The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) noted a paucity of information at the national level concerning the demographic characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody. It further noted the importance of data collection in the identification of trends, monitoring of detainees, and prevention of future deaths in custody.

Australian Institute of Criminology

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) conducted national surveys of police custody in August 1992, August 1995 and October 2002 with the cooperation of police in each jurisdiction in Australia. In the report from the 2002 survey, the AIC aimed to continue to monitor patterns in police custody through the conduct of future police custody surveys. However, no surveys have been published since 2002. (See further information in response to Recommendation 43.)

Australian Bureau of Statistics

The National Prisoner Census was established in 1983 by the AIC who maintained the collection until June 1993. In September 1995 the ABS took over responsibility for the collection and has undertaken the publication of all national corrective services statistics from June 1994 onwards. The first official ABS release of Prisoner Census statistics was through the 2000 publication, Prisoners in Australia. Prior to this, the data were presented as an annual report for the Corrective Services Ministers' Council by the National Corrective Services Statistics Unit.

The National Prisoner Census provides a national view of adults in prison across Australia, comparable data across states and territories and a basis for measuring change over time. Data is updated annually through the ‘Prisoners in Australia’ release, which provides a collection of information about adults held in custody in Australian prisons on 30 June each year. Statistics are derived from information collected from administrative records held by corrective service agencies in each state and territory. A range of information is presented on the demographic and legal characteristics of prisoners such as age, sex, country of birth, Indigenous status, legal status, prior imprisonment, most serious offence/charge, aggregate sentence and length of sentence being served, as well as time on remand. The latest data is available online.

The quarterly ABS publication, ‘Corrective Services, Australia’ also contains information on persons in corrective services, including their numbers, gender, demographic information, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) collects information from all states and territories about young people under youth justice supervision for the Youth Justice National Minimum Data Set (YJ NMDS). Annual reports developed from this data set present information about young people in Australia who were under youth justice supervision during the financial year, both in the community and in detention. It looks at the characteristics of these young people, key aspects of their supervision, and recent trends. Numbers in this report include young people of all ages (including those aged 18 and over) unless otherwise specified. All data presented in the reports are available through online supplementary tables.

The latest data was Youth Justice in Australia 2023-24.

Outputs

There has not been a report from the National Police Custody Survey since the 2002 publication. In contrast, the Australian Bureau of Statistics continues to release annual Prisoners in Australia reports, which provide a national overview of adults in prison, enabling comparison across states and territories and supporting the analysis of trends over time. Similarly, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publishes the Youth Justice in Australia series, offering comparable data on young people in detention and a consistent basis for monitoring changes across jurisdictions.

Outcomes

National data on people held in the custody of corrective and youth justice services is regularly collected and published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare respectively. However, no national police custody survey data has been published by the Australian Institute of Criminology since 2002.