The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures on prisoners in Australia shows a worrying upwards trend of more people serving time.
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The number of people in Australian prisons jumped for the fifth straight year, with almost 39,000 people in jail in 2016 – up 8 per cent from the same time in 2015, 10 per cent in 2014 and 7 per cent in 2013.
It’s worth noting that according to the ABS, that increase over the past 12 months was mostly attributed to an increase in the number of people on remand waiting a decision in their trial.
According to the ABS, almost 25 per cent of all unsentenced prisoners in Australian jails was of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.
From a Tasmanian perspective, there was a similar increase across the board.
This year, there were 569 prisoners in Risdon – 503 males and 66 women. Just over 61 per cent of those were recidivists – it wasn’t the first time they’ve been behind bars.
That figure of 569 is up 50 from the previous year and well up on the 451 in 2014.
The biggest shock was that the female imprisonment rate doubled in 2016 – up from 15.7 in 2015 to 30.7 this year.
Of all those in Tasmanian prisons, just over 400 were sent there in 2016.
Even at a time when judges and magistrates are mindful of prison time as a final resort (we know that sending someone to jail has a long-term detrimental effect), the crime rate in Tasmania is up.
Police crime figures released in November show that crime rates were up in most main centres in Tasmania. Launceston ranked the worst regional centre in Tasmania with 6541 offences registered, for an offence rate of 975 per 10,000 people.
That’s well ahead of the second highest rate of 674 offences per 10,000 in Devonport and 630 in Hobart.
Launceston district had the unenviable title of the worst region for vehicle stealing (324 offences), home burglaries (315) and property offences (5422).
With crime rates up in those larger regions, it should come as no surprise that prisoner rates are up.
No one should be given a free pass to continually commit crimes with no ultimate punishment.
And ultimately, the protection of society in general must take precedence. People considered a danger to society should be incarcerated for everyone’s protection.
