Statistics released by the Department of Corrections on the number of prisoners in New Zealand at the end of the March 2017 quarter show an increase of 8.2% from the March 2016 quarter.
While the number of sentenced prisoners grew by 5.3% there was a 16.1% increase in the number of remand prisoners.
The big increase in remand prisoners is shown more dramatically over the last five years, with an increase of 51.4% between 2012 and 2017, compared with a 5.2% increase in the number of sentenced prisoners.
Remand prisoners made up 28.8% of all prisoners at the end of March 2017, compared to 22.0% at the end of March 2012.
Men made up 93% of all prisoners at the end of March 2017, and 50.9% of prisoners were Māori. The highest proportion of prisoners - 33% - were in the 20 to 29 year age group, and 37.6% of prisoners' most serious offence involved violence.
Prisoner Population, at end of quarter
| Measure | March 2017 |
March 2016 |
Change | March 2012 |
Change 2012 |
| Male remand prisoners | 2682 | 2305 | 16.4% | 1800 | 49.0% |
| Male sentenced prisoners | 6651 | 6348 | 4.8% | 6387 | 4.1% |
| Total male prisoners | 9333 | 8653 | 7.9% | 8187 | 14.0% |
| Female remand prisoners | 210 | 187 | 12.3% | 110 | 90.9% |
| Female sentenced prisoners | 492 | 433 | 13.6% | 401 | 22.7% |
| Total female prisoners | 702 | 620 | 13.2% | 511 | 37.4% |
| All remand prisoners | 2892 | 2492 | 16.1% | 1910 | 51.4% |
| All sentenced prisoners | 7143 | 6781 | 5.3% | 6788 | 5.2% |
| Total prisoners | 10035 | 9273 | 8.2% | 8698 | 15.4% |
Other information on prisoners, end of quarter
| Measure | Mar-17 | Mar-16 | Mar-12 |
| Ethnicity | |||
| Māori | 50.9% | 51.0% | 51.3% |
| European | 32.0% | 32.4% | 32.7% |
| Pacific | 11.0% | 11.2% | 11.5% |
| Other (incl Asian) | 4.7% | 4.4% | 3.9% |
| Unknown | 1.4% | 1.0% | 0.6% |
| Most serious offence | |||
| Vioence | 37.6% | 37.2% | 40.5% |
| Dishonesty | 20.3% | 17.1% | 18.4% |
| Sexual offences | 20.0% | 25.6% | 21.1% |
| Drugs & anti-social | 13.0% | 12.9% | 11.2% |
| Traffic | 3.6% | 3.3% | 4.9% |
| Administrative | 1.6% | 1.1% | 0.9% |
| Other | 3.9% | 2.9% | 2.9% |
| Age group | |||
| Under 20 | 3.4% | NA* | NA* |
| 20 to 24 | 14.3% | NA | NA |
| 25 to 29 | 18.7% | NA | NA |
| 30 to 39 | 28.8% | NA | NA |
| 40 to 49 | 19.8% | NA | NA |
| 50 to 59 | 10.0% | NA | NA |
| 60 and over | 5.0% | NA | NA |
*Information is provided as a bar graph and the exact percentage is not given.