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    • The rate of Indigenous people in custody in NSW is the worst it has ever been
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    The rate of Indigenous people in custody in NSW is the worst it has ever been

    Online Niel Posted on

    A significant increase in the number of First Nations people in custody over the past year has pushed Indigenous incarceration rates to the worst levels on record.
    Figures released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) show Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody increased by more than 8% in the 12 months to September 2023.

    4103 people who identify as Indigenous were in custody in NSW in September this year, representing 32% of the total population in custody.

    First Nations people make up just 3.4% of the state’s population.
    The increase, BOSCAR said, was almost entirely due to the increase in the number of people in pre-trial detention, up 13% over the same period.

    Domestic violence is understood to be the main driver of the increase in the number of people in pre-trial detention.

    Women make up 43 percent of the female custodial population

    Sienna Brown, aboriginal specialist worker at the Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre, said the numbers were particularly disheartening for women.
    “Over 43% of the female population in custody is Aboriginal and there is no sign of that slowing down,” woman Yuin Bundjulung told NITV.
    “Most, if not all, of the women we work with … have experienced either domestic violence, sexual violence, child sexual abuse or institutional abuse.
    “If it’s not one of those, it could be all of those types of violence.”

    Ms Brown also corroborated revelations by Victoria’s Yoorrook justice commission, which heard evidence about state police unfairly targeting women as perpetrators, rather than victims, of partner violence.

    “We see a lot of misidentification of perpetrators of domestic violence … when in fact they are the primary victim in that relationship.
    “In the early days of the new coercive control laws, our concerns about the continued misidentification of Aboriginal women as perpetrators.

    “We would like to see increases in diversion options so that fewer Aboriginal women are in custody in the first place.”

    1 in 27 NSW Aboriginal men in prison

    The figures have shown a steady rise over the past four years and now mean one in 27 Aboriginal men are currently incarcerated.
    One in 280 Aboriginal women in NSW is also in custody.
    NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research chief executive Jackie Fitzgerald told NITV the grim new record was “quite worrying”.
    “This change we’re seeing for Aboriginal people is all the more worrying because it’s actually at odds with the overall trends in the prison population.
    “If you look at the total number of people in custody in NSW, it’s actually 1000 fewer than before the pandemic … but the Aboriginal inmate subgroup is actually moving against that.

    “So we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of Aboriginal prisoners, while the overall number is decreasing, which is another alarming point.”

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