State’s jails a little emptier

THE number of people incarcerated across Victoria fell sharply last financial year.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data reveals Victoria recorded the largest decline in the nation, with its prison population dropping by 12 per cent in the 12 months to June 30.

Nationally, the prison population decreased by 5 per cent to 41,060. According to the ABS, this was the first national decrease since 2011.

The imprisonment rate also dropped by 7 per cent from 219 to 202 prisoners per 100,000 of adult population.

Deakin University academic Joe Graffam, who has led research into prison populations, said while the decline in numbers was promising, it was difficult to separate the statistics from the coronavirus pandemic.

“In this case, I have to say that this is probably, to a large extent, a ‘COVID effect’, which we will also later see reflected in whole of 2020 figures,” Professor Graffam said.

According to the statistics, unsentenced prisoners comprised 52 per cent of the total population drop.

“With COVID onset, courts immediately became less inclined to place people on remand and into prison,” Prof Graffam said.

He said the pandemic also influenced court decisions about incarceration for minor repeat offences.

Victoria Legal Aid’s executive director of criminal law, Dan Nicholson, said the state’s coronavirus lockdowns had led to a reduction in offending such as robbery, theft and assaults in public places.

But Mr Nicholson said “too many people” were still spending short periods of time in custody for petty crime due to circumstances — such as addiction and homelessness.

“Keeping people out of custody through the use of bail, cautions or diversion presents an opportunity to connect people to support services to help address the causes of their offending,” he said.

Mr Nicholson said ensuring people charged with minor offences stayed in the community increased their opportunity to find and keep a job, a home, connection to health services, their family or other support.

“These are all vital to help people identify and address any issues contributing to their offending,” he said.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said the decline in prisoner numbers in 2020 was a “direct impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the criminal justice system”.

“The Victorian government and the Department of Justice and Community Safety continues to manage and plan for growth across the prison system,” she said.