ACT Prison Violence and Indigenous Incarceration Disparity Worsens in New Report
A critical gap in the Australian Capital Territory's criminal justice system has widened significantly, with new data showing First Nations people are now 25 times more likely to be imprisoned compared to the non-Indigenous population. This alarming statistic emerges from the Productivity Commission's 2026 Report on Government Services, which highlights a growing disparity between imprisonment rates in the ACT and other jurisdictions across Australia.
Escalating Indigenous Incarceration Rates
The report indicates that the ACT ratio for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to non-Indigenous people has increased from 22.7 in 2023-2024 to 25.4 in 2024-2025. This places the territory further away from the latest national average of 18.8. While this ratio has risen across Australia since 2021-2022, it continues to be highest in the ACT.
Specifically, the imprisonment rate for First Nations people in the ACT surged to 1898.8, marking an increase of 200 points since the previous reporting period. In stark contrast, the imprisonment rate for non-First Nations people remained unchanged at 74.8.
Spike in Prison Violence and Assaults
The report, released on Tuesday night, also documents a concerning rise in violence within custody. The rate of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults has escalated from 12.8 to 17.2 per 100 prisoners, while the rate of serious assaults increased from 0.51 to 0.73.
Interestingly, the prisoner-on-officer assault rate has remained steady at 4.37 per 100 prisoners, unchanged since 2023-2024. This data was sourced from unpublished figures provided by ACT Corrective Services.
Decreased Out-of-Cell Time and Deaths in Custody
Productivity Commission data reveals that ACT prisoners' time out of cells has decreased from 10 hours a day to 8.8 hours a day, which is close to the national average of 8.9 hours. On a more positive note, the ACT recorded the second-highest percentage of sentenced male offenders completing community corrections orders at 85.4 per cent, trailing only Tasmania and exceeding the national average of 75 per cent.
For female offenders, the ACT achieved an 84.5 per cent completion rate, ranking third after Queensland and Tasmania, where nearly 90 per cent of sentenced women successfully completed similar orders.
The report also provides a record of deaths in prison custody, excluding those under coronial inquiry or from unknown causes. The rate of deaths in ACT prison custody was last reported in 2022-2023 at 0.26 per 100 prisoners, which was more than five times the national average of 0.04 at that time.
Rising Prison Population and Falling Costs
The daily average number of detained individuals at Canberra's Alexander Maconochie Centre, including the Transitional Release Centre, has risen significantly from 386 in 2023-2024 to 411 in 2024-2025. Last week, the prison population was reported to be almost 480 detainees, including 21 women and up to five gender-diverse people.
Despite this increase, the ACT's real net operating expenditure per prisoner has plummeted in the latest reporting period. The cost per prisoner per day hit a four-year low of approximately $573 in 2024-2025, representing a $68 decrease after peaking the previous year.
Meanwhile, the cost per offender per day in the ACT has increased by $2, from $83 to $85, though this remains lower than the $93 recorded in 2022-2023. This complex financial picture underscores the challenges facing the territory's corrective services amid rising violence and incarceration disparities.
