4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/12/2013   
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UNSENTENCED PRISONERS

Unsentenced prisoners (those on remand) include unconvicted prisoners awaiting a court hearing or trial, convicted prisoners awaiting sentencing and persons awaiting deportation where they are under the administration of adult corrective services. There were 7,375 unsentenced prisoners at 30 June 2013, an increase of 7% (504) from 30 June 2012 (6,871). Unsentenced prisoners accounted for 24% of the total prisoner population in Australian prisons at 30 June 2013, an increase of 1% in the number of unsentenced prisoners at 30 June 2012. (Tables 1 and 2)

Most serious charge


Of all unsentenced prisoners, 31% (2,278 prisoners) had a most serious charge of acts intended to cause injury, followed by illicit drug offences (14% or 1,043 prisoners). (Table 13)

Time on remand


Time on remand as reported in the Prisoner Census is time on remand to date as at 30 June 2013, and not the total time spent on remand. Time on remand is influenced by a number of factors, particularly the time it takes for a case to come before a court. The median time spent on remand by unsentenced prisoners in custody at 30 June 2013 was 2.8 months, an increase from 2.7 months at 30 June 2012. The longest amount of time spent on remand was by prisoners charged with homicide (median of 9.6 months), followed by miscellaneous offences (4.5 months) and sexual assault (4.2 months) (Table 13). For information about interpreting median time on remand based on a census 'snapshot', see Explanatory Notes, paragraphs 41-43. Refer to Appendix 1 and the Glossary for offences included in the miscellaneous offences.