Adults in prison is an Australia's welfare topic

People in prison are some of the most vulnerable people in society and often come from disadvantaged backgrounds. People who spend time in prison experience higher rates of homelessness, unemployment, mental health disorders, chronic physical health conditions, communicable disease, tobacco smoking, high-risk alcohol consumption, and illicit use of drugs than the general population (AIHW 2023).

Adults in Australia who commit or allegedly commit crimes are managed by the criminal justice system. There are 113 custodial correctional facilities across Australia (SCGRSP 2024). At 30 June 2024, there were around 44,400 adults in custody (ABS 2024b). Australia has 9 legal systems, one for each state and territory and one for the Commonwealth. While the criminal justice systems in each jurisdiction are similar, they remain separate. Therefore, laws, penalties and arrangements for administering justice differ across state and territory boundaries (ABS 2024b).

For more information, see The health of people in Australia's prisons 2022.

Australia’s prison population over time

Over the decade to 2024, Australia’s prison population has increased in number and as a proportion of the population. The prison population grew from almost 33,800 at 30 June 2014 to around 44,400 at 30 June 2024. During the same period, the imprisonment rate increased from 186 to 208 per 100,000 adults (Figure 1). The most common offence/charges for people in Australian prisons at 30 June 2024 were acts intended to cause injury (28%; up from 21% in 2014), sexual assault and related offences (17%; up from 11% in 2014) and illicit drug offences (11.7%; down from 11.9% in 2014) (ABS 2024b).

Figure 1: Adult imprisonment rate, 2014 to 2024

This figure shows an increase in adult imprisonment rate from 185.6 in 2014 to 208.2 per 100,000 adults in 2024.


Source: ABS 2024b.

Overrepresentation of population groups in prison

When comparing the 2024 prison population to the general adult population (aged 18 or over), people in prison were:

  • more likely to be male – 9 in 10 (92%) of the adult prison population were male (ABS 2024b)
  • more likely to be younger – about 3 in 5 (62%) of the adult prison population were aged 18–39, compared with about 2 in 5 (40%) in the general adult population (ABS 2024a, 2024b)
  • more likely to identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people – over 1 in 3 (36%) of the adult prison population were First Nations people, compared with 3% of the general adult population (ABS 2023b, 2024b) (see Safety and justice for First Nations people).

July 2020 saw the release of The National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Target 10 of the agreement aims to reduce the overrepresentation of First Nations adults in the criminal justice system. The target is to reduce the rate of First Nations adults in incarceration by at least 15% by 2031 (from an age-standardised rate of about 1,906 per 100,000 adults in 2019 to about 1,620 per 100,000 adults in 2031) (PC 2025).

Between 2019 and 2024, the age-standardised rate of imprisonment among First Nations adults increased 21% from 1,906 to 2,304 per 100,000 adults. Over the same period, the age-standardised rate of imprisonment for non-Indigenous Australian adults decreased 15% from 173 to 148 per 100,000 adults (PC 2025). These age-standardised rates are adjusted in line with the updated resident population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, based on the 2021 Census.

Health of people in prison

People in prison have higher levels of mental health problems, risky alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, illicit drug use, chronic disease and communicable diseases than the general population (AIHW 2023). This means they have substantial and complex health and welfare needs, often long term or chronic. The health of people in prison is much poorer than that of the general community, such that people in prison are often considered to be ‘old’ at age 45 and over (compared with 65 and over in the general community) (Baidawi et al. 2011; Turner and Trotter 2010).

The National Prisoner Health Data Collection

Since 2009, the AIHW has run the National Prisoner Health Data Collection (NPHDC), over a 2-week period approximately every 3 years. The 2022 NPHDC has the most recent available data, which is presented on this page. 

Of the 371 people entering prison (prison entrants) surveyed in the 2022 NPHDC:

  • just over half (52%) reported a history of one or more selected chronic conditions (asthma, arthritis, back problem/s, cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, pulmonary disease, and osteoporosis)
  • about 1 in 2 (51%) reported a previous diagnosis of a mental health condition, including drug and alcohol abuse
    • Female prison entrants (63%) were more likely than male prison entrants (49%) to report a history of a mental health condition.
    • Non-Indigenous prison entrants (60%) were more likely to report a history of a mental health condition than First Nations prison entrants (43%).
  • around 2 in 3 (68%) had been in prison before and 2 in 5 (41%) had been in prison within the previous 12 months (AIHW 2023).

Of the 431 people scheduled for release from prison (prison dischargees) surveyed in the 2022 NPHDC:

  • about 1 in 4 (26%) reported they were first diagnosed with a health condition in prison
  • more than 4 in 5 (81%) reported their mental health improved or stayed the same while in prison
  • about 1 in 5 (21%) reported being in prison for less than 3 months, and about 1 in 8 (13%) for 2 years or more (AIHW 2023).

For more information, see the Health of people in prison.

Employment status of people in prison

The ability to gain and maintain employment is key to successful reintegration of former people in prison into the community post release. Many people in prison, particularly First Nations people, have complex and sometimes traumatic histories and experiences which remain following release from prison and can make employment difficult (COAG 2016).

Almost half (46%) of prison entrants reported they were unemployed during the 30 days before prison (AIHW 2023). 

Almost 2 in 5 (38%) prison dischargees reported they had paid employment organised to start within 2 weeks of release from prison (AIHW 2023).

Education prior to entering prison

Education is a recognised social determinant of health, with lower levels of education associated with poorer health (Mitrou et al. 2014). People in prison have lower levels of educational attainment and higher levels of learning difficulties and learning disabilities than people in the general community (AIHW 2019; Kendall and Hopkins 2019). Lower levels of educational attainment are associated with poorer employment opportunities and outcomes, and unemployment is a risk factor for incarceration and for reoffending after release (Baldry et al. 2018).

Prison entrants were less likely than the general population (20% compared with 77%) to report they had completed the equivalent of year 12 (ABS 2022; AIHW 2023).

In 2022, prison entrants were more likely than the general population (aged 15–74) to have only completed year 10 or below (66% compared with 16%). Of prison entrants, 13% had only completed year 8 or below as their highest level of education (ABS 2022; AIHW 2023).

More than one-third (37%) of prison entrants reported attaining a trade certificate as their highest non-school qualification. Education at the tertiary level, was not common – the highest level of completed tertiary education for prison entrants was a diploma (4.6%), followed by a bachelor’s degree (2.7%), and a postgraduate qualification (0.5%). More than half (54%) of prison entrants in 2022 reported having no non-school qualifications (AIHW 2023; Figure 2).

Figure 2: Highest level of education achieved by prison entrants, 2022

This figure shows 35% of entrants completed year 10 and 35% year 11 or 12. Most (54%) had no non-school qualification and 37% had a trade certificate.

Note: From the 2022 NPHDC, blue colouring represents the 371 prison entrants who responded with their highest level of schooling and orange represents the 365 prison entrants who responded with their highest level of non-school education.

Source: AIHW 2023.

Housing and homelessness of people in prison

There are clear links between homelessness and health. People experiencing homelessness have higher rates of communicable disease, chronic conditions, mental health issues, and alcohol and other drug use disorders (Fazel et al. 2014).

In the NPHDC, prison entrants were asked about their accommodation during the 4 weeks before prison, and prison dischargees were asked about their accommodation expectations on release.

In 2022, prison entrants (43%) were around 90 times more likely to be homeless than people in the general adult community (aged 19 or over; 0.5%) (ABS 2023a; AIHW 2023).

More than 2 in 5 (43%) prison entrants reported they were homeless (including staying in short-term or emergency accommodation) during the 4 weeks before prison.

Almost half (45%) of prison dischargees were planning to sleep in short-term or emergency accommodation, and 2.8% expected to sleep rough on release from prison. About half (52%) of prison dischargees had their own stable accommodation arranged, where they were either the owners or named on a lease.

For more information, see The health of people in Australia's prisons 2022.

Income support following release from prison

On average people who are unemployed have poorer outcomes than people who are employed. This includes mental health issues, alcohol and other drug use disorders, and criminal offending (Fergusson et al. 2014; Winter et al. 2019).

Most (80%) prison dischargees in 2022 were expecting to receive some form of financial assistance from Centrelink after release (Figure 3). In 2022:

  • over 1 in 4 (27%) expected to receive income support payments (including Disability Support Pension)
  • about 1 in 3 (32%) expected to receive a crisis payment
  • 1 in 5 (20%) expected to receive both payments (AIHW 2023).

Figure 3: Expected income source of prison dischargees, 2022

This figure shows 27% of dischargees expected to receive an income support payment, 32% crisis payment and 20% both crisis and income support payment.

Note: From the 2022 NPHDC, 429 prison dischargees responded with their expected payment from Centrelink on release.

Source: AIHW 2023.

Key data gaps and data improvement activities

The NPHDC was designed as a census, capturing data on the population of interest at a given point in time. However, numbers on this page represent a sample from the 2022 data collection, and not the entire prison population. As a result, the NPHDC sample is not necessarily representative of the total prison population. Further information on 2022 data collection methods and limitations is available in the Data quality statement and Technical notes.

A future aim of the NPHDC is to collect much of the data through jurisdictional administrative systems, rather than as the current entirely separate data collection. This would allow for a much larger and more representative sample, expanding the options for data analysis, and improving the validity and reliability of the collection. But there is substantial complexity involved in adapting the data requirements of the NPHDC to the different administrative data systems in each jurisdiction.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on the health and welfare of people in prison, see:

For more on this topic, see People in prison.