New Zealand Law Society - Remand prisoners big driver of prisoner increase

Remand prisoners big driver of prisoner increase

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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
to 2017

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.