New justice data shows ‘tough on crime’ policies failing First Nations communities

Fresh national data on prisons and youth detention has prompted renewed calls for governments to abandon “tough on crime” politics and invest instead in community-led prevention and diversion for First Nations people.

A new briefing from Jesuit Social Services, based on the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2026, highlights a 42 per cent increase in the number of First Nations people in prison since 2017-18, even as the number of non-Indigenous prisoners has fallen by about 5 per cent. The same data show deaths in prison from unnatural causes rising from 21 to 26 a year, with deaths of First Nations prisoners increasing by two-thirds.

Jesuit Social Services chief executive Julie Edwards said the figures should be a “cause for national shame”, describing current approaches as “failed tough on crime policies” that have driven overcrowded prisons without improving safety. She pointed to evidence that prisoners are now spending more time locked in their cells (an average of 8.9 hours out of cell each day) and that less than a quarter complete education programs, down from about one-third in 2015-16.

The Productivity Commission’s justice overview shows that governments now spend $7.0 billion a year on adult corrective services, including $5.4 billion on prisons, with real net operating expenditure on prisons rising 18 per cent over five years. Separate analysis by the Justice Reform Initiative finds that combined prison operating and capital costs have climbed above $7.3 billion a year, while almost 45 per cent of people released from prison return within two years.

First Nations people remain vastly over-represented at every stage of the system. Australian Bureau of Statistics data for September 2025 show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults make up 37 per cent of the national prison population, despite being about 3.4 per cent of the population. Youth justice data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare indicate that First Nations young people are 24 times more likely than their non-Indigenous peers to be in detention on an average day.

Spending on youth detention is also surging. The Justice Reform Initiative estimates governments now spend more than $1.1 billion a year incarcerating children, with the daily cost averaging more than $3,600 per child and exceeding $7,000 a day in Victoria. Jesuit Social Services notes that Victoria’s youth detention expenditure has almost tripled in the past decade, from $115 million in 2015-16 to $323 million in 2024-25, and that the daily cost of incarcerating a young person in Victoria is about $7,304, or $2.6 million per year.

Advocates say these trends show Australia is pouring record funds into a system that entrenches disadvantage and intergenerational trauma in First Nations communities. Instead of building more prisons, they argue that governments should expand evidence-based alternatives such as culturally-led diversion programs, bail support, housing and mental health services, and reinvest savings from corrections into early childhood, education and employment.

With the latest figures showing rising deaths in custody, stubbornly high re-offending rates, and growing costs, organisations including Jesuit Social Services, the Justice Reform Initiative, and Aboriginal peak bodies are urging the Federal Government to use upcoming youth justice and Closing the Gap processes to drive a national shift away from punitive policies and towards approaches that actually make communities safer.