Punishment in Australia arises when an individual has been accused or convicted of breaking the law through the Australian criminal justice system. Australia uses prisons, as well as community corrections (various non-custodial punishments such as parole, probation, community service etc.).[1] When awaiting trial, prisoners may be kept in specialised remand centres or within other prisons.
The death penalty has been abolished,[2] and corporal punishment is no longer used.[3]Prison labour occurs in Australia, with prisoners involved in many types of paid work. Before the colonisation of Australia by Europeans, Indigenous Australians had their own traditional punishments, some of which are still practised.[4] The most severe punishment by law which can be imposed in Australia is life imprisonment. In the most extreme cases of murder, and some severe sex offences, such as aggravated rape, courts in the states and territories can impose life imprisonment without parole, thus ordering the convicted person to spend the rest of their life in prison.
Prisons in Australia are operated by state-based correctional services departments, for the detention of minimum, medium, maximum and supermax security prisoners convicted in state and federal courts, as well as prisoners on remand. In the June quarter of 2018, there were 42,855 people imprisoned in Australia, which represents an incarceration rate of 222 prisoners per 100,000 adult population,[5] or 172 per 100,000 total population.[6] This represents a sharp increase from previous decades.[7] In 2016-2017 the prison population was not representative of the Australian population, for example, 91% of prisoners were male,[8] while males were only half of the population, and 27% of prisoners were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders,[8] while Indigenous people were only 2.8% of the population.[9] In 2018, 18.4% of prisoners in Australia were held in private prisons.[8]
In the 2016-17 financial year, Australia spent $3.1 billion on prisons and $0.5 billion on community corrections.[10]
Australia also detains non-citizens in a separate system of immigration detention centres, operated by the federal Department of Home Affairs, pending their deportation and to prevent them from entering the Australian community.[11] Controversially this includes the detention of asylum seekers, including children, while their claims to be refugees are determined.[12][13] In 2023, the High Court of Australia ruled that indefinite detention was unconstitutional if the detainees had no foreseeable prospect of deportation (for instance stateless individuals). The court stated that in such cases indefinite detention amounted to punishment, which is the purview of the courts - not the executive government.[14] It has been stated the different purposes make little practical difference between immigration detention and imprisonment,[15] and that detainees often experience immigration detention as if it were punishment.[16]
History
Traditional Indigenous punishments
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Indigenous people of Australia - Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders - had their own traditional punishments which they carried out on people who broke tribal customary law.[4] These included:
Spearing - a corporal punishment where someone is pierced with a spear, often through their leg.[17][4]
Singing - an elder sings, which is believed to call evil spirits/misfortune upon the offender. There are reports of this happening as recently as 2016.[4]
New South Wales, as the founding site for British colonisation Australia in 1788, has had prisons for as long as Australia has had European settlement. The first Australian colony was founded at Port Jackson (now Sydney) on 26 January 1788, and marked the commencement of many decades of convict arrivals from the United Kingdom. Penal colonies were also founded in what is now the states of Queensland, Tasmania, and Western Australia.
Two penal colonies were briefly founded in the area that is now Victoria. Both were abandoned shortly after. Later, after a free settlement had been established, some convicts were transported to the region.
Norfolk Island (an external territory of Australia), the site of two penal colonies from 1788–1814 and 1824-1856,[18] has no prisons at all in the 21st century. When Glenn McNeill was sentenced in 2007 to 24 years in prison for murder on Norfolk Island, the absence of prisons meant he was imprisoned in NSW.[19]
Convicts in the 19th century were subject to forced hard labour, such as quarrying sandstone. William Ulthorne, an English Catholic Bishop described convict labourers in the 1830s: “They are fettered with heavy chains, harassed with heavy work, and fed on salt meat and coarse bread, [...] Their faces are awful to behold, and their existence one of desperation.”[20]
Additionally, there was the punishment of young children. John Hudson was reportedly only nine years old when sentenced for burglary and 13 when transported to Australia. He was one of 34 children on the First Fleet in 1788.[21]
On 3 February 1967 Ronald Ryan was the last individual to be executed in Australia after he killed a prison officer whilst attempting to escape Pentridge Prison.[22] A few years later the Federal Parliament passed the Death Penalty Abolition Act 1973, abolishing the death penalty amongst federal law however not prohibiting its use in state or territory law.[23]
The various states and territories all formally legally abolished capital punishment in their laws, with the first being Queensland in 1922 and the last being New South Wales in 1985.[24][23]
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a multilateral treaty outlining the obligations of its parties to respect and promote the civil and political rights of individuals. Article 6 of the ICCPR states the death penalty may only be used in countries that have not abolished capital punishment for the severest of crimes.[25] The Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR was created as an accompaniment to the ICCPR and altered Article 6 to ensure the abolishment of the death penalty in all cases worldwide.[26]
In Australia the second optional protocol to the ICCPR has been signed and ratified into domestic law. This is seen through the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Torture Prohibition and Death Penalty Abolition) Act 2010. The act fully abolished the death penalty and effectively ensured no state or territory is able to reintroduce it.[2]
Flogging (also called whipping, lashing), a form of corporal punishment, was used from 1788 up until 1958. The Australian folk ballad Jim Jones at Botany Bay, dated to the early 19th century, is written from the perspective of a convict wanting to take revenge on those who flogged him.[27] The last men flogged in Australia were William John O'Meally and John Henry Taylor, at Pentridge Prison, Victoria on 1 April 1958 (technically William was flogged second, and so was the last).[3]
As of August 2020[update], the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children reports that "Prohibition is still to be achieved in the home in all states/territories and in alternative care settings, day care, schools and penal institutions in some states/territories".[28]
Corporal punishment of school children is legally banned in public schools nationwide, but remains legal in private schools in Queensland.[29][28]
Adult imprisonment
Each state and territory runs its own department to oversee correctional services; for example the South Australian Department for Correctional Services is responsible for prisoners and the provision of the rehabilitation opportunities in South Australia.[30]
In June 2022, there were 40,591 people imprisoned in Australia, and an incarceration rate of 201 prisoners per 100,000 adult population.[53]
In the 30 years from 1988 to 2018, Australia's incarceration rate per 100,000 adults more than doubled. However, since 2018 it has decreased. The highest rate of increase was seen among prisoners on remand (ie: unsentenced, awaiting trial or sentencing), women and Indigenous Australians.[54] From 2012 to 2017 the number of people in prison on remand grew 87 percent. This might be due to more people being refused bail, and a backlog of cases in the courts.[54]
Males
In 2017 males made up 91.9% of prisoners,[8] despite males only being roughly half the adult population.
Females
The number of female prisoners in Australia rose 47% between 2009 and 2019. They are often victims of crime themselves, such as domestic violence and assault. The majority are jailed for relatively minor, non-violent crimes which are often related to poverty and homelessness. In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women with disabilities are disproportionately represented in the statistics.[55] Until amendments to legislation were introduced in 2020, many women in Western Australia were imprisoned for non-payment of fines. The amendments were partly the result of recommendations of the coronial inquest into the death of Ms Dhu, who died in police custody.[56]
In 2021 the female imprisoned population in Australia was 7.7% of the total adults who are incarcerated. The percentage of the total female prison population rose from 7.2% of the population in 2000 to 12.8% in 2021 (from 1,385 to 3,302 per 100,000), based on the national population (with these figures approximately doubling if based on the national female population).[57]
Debbie Kilroy, founder of Sisters Inside, is a well-known advocate for prison reform for female prisoners, who has noted several ways in which the current criminal justice system has failed in its mission to punish and rehabilitate women.[58]
From 2008 to 2017 there was an increase in the rate of Indigenous people imprisoned, from 1.8% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population to 2.43%.[59]
In 2017, Indigenous people were over 15 times more likely than non-Indigenous people to be imprisoned.[60] As of June 2022, the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia aged 18 years and over was approximately 2%, while Indigenous prisoners accounted for 32 percent of the adult prison population.[61]As of August 2022[update], 40 per cent of women in prison in the state of New South Wales are Indigenous women.[62]
The Attorney-General for Australia commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) in October 2016 to examine the factors leading to the disproportionate numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australian prisons, and to look at ways of reforming legislation which might ameliorate this "national tragedy". The result of this in-depth enquiry was a report titled Pathways to Justice – Inquiry into the Incarceration Rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, which was received by the Attorney-General in December 2017 and tabled in Parliament on 28 March 2018.[63] The report listed 13 recommendations, covering many aspects of the legal framework and police and justice procedures, including that fine default should not result in the imprisonment.[64][65]
Various programs in New South Wales have been having a positive effect on keeping Indigenous people out of prison. In Bourke, a project called Maranguka Justice Reinvestment has police officers meeting with local Indigenous leaders each day, helping to identify at-risk youth, and includes giving free driving lessons to young people. There have been reductions in domestic violence and juvenile offending (such as driving without a license), and an increase in school retention. Project Walwaay in Dubbo sees an Aboriginal youth team help to build relationships and engage young people in activities on a Friday night, which is now the second lowest day of crime, compared with being the busiest day before. The activities are also a pathway to the Indigenous Police Recruitment Delivery Our Way (IPROWD), an 18-week program run through TAFE NSW, which encourages young people to become police officers. This was first run in Dubbo in 2008 and has now been expanded to other locations across the state.[66] Since 2021, yarning circles have been introduced in men's and women's prisons across NSW, starting with Broken Hill Correctional Centre, in a bid to connect Indigenous inmates with their culture, and reduce reoffending and the high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.[62]
State and territory prison populations
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as of June 2022, the number of adult prisoners according to each state and territory were as follows:[53]
Adult Prisoner Statistics Per State/Territory (June 2022)[53]
State/Territory
Number of Prisoners
Percent Change From June 2021
Percent Male
Percent Female
Percent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
New South Wales
12,372
-6
93.4
6.6
29.1
Victoria
6,569
-9
94.7
5.2
10.6
Queensland
9,376
-6
90.9
9.1
36.4
South Australia
3,049
-2
93.1
7.0
24.4
Western Australia
6,276
-7
91.0
8.9
40.2
Tasmania
630
-2
92.9
6.8
22.7
Northern Territory
1,934
+8
93.9
5.9
87.0†
Australian Capital Territory
381
+1
94.5
5.5
25.2
†Note that Indigenous Australians make up 25% of the Northern Territory's population, compared to under 5% in all other states and territories, and 2.8% nationally.[67]
State and territory incarceration rates
As of June 2022, the Northern Territory had by the country's highest incarceration rate at 1,027 per 100,000 adult population, which is over five times the incarceration rate of the country overall and an increase from 2017, when the territory's incarceration rate was 878 per 100,000. With the exception of the Northern Territory and Queensland, all other states and territories saw a decrease in incarceration rate over the same time period.[53][49]
Incarceration Rate by State/Territory (June 2022)[53]
The Australia Bureau of Statistics classifies prisoners (sentenced and unsentenced) according to the "most serious" crime with which they are charged. In 2022, statistics for charges were as follows:[53]
Acts intended to cause injury: 10,557 individuals (26.0% of all prisoners)
Sexual assault and related offences: 6,446 (15.9%)
Federal prisoners are persons sentenced under commonwealth (federal) law, or transferred from another country to serve their sentence in Australia. In June 2022 there were 1,390 federal prisoners serving sentences in Australia.[53]
Place of birth
Overall, foreign-born people are less likely to be imprisoned than people born in Australia. In 2017, foreign-born people were 35% of the adult population, but only 18% of the prison population.[68]
However, these rates are not age-standardised, meaning they do not account for the fact that different groups tend to be younger or older on average. This matters, because teenagers and young adults are much more likely to commit crime than older adults. For instance the Sudanese-born population tends to be much younger on average, and this can help to explain their over-representation in the prison population.[70]
In Australia, life imprisonment is of indeterminate length. The sentencing judge usually sets a non-parole period after which the prisoner can apply for release under parole conditions, or in the case of a criminal who has committed particularly heinous crimes, the sentencing judge may order that the person is "never to be released".
In 1993, New South Wales became the second Australian state to privatise prisons after Queensland, when Junee Correctional Centre was opened.[71]
As of November 2018, there were no private prisons located in Tasmania, the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory.
Violence and overcrowding
In June 2018, an investigation by the ABC revealed high rates of inmate violence, prison guard brutality and overcrowding at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Queensland. At that time, the contract for the prison was up for tender. In 2016, the rate of prisoner assault at the prison was more than double the next highest prison.[76]
Arguments for and against
A 2016 article by Anastasia Glushko (a former worker in the private prison sector) argues in favour of privately operated prisons in Australia. According to Glushko, private prisons in Australia have decreased the costs of holding prisoners and increased positive relationships between inmates and correctional workers. Outsourcing prison services to private companies has allowed for costs to be cut in half. Compared with $270 a day in a government-run West Australian jail, each prisoner in the privately operated Acacia facility near Perth costs the taxpayer $182. Glushko also says that positive prisoner treatment was observed during privatisation in Australia by including more respectful attitudes to prisoners and mentoring schemes, increased out-of-cell time and more purposeful activities. As Australia’s prison population has grown and existing facilities have aged, public-private partnerships have provided opportunities to build new correctional centers while enabling governments to defer much needed cash flow. Glushko points out that at Ravenhall Prison in Victoria, the operator is compensated on the basis of the recidivism rate, and this strategy may make the operator more concerned about the wellbeing of its inmates after prison which in return would benefit the entire Australian correctional system.[77]
Conversely, a 2016 report from the University of Sydney found that in general, all states of Australia lacked a comprehensive approach to hold private prisons accountable to the government. The authors said that of all the states, Western Australia had the "most developed regulatory approach" to private prison accountability, as they had learnt from the examples in Queensland and Victoria. Western Australia provided much information about the running of private prisons in the state to the public, making it easier to assess performance. However the authors note that in spite of this, overall it is difficult to compare the performance and costs of private and public prisons as they often house different kinds and numbers of prisoners, in different states with different regulations. They note that Acacia Prison, sometimes held up as an example of how private prisons can be well run, cannot serve as a general example of prison privatisation.[78]
Additionally, community corrections orders have been argued to be cheaper and equally as effective as public or private incarceration. See the section on community corrections for more details.
Southern Queensland Correctional Centre - Private management contract with Serco was revoked as a result of higher levels of assaults, with Queensland Corrective Services taking over control in July 2021.[81]
Cost of prisons in Australia
In 2016-17, Australia spent A$3.1 billion on prisons.[10]
The age of criminal responsibility in Australia is 10 years old, meaning children under 10 cannot be charged with a crime. In 2018, law experts called for the age to be raised to 16 and the various Attorneys General decided to investigate the matter.[82] Calls to increase the minimum age have increased in recent years.[83] Doctors, lawyers, and a range of experts have called for the minimum age to be raised to 14.[84] Among other bodies, the Australian Human Rights Commission has submitted a report to the Council of Attorneys-General Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group.[85]
In August 2020 the Legislative Assembly of the ACT voted to increase the age of criminal responsibility to 14 in line with UN standards,[86] a move welcomed by Indigenous advocates.[87] The support is in principle only, and dependent upon the Labor government being re-elected in October.[88][89]
Statistics
According to a 2018 SBS article, around 600 children under 14 are locked up in Australian prisons each year.[82]
On an average night in June 2019, there were 949 minors imprisoned in Australia. Of these:[90]
90% were male;
83% were aged 10–17 (the remainder 18–20);
63% were unsentenced;
53% were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youth.
In the year ending 30 June 2020, there were almost 600 children aged 10 to 13 in detention in Australia.[90]
From June 2015 to 2019, the Northern Territory had the highest rate of young people in detention on an average night.[90]
In 2022, a Tasmanian Government inquiry revealed that 55 workers at Ashley Youth Detention Centre had been accused of child sex abuse by former child detainees. One former worker was accused of abusing 11 children over the course of 3 decades. Another former staff member was accused of using sexual violence and intimidation, including forced masturbation, against 26 former child detainees. The alleged crimes span from recent years back to the 1970s.[92] In September 2021, it was announced that Ashley Youth Detention Centre would close within three years, and be replaced by two new facilities.[93]
Deaths in custody
In 2013-2015, there were 149 deaths in custody in Australia, the majority occurred in prison while a minority occurred in police custody. The majority of prisoners who died in prison and police custody were male, over 40 years of age and non-Indigenous.[94] For deaths in immigration detention, see the section on immigration detention facilities.
Indigenous Australians are highly over-represented among deaths in custody, they were only 3.2% of the general population in 2021.[95] This led the government to establish a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1987, which delivered its report in 1991. However, in general there has been a lack of action on reports into deaths, including a failure to implement the recommendations of the 1987 royal commission, and Indigenous deaths in custody remain disproportionately high as a proportion of the general population.[96]
From 2008-2018, 56% of Indigenous people who died in custody had not been found guilty. They were on remand, died while fleeing police or during arrest, or were in protective custody. A majority were suspected of non-indictable offences, which typically carry sentences of less than five years.[97]
Police custody deaths
Of the 34 deaths that occurred in police custody in 2013-2015, 50% resulted from gunshot wounds. Of those, 13 were police shootings while 4 were self-inflicted.[94]
7 of the 34 occurred during motor vehicle pursuits, while 6 occurred in sieges and 2 in raids. 10 were listed as "other".[98]
From 1989-1991 until now, people aged 25–39 have been overall the most represented group in police deaths, followed by people aged under 25, then 40-54 year olds, then people aged 55+. However, as noted above, in 2013-2015 the majority of deaths were people aged over 40. Furthermore from 1989-1990 to 2014-2015, the overall most common situation for deaths in police custody to occur, was during a motor vehicle pursuit.[98]
Prison deaths
7/10 prison deaths were due to natural causes, and 1/3 of those were due to heart disease. The rate of deaths per 100,000 prisoners was 0.16 for sentenced prisoners (ie prisoners who were convicted and serving a sentence) and 0.18 for unsentenced prisoners (ie: in prison awaiting trial).[94]
Deaths in prison custody in Australia, 2013-2015, by sentence status and cause[94]
Sentence status
Natural causes
Hanging
External/multiple trauma
Alcohol and other drugs
Other
Sentenced
83%
10%
4%
2%
1%
Unsentenced
39%
57%
0%
4%
0%
In 1979-1980, there were only 15 deaths in prison custody. This increased until in 1997-1998 there were 80 deaths in prison custody. Deaths then decreased sharply to 28 in 2005-2006, before rising again to 54 in 2013-2014 and 61 in 2014-2015. In the late 1990s there was a large disparity between the rate of death (per 100,000 prisoners) for sentenced and unsentenced prisoners, peaking at 1.18 for unsentenced prisoners to 0.28 for sentenced.[99]
Prison deaths by state/territory:
Deaths in prison custody in Australia, 2013-2015, by state/territory[99]
From 2000-2018 there have been dozens of deaths in immigration detention, many from suicide. Additionally, some people have died after being released, for reasons connected with being detained.[100]
Prison labour
Prisoners in Australia are expected to work while in custody.[101][102] Inmates typically earn between $0.80 and $3.00 per hour.[103][104] No prison worker is paid superannuation, and their employers do not pay payroll tax.[103] Prison workers are not legally considered workers, and as such are not entitled to workers' compensation if injured.[105]
Victoria
In Victoria prisoners fabricate metal and make timber products.[103] Both male and female inmates also pack airline headsets for Qantas. Other jobs for female prisoners include sewing Australian flags and making bed linen.[104]
Queensland
In Queensland inmates make tents, chairs, coffee tables, doonas and doors.[103] Female prisoners cut up used clothes to turn into rags.[106]
New South Wales
In New South Wales, prisoner work is organised by Corrective Service Industries (CSI), an arm of the state justice department. Prisoners sew national and state flags and ambulance flags, and paint boomerangs. CSI said in 2017 that 84.9% of NSW inmates who can work, do so. In 2017, NSW prisoners were paid from $24.60 to $70.55 for a 30-hour work week.[103][107] This is about $0.82 to $2.35 per hour, compared to the Australian minimum wage of $17.70 per hour. CSI made $113 million revenue and $46.6 million profit in 2016. CSI said that prison work helped prisoners pass time, and that 1% of their sales went to the Victims Compensation Levy (a government compensation fund for crime victims).[103]
In 2019, about 20 prisoners at Dawn De Loas Correctional Centre were assembling computers. The identity of the company using this labour was unknown, but CSI overseer Jasvinder Oberai said that the program provided inmates with work experience, that PC parts came from government donations and the assembled PCs were given back to government departments.[108]
In 2015, NTCI made $20 revenue and $2 million profit. In 2016, concerns were raised that prison labour in the NT was competing unfairly with private businesses and taking jobs away from free people. NT lawmaker Robyn Lambley said "we have been told numerous times that the products that are made by NTCI are sold at a competitive price in the open market. But you're not paying all the overheads of employing people; you're not paying superannuation, you're not paying insurance, you're not paying payroll tax, you're not paying all those expenses associated with employing someone and that is a big saving." The NT Corrections Commissioner Mark Payne denied that prison labour is competing with local businesses, and that if they think they are competing, they stop doing that work.[109]
In 2013, NT prisoners were working at a salt mine in remote center of the NT. The prisoners earned about $16 per hour, compared to $35 for a regular union employee. 5% of earnings went to the Victims Compensation Fund and some funds were deducted for board, and the prisoners had $60 spending money per week. The mining union United Voice said that this was akin to "slave labour", that these workers were undercutting other workers, and that if anyone is working in the mines they should be paid at a market rate. Territory Correctional Services Minister John Elferink said the work provided inmates with valuable work experience, because otherwise they would be sitting in a "concrete box".[110]
Non-prison punishments
Community Corrections
Community Corrections is the term used for various punishments and court orders in Australia that do not involve prison time. Types of community corrections include:[1]
Non-conviction bond - where a person is found guilty, but does not get a criminal record provided they go for a certain period without committing another crime
Statistics
In the June 2018, there were 69,397 people in community corrections, an increase of 1,406 (4%) from June 2017. 55,867 (81%) were male and all of the remainder were female[111] (Australia allows people to legally register as X/third gender on some identity documents).[112]
In June 2013 there were 57,354 people in community corrections.[111] From 2013 to 2018, females serving community corrections orders increased by 40% compared to males by 26%.[111]
In June 2006, there were 52,212 persons in community-based corrections in Australia.[39]
In June 2018 most common type of community corrections orders were, in order:[111]
Sentenced probation
Parole
Community service
Please note that people may receive two or more different corrections orders at the same time.[111]
Cost and effectiveness
In 2016-2017 financial year, Australia spent $500 million ($0.5 billion) Australian dollars on community corrections.[10]
An article in The Age, citing a report by the Institute of Public Affairs (a conservative think tank) as well as other figures, said community correctional orders are argued to be significantly cheaper than the cost of private or public incarceration (roughly 10% of the cost of putting people behind bars), "16 per cent of offenders who completed a CCO returned to corrective services within two years" compared to the nearing 50% in traditional prisons. Community-correctional orders CCOs are increasingly commonplace in Victoria and show that crime rates can be meaningfully affected.[113]
Additionally, a June 2018 report from the Australian Institute of Criminology also found that in the short term, for a certain kind of prisoner (comprising roughly 15% of prisoners in Victoria), dealing with them via community corrections orders had similar outcomes to prison but was 9 times cheaper.[114]
The population of Australia is estimated to be 27,501,400 as of 9 November 2024. It is the 54th most populous country in the world and the most populous Oceanian country. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas, particularly on the Eastern, South Eastern and Southern seaboards, and is expected to exceed 30 million by 2029.
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law, inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sentenced to longer terms of imprisonment (Canada). Not all federated countries have a legal concept of "federal prison".
Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. It has 5% of the world’s population while having 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with more than four times more inhabitants, has fewer persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for all federal prisons and provides for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners.
The rights of civilian and military prisoners are governed by both national and international law. International conventions include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the United Nations' Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Crime in Australia is managed by various law enforcement bodies, the federal and state-based criminal justice systems and state-based correctional services.
Crime in Western Australia is tackled by the Western Australia Police and the Western Australian legal system.
Crime in the Northern Territory is managed by the Northern Territory Police, the territory government's Department of the Attorney-General and Justice and Territory Families.
Aboriginal deaths in custody is a political and social issue in Australia. It rose in prominence in the early 1980s, with Aboriginal activists campaigning following the death of 16-year-old John Peter Pat in 1983. Subsequent deaths in custody, considered suspicious by families of the deceased, culminated in the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC).
A death in custody is a death of a person in the custody of the police, other authorities, or while in prison. In the 21st century, death in custody remains a controversial subject, with the authorities often being accused of abuse, neglect and cover-ups of the causes of these deaths.
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, remand center, hoosegow, and slammer, is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will and denied their liberty under the authority of the state, generally as punishment for various crimes. Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.
The Federal Penitentiary Service is a federal agency of the Ministry of Justice of Russia responsible for correctional services.
Prisons in India are overcrowded and eight of out ten prisoners in Indian jails await trial. There are 1319 prisons in India as of 2021. Currently, there are about 1400 prisons. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of prisoners increased 13% from 2020 to 2021, making over 80% of the prisons overcrowded. After the Supreme Court order, a number of prisoners were released in 2020 to decongest the jails, reducing the overall prison occupancy in 20 states and two Union Territories to a little over 93%. However, the occupancy rate increased to 130% again by 2021. About 63 unnatural deaths took place in Indian prisons. Among the major states, Tamil Nadu is the only state which has less than 100% occupancy followed by Karnataka.
Incarceration in Canada is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both, for the commission of an indictable offense and other offenses.
Elizabeth Grant CF was an Australian architectural anthropologist, criminologist and academic working in the field of Indigenous Architecture. She was a Churchill Fellow and held academic positions at The University of Adelaide, as Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University's RMIT School of Architecture and Design, Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra and the University of Queensland. She researched, wrote, and was an activist focused on architecture and design with Indigenous peoples as architectural practice and a social movement, and the observance of human rights in institutional architecture. Her expertise in Indigenous housing and homelessness, design for Indigenous peoples living with disability, and indigenising public places and spaces made her a regular guest on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National and ABC Local Radio. She wrote and reviewed architectural projects for architectural magazines such as Architecture Australia, the journal of the Australian Institute of Architects, and the Australian Design Review.
Gerry Georgatos is a university researcher and social justice and human rights campaigner based in Western Australia. He has campaigned for prison reform, as well as championing the rights of the impoverished and marginalised and the homeless.
Juvenile detention in the Northern Territory is administered by Territory Families, since a departmental reorganisation following the Labor victory at the August 2016 Northern Territory general election. Juvenile detention is mostly operated through two facilities - the Alice Springs Juvenile Holding Centre in Alice Springs, and the Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre in eastern Darwin. These had previously been administered by the Department of Correctional Services. A juvenile is a child between the age of 10 and 17.
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