Bridges and barriers: addressing Indigenous incarceration and health

Despite the investment by governments to reduce incarceration, Indigenous Australians have continued to fill our correction systems at alarmingly disproportionate rates, making up almost one quarter of Australian’s prison population and over half of Indigenous juveniles in corrective institutions. This paper calls for action to address this ‘disturbing problem’ revealing Indigenous adults are 13 times more likely to be in prison than other Australians. The paper also reveals the proportion of adult Indigenous women in prison has increased three fold since the1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The paper recommends individual education support funds be launched for every Indigenous young person and the eligibility of current diversion programs be changed to enable Indigenous people greater access to alcohol and drug treatment instead of prison  The paper recommends individual education support funds be launched for every Indigenous young person and the eligibility of current diversion programs be changed to enable Indigenous people greater access to alcohol and drug treatment instead of prison