The indigenous imprisonment rate surged from 1248 for every 100,000 Australian adults in 2000 to 1892 by 2010, marking a 52 per cent increase, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report has found.
Indigenous people now make up 26 per cent of the prison population despite making up just 2.5 per cent of the Australian population.
In Western Australia and South Australia, indigenous people were 20 times more likely to be jailed. Almost 7600 indigenous Australians were behind bars in June 2010, 91 per cent of them male.
Indigenous prison rates jump by 52 per cent
The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: an overview 2011
