Record number of Territorians jailed

A record number of Territorians were jailed last financial year, latest figures show.

An average of 719 prisoners were held in NT prisons, up from 715 the previous year.

Nearly 80 per cent of prisoners were Aboriginal, assault the most common offence.

More than three quarters of prisoners were unemployed before being jailed and 72.2 per cent were aged between 20 and 39 years. Nearly half were married.

Only 2 per cent of adult prisoners were women.

It costs $163 per day to house a prisoner, up from $160 last year, but the total cost for each juvenile detainee per day is a whopping $934.

Prisoner on prisoner assaults dropped dramatically, as did assaults on officers.

Almost all sentenced prisoners eligible to take part in prison programs, such as drug/alcohol treatment, anger management and indigenous family violence did so, but only one in every three hours of community service orders was completed by offenders last financial year.

Newshawk: http://www.tuf.org.au
Pubdate: 26th October 2004
Source: Northern Territory News