Remands refers to prisoners held on remand are those who have been charged, not granted bail, but not yet found guilty. They are held in prison custody awaiting their court appearance or trial.

As observe in the plot, the remand population increased more steeply when compared with the sentenced population. From 2012 to 2017, the remand population grew by 87%.

This higher increase in remandees compared with the numbers of persons sentenced is one reason for the increasing number and rate of prisoners. Reasons for this may be that more people are being refused bail, and that there are backlogs of cases in courts – meaning it is taking longer for remandees to get to trial.

The imprisonment rate of Indigenous Australians has also increased over the past decade. Indigenous Australians represent 28% of the prisoner population according to the latest figures.

The Indigenous prisoner rate has increased at a greater rate than the overall Australian prisoner rate over the past decade.

The increasing rate of Indigenous prisoners is associated with higher rates of arrest resulting in conviction, a greater likelihood of imprisonment, and a higher rate of bail refusal.

Indigenous Australians’ experiences of removal, dispossession, exclusion from education and employment, and structural disadvantage also play major roles in Indigenous offending rates and over-representation in prison.

Contributing factors include over-policing of Indigenous people with mental and cognitive disability, as well as institutional discrimination and greater severity by the criminal justice system in its treatment of Indigenous offenders.

Over the last decade, the total number of women in prison in Australia has increased by 77%.

The increase in Indigenous women prisoners has been attributed to a higher number of Indigenous women entering prison who have been in prison previously, as well as increased policing and tougher sentencing regimes.