Cost of locking up prisoners reaches eye-watering high
As the cost of maintaining prisons soars, fines and bail pressures could cost billions of dollars in extra taxpayer funds.
Australia’s average daily prison population is at its highest level in eight years, according to data released by the Productivity Commission on Wednesday.
An average of more than 45,000 people are locked up each day in 2024-25; This rate is an increase of 5.9 percent.
The increase in prison numbers was driven by an increase in the recidivism rate, with 44.5 percent of released prisoners returning to prison within two years, the highest level since 2019.
The increasing price tag of a growing prison population is more than $5 billion a year, or about $13.7 million a day.
The annual sum has increased by more than $1.5 billion over the past decade.
While prison numbers and costs are increasing, many crime rates are falling.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ crime victimization database, domestic crimes such as property damage, break-ins and car theft have all decreased over the past 10 years.
While most categories of physical crimes, including assault and robbery, decreased, sexual assault cases increased slightly.
With crime rates falling, tough-on-crime policies enacted by various state and territory governments may be behind the continued rise in prison numbers.
Queensland’s coalition government introduced “adult time for adult crimes” legislation in 2024 after a 17-year-old mother fatally stabbed mother Emma Lovell during a Boxing Day home invasion in 2022.
Victoria followed suit in late 2025, introducing the “toughest bail laws in Australia” by removing the principle of detention as a last resort for young offenders.
Former national children’s commissioner and now Justice Reform Initiative spokeswoman Anne Hollonds said on Friday record funding had been poured into a system that had failed to reduce crime.
“Just two years ago youth detention numbers in Victoria were falling,” he said.
“We’re now seeing a rapid reversal with punitive policies being enacted. This is the same failed path we’ve seen elsewhere.”
NSW has tightened bail laws in 2024 by requiring more defendants to prove why they should not be detained and strengthening the presumption against bail in domestic violence and youth matters.
