Select Committee on the Increase in Prisoner Population Final Report

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Increase in Prisoner Population
percentage of convicted males imprisoned fell by 6% between 1998/99 and
1999/2000.
• In the District there was a significant upward trend in the percentage of
convicted persons imprisoned from the District court for both males and females
over the five years to June 2000 but no significant trend in the two years to June
2000.
• In the Supreme Court there was no significant trend either since 1995 or the last
2 years.
5.60 Increased conviction rates do not provide a clear explanation for the increase of the prison
population: if there is any significant influence it would appear to come from factors such
as the increase in numbers of people being processed by the courts and decisions such as
those on bail.
Court Delays and influence on Remand population
5.61 Delay is a factor in the higher courts, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and
Research. As at 30 June 1999, the median delay from committal to outcome for matters
finalised in the District Court was approximately 400 days, and for matters finalised in the
Supreme Court it was just under 600 days. This delay will no doubt effect the number of
inmates on remand.
5.62 However, the impact upon the prison numbers overall should not be overstated, as a high
proportion of persons whose matters are finalised in the higher courts are convicted and
their custodial sentence includes the time spent on remand. The impact of this would be to
increase the remand population in proportion to the sentenced population, and it would
also have an effect upon the progress which an inmate makes through the classification
system.
Severity of court decisions
5.63 Longer sentences will clearly add to the size of the prison population even if conviction
rates are stable. In evidence to the <strong>Committee</strong> Simon Eyland of the Research and Statistics
Unit of the Department of Corrective Services stated that, while there was a decrease in the
sentenced population in 1999-2000 financial year by 2.8 per cent, those that are sentenced
to a term of imprisonment are being given longer sentences. 96
5.64 The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research provided to the <strong>Committee</strong> the
following information:
• In the Local Court, for both males and females there was a significant upward
trend in the average minimum/fixed term of imprisonment for persons
sentenced to imprisonment by the Local Courts over the five years to June 2000.
However, over the two years to June 2000, there was no significant trend.
96 Eyland, Evidence 12 March, 2001.
50 Final Report - November 2001