” he said.
“Young people are given onerous and unfair conditions to comply with, then locked up for minor breaches.”
He said raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 would help, but was only part of the reforms that were needed.
