4517.0 - Prisoners in Australia, 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/12/2011   
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PRISONER SNAPSHOT

At 30 June 2011 there were 29,106 prisoners (sentenced and unsentenced) in Australian prisons, a decrease of 2% (594 prisoners) from 30 June 2010. This represented a national imprisonment rate of 167 prisoners per 100,000 adult population. The median aggregate sentence length for all sentenced prisoners was 3 years.

Unsentenced prisoners comprised 23% (6,723) of the total prisoner population, an increase of 6% (356) from 30 June 2010. Over half (55%) of all prisoners had served a sentence in an adult prison prior to the current episode. The most serious offence/charge of acts intended to cause injury accounted for the highest proportion of all prisoners (19% or 5,593).

Of the total prisoner population, 7% (2,028) were female and approximately eight in ten (79% or 23,082) were born in Australia. The median age of all prisoners was 33.6 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners comprised just over a quarter (26% or 7,656) of the total prisoner population. The age standardised imprisonment rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was 1,868 per 100,000 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. This was 14 times higher than non-Indigenous prisoners at 30 June 2011.







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