The number and proportion of Aboriginal people in custody in NSW isn’t decreasing.
In fact, it’s risen to an all-time high.
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) found Aboriginal people now make up 32 per cent of the state’s prison population, despite only representing 3.4 per cent of the general community.
Specifically, there was an 8.2 per cent rise in the number of Aboriginal people in state prisons in the past year.
Aboriginal people now make up 32 per cent of the state’s prison population. (Supplied: BOSCAR)
When Wiradjuri woman Carly Stanley heard this news, she felt angry. But as someone who has dedicated her life towards addressing this issue, she was not surprised.
“This is nothing new. The recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were handed down 30 years ago — nothing has changed, and things have got worse,” she said.
Ms Stanley is the CEO and co-founder of Deadly Connections — an Aboriginal survivor-led not-for-profit organisation in Sydney’s Alexandria.
She, along with countless other Indigenous leaders and community members, have devised solutions and programs that aim to make a tangible difference.
“No-one understands the needs of our community like people from the community,” Ms Stanley said.
“Often the government comes in and tries to fix things but they don’t understand that each community across the country works differently, even if we are facing the same challenges. One size doesn’t fit all.”
Carly Stanley is determined to make “transformative change”. (Supplied)
Growing up, some of Ms Stanley’s family members were incarcerated.
“I spent a lot of time visiting prisons in my formative years, seeing my uncle in Silverwater prison. It felt so normal, they used to put on family fun days there.”
Later in life, Ms Stanley worked in corrective services, with her roles focused on welfare support and the Aboriginal strategy and policy unit.
“I went into it thinking I could make positive change from within. What I quickly realised was people weren’t interested in making the change needed. That’s what it felt like.”
BOCSAR’s executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the over-representation of Indigenous people in the system was “concerning”.
“There’s really no sign that we’ve even been able to stabilise the prison population, let alone reduce the Aboriginal prison population,” Ms Fitzgerald told ABC News.
“In NSW, we’re not only failing to meet our Close the Gap targets, we’re actually moving in the opposite direction.”
In May, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the second implementation plan of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to bridge 17 socio-economic targets for First Nations people.
The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) said the statistics showed a state at “crisis point”.
“If the NSW government continues to invest in prisons and police instead of meeting the needs of communities, we’ll simply end up with more crime, fractured families, and trauma,” ALS NSW chief executive Karly Warner said.
Aboriginal Legal Service’s Karly Warner says the new laws passed by the state government have contributed to the growing inequality with incarceration rates. (Supplied)
The Aboriginal-led group making a difference
For Ms Stanley, who has lived experience of domestic violence, she said a two-pronged approach for addressing offender behaviour was needed — relating to all offenders, regardless of their background.
One of Deadly Connections’ programs is focused on domestic violence in the community and is designed to help Aboriginal men specifically who have engaged in harmful or abusive behaviours change their behaviour and attitudes.
“We work with victim-survivors and support for them is crucial. But there needs to be direct services focused on rehabilitation for offenders as well,” she said.
“If we’re not addressing what’s causing the harm, then the offender will move onto their next relationship and do exactly the same thing again.”
The service’s additional programs focus on solutions to reducing the over-representation of First Nations people in the justice system.
The aim is to break the cycles of disadvantage and justice involvement in the lives of First Nations’ people so that they can “thrive and not just survive”, noted Ms Stanley.
“Our approach is to look at healing, cultural activities, counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, educational support programs, employment training and restorative justice interventions.”
Deadly Connections said their focus on cultural connection and healing has had a positive impact. (
ABC News: Amelia Searson
)
The role of new bail laws and domestic violence
BOSCAR and legal academics agree that this historic number of incarcerated Aboriginal people in NSW prisons is being driven by an increase in remand numbers, or those who are incarcerated but haven’t been found guilty or innocent yet.
From September 2024, there were 1,864 Indigenous people in remand in NSW, an increase of 14.5 per cent from the previous year.
According to the BOSCAR report, the average age of an Aboriginal inmates on remand in NSW is 33 years old.
Wiradjuri woman and legal academic at the University of Newcastle Taylah Gray said this suggested early intervention programs weren’t accessible enough.
“Looking at the age groups that is driving this, it’s Aboriginal men aged between 30 to 39,” she said.
“What does that tell us? It tells us that by the time they have gotten to this age they’ve had no effective early intervention program, they’ve had no effective support, they’ve had no rehabilitation.
“That’s why we’re constantly seeing these trends.”
Taylah Gray said it’s important to look at the varying factors influencing these high incarceration rates. (ABC News: Jesmine Cheong)
In June, the Minns government tightened bail laws for domestic violence offenders after a string of high-profile killings of women by men known to them.
The government also made it harder for young offenders to get bail.
Ms Gray said while there was ongoing work to improve the access of early intervention programs, the stricter bail conditions have had the effect of increasing the amount of Indigenous people in prison.
“The driving factor that’s increasing [Indigenous incarceration] rates are domestic violence-related offences,” she said.
“It tells us that we’re not really addressing the root cause of these offending behaviours.”
Ms Fitzgerald from BOSCAR echoed this sentiment, saying it reflects a broader shift among local magistrates towards refusing bail, particularly in offences involving domestic violence.
“Those shorter remand episodes are not necessarily beneficial in the longer term,” she said.
“They have the impact of interrupting relationships, interrupting employment, interrupting things like housing, so there’s certainly harms that can be associated with that type of incarceration period.”
Indigenous Australians are over-represented in the criminal justice system in NSW. (ABC News)
Indigenous women being misidentified as perpetrators rather than victims of violence is likely impacting incarceration rates too, with some First Nations women’s acts of resistance towards an abusive partner seen as assault by responding officers.
Ms Stanley noted that victim-survivors who have been “traumatised through years of abuse” behave and respond in a variety of ways.
Championing community
Deadly Connections believes government must invest in communities rather than police and prisons.
Ms Stanley noted that crime can be a symptom of other factors such as economic inequality, alcohol and drug abuse, employment instability and limited access to services.
“It’s commonly a manifestation of trauma and disadvantage. Add on systemic racism, and it’s a cycle that’s hard to break.”
While she waits for “transformative change” to take place within Australia’s “broken” justice system, Ms Stanley said she and her colleagues will continue to push for culturally responsive interventions and services.
She also hopes the impact for those incarcerated and the ripple effect on their loved ones doesn’t go unacknowledged.
“Behind these statistics are people, families, communities and their stories. They’re not just numbers,” she said.
“We need to remember that.”
