Report on Government Services 2026
PART C, SECTION 8: RELEASED ON 3 FEBRUARY 2026

8 Corrective services

This section reports on the performance of governments in providing prison custody and a range of community corrections orders and programs for adult offenders.

The Indicator results tab uses data from the data tables to provide information on the performance for each indicator in the Indicator framework. The same data in the data tables are also available in CSV format.

Data downloads

Refer to the corresponding table number in the data tables for detailed definitions, caveats, footnotes and data source(s).

Guide: How to find what you need in RoGS (PDF - 812.9 KB)

Context

Objectives for corrective services

Corrective services aim to contribute to the protection and creation of safer communities through the effective management of offenders and prisoners, commensurate with their needs and the risks they pose to the community, by providing:

a safe, secure and humane custodial environment
appropriate management of community corrections orders
programs and services that address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law abiding way of life.

Governments aim for corrective services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

The operation of corrective services is significantly influenced by, and in turn influences, other components of the criminal justice system such as police services and courts. The management of prisoners and of offenders serving community corrections orders is the core business of all corrective services agencies. However, the legislative frameworks governing and impacting on corrective services, for example sentencing acts, vary widely. The scope of the responsibilities of these agencies also varies, for example, functions administered by corrective services in one jurisdiction may be administered by a different justice sector agency in another, such as the management of prisoners held in court cells.

This section reports on the performance of corrective services, which include prison custody and a range of community corrections orders and programs for adult offenders¹ (for example, parole and community work orders). Both public and privately operated correctional facilities are included; however, the scope of this section generally does not extend to:

youth justice (reported on in section 17, Youth justice services)
prisoners or alleged offenders held in forensic mental health facilities to receive psychiatric care (who are usually the responsibility of health departments)
prisoners held in police custody (reported on in section 6, Police services)
people held in facilities such as immigration detention centres.

Adult offenders in prison and community corrections are aged 18 years and over in all Australian states and territories. Locate Footnote 1 above

Corrective services are the responsibility of state and territory governments, which may deliver services directly, purchase them through contractual arrangements or operate a combination of both arrangements. All jurisdictions maintained government operated prison facilities during the reporting period while private prisons operated in five jurisdictions (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia).

Community corrections is responsible for administering a range of non-custodial sanctions and also manages prisoners who are released into the community and continue to be subject to corrective services supervision. These services vary in the extent and nature of supervision, the conditions of the order (such as a community work component or a requirement to attend an offender program) and the level of restriction placed on the offender’s freedom of movement in the community (for example, home detention).

No single objective or set of characteristics is common to all jurisdictions’ community corrections services, other than that they generally provide a non-custodial sentencing alternative or a post-custodial mechanism for reintegrating prisoners into the community under continued supervision. In some jurisdictions, community corrections responsibility includes managing offenders on supervised bail orders. Table 8.1 shows the range of sanctions involving corrective services that operated in each jurisdiction during the reporting period.

**Table 8.1 Sanctions administered by corrective services during 2024-25^a**
		NSW	Vic	Qld	WA	SA	Tas	ACT	NT
Community corrections	Supervised bail
	Conditionally deferred or suspended conviction/sentence
	Fine option/conversion order
	Community service order
	Probation, community based order, Supervised good behaviour bond
	Supervised suspended sentence^b
	Intensive corrections/intensive supervision order
	Home detention order^c,d
	Post-prison order e.g. parole, release on licence
	Post-sentence supervision order
Prison custody	Remand (unconvicted or unsentenced)
	Periodic detention^e
	Imprisonment
	Transition/re-entry order
	Post-sentence detention order

Sanction administered Sanction not administered

a This table relates to whether there are offenders or prisoners being managed by corrective services in accordance with the requirements of the particular sanction at 30 June of the reporting period. It may therefore show as applicable a sanction that is no longer in force as a sentencing option for the jurisdiction at that time because there are still offenders/prisoners within the corrective service population that have not yet completed an order handed down by the court before that type of sanction was removed as an option for courts to use. b New South Wales is no longer administering new supervised suspended sentences although there are still a number of offenders currently being supervised under this sanction. c Includes home detention as a condition of bail where supervised by corrective services. d In Tasmania, legislation allowing sentencing to Home Detention Orders was proclaimed in December 2018. The first such orders commenced in March 2019. e No jurisdiction operated periodic detention in 2022-23.

Source: State and territory governments (unpublished).

Nationally in 2024-25, expenditure (net of revenue) on corrective services was $5.43 billion for prisons and $0.95 billion for community corrections² (table 8A.1). Expenditure plus depreciation (matching expenditure reporting by other justice sector agencies) was $7.0 billion – a real increase of 3.5% from 2023-24 (table 8A.2). Changes in expenditure need to be considered in the context of the growth in corrective services populations over time.

This expenditure is net of operating revenues and excludes capital costs (depreciation, user cost of capital and debt service fees), payroll tax, and expenditure on transport/escort services and prisoner health. Some jurisdictions are unable to fully disaggregate transport costs and/or health expenditure from other prison operating costs. Refer to table 8A.1 for detailed definitions, footnotes and caveats. Locate Footnote 2 above

Prison custody

Corrective services operated 114 custodial facilities nationally at 30 June 2025, comprising 89 government operated prisons, eight privately operated prisons, four transitional centres, and 13, 24-hour court cell complexes (holding prisoners under the responsibility of corrective services in New South Wales) (table 8A.3).

On average, 45,526 people per day were held in Australian prisons during 2024-25, of which 84.3% were held in secure facilities (table 8A.4). A daily average of 7,534 prisoners (16.5% of the prisoner population), were held in privately operated facilities during the year. Nationally, female prisoners represented 7.9% of the daily average prison population, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners represented 36.4% of the daily average population.

In 2024-25, the national imprisonment rate was 210.8 per 100,000 people in the relevant adult population, up from 202.9 in 2023-24 but down from an eight-year high of 220.3 in 2018-19 (figure 8.1). The rate for males (394.9 per 100,000 males) was 12.1 times the rate for females (32.6 per 100,000 females) (table 8A.8).

The national crude imprisonment rate per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 2,541.5 in 2024-25 compared to 2111.9 per 1000,000 in 2021-22. For non-Indigenous people the national crude imprisonment rate was 135.4 per 100,000 adults comapred to 143.2 per 100,000 in 2021-22 (table 8A.8).

Comparisons of imprisonment rates should be made with care, especially for states and territories with relatively small Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. Small changes in prisoner numbers can cause variations in rates that do not accurately represent either real trends over time or consistent differences from other jurisdictions.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has a younger age profile compared with the non-Indigenous population, which contributes to higher crude imprisonment rates. After adjusting for differences in population age structures, the national age-standardised imprisonment rate per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2024-25 was 2,112.6, compared with a corresponding rate of 146.0 for the non-Indigenous population (figure 8.2). Therefore, after taking into account the effect of differences in the age profiles between the two populations, the national imprisonment rate for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is 14.5 times greater than for the non-Indigenous population. Imprisonment rates that do not take age profile differences into account are 18.8 times greater.

While imprisonment rates for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, whether calculated on a crude or age-standardised basis, are higher than those for the non‑Indigenous population, the majority of daily prisoners are non‑Indigenous. Eight-year trends in daily average numbers and rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‑Indigenous prisoners are reported in table 8A.5.

Community corrections

Nationally, on a daily average, there were 15.4 offenders for every (full time equivalent) community corrections staff member in 2024‑25 (table 8A.9). Nationally, an average of 83,730 offenders per day were serving community corrections orders in 2024-25 (table 8A.7), with female offenders representing 19.4% of the offender population (higher than the proportion in the prison population), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders representing 26.8% of the offender population (lower than the proportion in the prison population) (table 8A.6).

In 2024-25, the national crude community corrections rate was 387.7 per 100,000 relevant adult population, down from an eight-year high of 416.5 in 2019-20 (figure 8.3). The rate for female offenders was 147.7 compared with 635.4 for male offenders (table 8A.8).

The national crude community corrections rate for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was 3,440.6 offenders per 100,000 relevant adult population, compared with 281.0 offenders for the non-Indigenous population (table 8A.8). After adjusting for differences in population age structures, the age-standardised rate per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2024‑25 was 2,816.8, compared with a rate of 287.7 for the non-Indigenous population (figure 8.4). Therefore, after taking into account the effect of differences in the age profiles between the two populations, the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community corrections rate is 9.8 times greater than for the non-Indigenous population. Community corrections rates that do not take age profile differences into account are 12.2 times greater.

As with prisoners, comparisons should be made with care because small changes in offender numbers in jurisdictions with relatively small Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations can cause variations in rates that do not accurately represent either real trends over time or consistent differences from other jurisdictions. Eight-year trends are reported in table 8A.7.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a high representation in the justice system and corrective services compared to non-Indigenous people. The over-representation affects most indicators and trends in the justice system which need to be interpreted alongside the imprisonment rates.

Indicator Framework

The performance indicator framework provides information on equity, effectiveness and efficiency, and distinguishes the outputs and outcomes of corrective services.

The performance indicator framework shows which data is complete and comparable in this report. For data that is not considered directly comparable, text includes relevant caveats and supporting commentary. Section 1 discusses data comparability and completeness from a report-wide perspective. In addition to the contextual information for this service area (refer to Context tab), the report's statistical context (section 2) contains data that may assist in interpreting the performance indicators presented in this section.

Improvements to performance reporting for corrective services are ongoing and will include identifying indicators to fill gaps in reporting against key objectives, improving the comparability and completeness of data and reviewing proxy indicators to see if more direct measures can be developed.

Outputs

Outputs are the actual services delivered (while outcomes are the impact of these services on the status of an individual or group) (refer to section 1). Output information is also critical for equitable, efficient and effective management of government services.

Outcomes

Outcomes are the impact of services on the status of an individual or group (refer to section 1).

Indicator framework diagram showing equity, effectiveness and efficiency output indicators and outcome indicators, and shows comparability and completeness of indicators. Details described in text below.

Performance – linked to Objectives

Outputs

Equity – Access

Prisoner employment by Indigenous status – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

Effectiveness – Appropriateness

Offence specific programs – no data reported and/or no measures yet developed
Education and training – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete
Prisoner employment – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
Time out-of-cells – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
Community work – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
Prison capacity utilisation – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

Effectiveness – Quality

Apparent unnatural deaths – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
Assaults in custody – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete

Efficiency – Inputs per output unit

Cost per prisoner/offender – most recent data for all measures is either not comparable and/or not complete

Outcomes

Completion of community orders – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete
Escapes – most recent data for all measures is comparable and complete

A description of the comparability and completeness is provided under the Indicator results tab for each measure.

Indicator Results

This section provides an overview of the Corrective services performance indicator results. Jurisdictional differences in service delivery settings, geographic dispersal and prisoner/offender population profiles can affect the equity, effectiveness and efficiency of correctional service systems.

Information to assist the interpretation of these data can be found with the indicators below and all data (footnotes and data sources) are available for download above as an excel spreadsheet and as a CSV dataset. Data tables are identified by a ‘8A’ prefix (for example, table 8A.1).

Specific data used in figures can be downloaded by clicking in the figure area, navigating to the bottom of the visualisation to the grey toolbar, clicking on the 'Download' icon and selecting 'Data' from the menu. Selecting 'PDF' or 'Powerpoint' from the 'Download' menu will download a static view of the performance indicator results.

‘Prisoner employment by Indigenous status’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide programs and services in an equitable manner.

‘Prisoner employment by Indigenous status’ is defined as the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners employed as a percentage of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners eligible to work, compared with the percentage of employed non-Indigenous prisoners.

Prisoners who are eligible to work excludes those unable to participate in work programs because of full time education and/or training, ill health, relatively short periods of imprisonment, prisoners whose protection status precludes their access to employment, fine defaulters who are in prison custody for only a few days, hospital patients or aged prisoners who are unable to work, prisoners at centres where the jurisdiction's policy is not to provide work or where work is not available (for example 24-hour court cells), and remandees who choose not to work.

Similar proportions of employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous prisoners indicates equity of access to participate in work programs. These employment opportunities develop work skills and qualifications to assist in obtaining employment after release from custody.

This indicator should be interpreted with caution because of factors outside the control of corrective services, such as local economic conditions, which affect the capacity to attract commercially viable prison industries, particularly where prisons are remote from large population centres.

Nationally in 2024-25, 71.7% of the eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoner population was employed, compared with 85.2% of the eligible non-Indigenous prisoner population (figure 8.5).

‘Offence-specific programs’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide programs and services that address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law-abiding way of life.

‘Offence-specific programs’ measures the delivery of programs to prisoners and offenders by corrective services that target specific factors related to their risk of reoffending.

Data is not yet available for reporting against this indicator. Some information about offence-related programs in each jurisdiction is available below.

**Table 8.2 Offence specific programs**
Jurisdiction	Description
New South Wales	EQUIPS (Explore, Question, Investigate, Practice, Succeed) is a suite of therapeutic and educational programs developed by Corrective Services NSW to reduce the risk of re-offending. It is designed to increase participation opportunities for offenders in both custody and community settings. The five programs in the suite are: maintenance; foundation; aggression; addiction; and domestic and family violence. The Intensive Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program targets sentenced inmates whose alcohol and other drug use has been identified as a contributing factor of their offending behaviour. This cognitive behavioural program offers group work, peer support, educational and employment training as well as reintegration services. There are three programs available to treat sex offenders: High Intensity Sex Offender Program; Moderate Intensity Sex Offender Program; and Deniers Programs. The high and moderate intensity programs are custody based therapeutic programs for men who have sexually abused adults and/or children. The Deniers Program is for men who have been convicted of sexually abusing adults or children yet have maintained that they were wrongfully accused. The Violent Offenders Therapeutic Program provides offenders with the opportunity to understand the factors surrounding their offending behaviour, challenge cognitive distortions, identify their offence cycle, risk factors, warning signs and develop self-management plans. High Intensity Program Units are located in seven correctional centres across NSW for inmates sentenced to shorter custodial sentences, who are assessed as a higher risk of re-offending. Programs which are delivered include: EQUIPS suite; a cultural strengthening program for Aboriginal offenders; parenting programs for men and women; programs to help female victims of domestic violence; and driving programs to address impaired driving and related risk taking behaviour. The Short Sentence Intensive Program is a services and programs package delivered in seven correctional centres across NSW for inmates with less than five months to serve when sentenced.
Victoria	The Better Lives Program (BLP) is a group-based intervention delivered by Forensic Interventions Services (Corrections Victoria) and is based on literature review of contemporary sex offender treatment research. It is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-based psychotherapeutic program which incorporates Risk-Need-Responsivity principles, Self-Regulation Theory, and the Good Lives Model. The program allows treatment to be individualised for each service user in accordance with their identified treatment targets and unique Intervention plan. It is available to service users who are: male; have been convicted of a sexual offence or an offence with a sexual element; have been assessed as Average to Well Above Average risk of sexual recidivism; and have sufficient time remaining on their sentence/order to complete the program. The BLP is delivered in prison and community settings. A service user will engage in one of the program’s three streams (BLP Mod-Low; BLP Mod-High; and BLP High) depending on their risk level. The program is a 72 to 150-hour Intervention with 24 to 35 sessions in the community and 24 to 50 sessions in prison, depending on the service user’s risk level. The BLP contains seven modules including: Foundations; Offence pathway; Self-management; Healthy sexuality; Managing sexual scripts (omitted in the BLP Mod-Low); Healthy lifestyles; and Closure. The modules were developed with the aim of addressing empirically derived dynamic risk factors, such as lack of pro-social methods for meeting intimacy needs, sexual self-regulation, and negative social influences, to reduce the risk of sexual recidivism. The Violence Intervention Program is a group-based intervention designed to address violent offending behaviour for service users assessed as moderate or high risk of violent re-offending. The program has been developed in accordance with best practice principles, operates within a cognitive behavioural framework, and utilises current theory and research findings. It aims to reduce participants’ risk of violent re-offending by increasing their self-awareness, self-management, and conflict resolution skills, and thereby assist participants to better regulate their affective responses and achieve positive behavioural outcomes. The program examines why participants use violence, assists them to develop skills to manage their violent behaviour and in doing so aims to help them reduce their chance of re-offending. The Violence Intervention Program is available across prisons and Community Correctional Services. The High Intensity Violence Intervention Program consists of eight core modules, each addressing different treatment domains. The modules include material related to emotion regulation, beliefs and thinking styles, offence-mapping, interpersonal relationships, victim awareness and goal setting/self-management. This program is delivered in a group format of 81 sessions over approximately eight and half months, totalling 202.5 hours. The Moderate Intensity Violence Intervention Program’s core modules are the same as the high-intensity program, except for the interpersonal relationship’s module, and are of a lower intensity (fewer sessions per module). They include emotion regulation, thoughts and beliefs, offence process, victim empathy/awareness, and self-management/goal setting, to better regulate emotional responses and behavioural outcomes. The program is delivered in a group format of 33 sessions over approximately four months, totalling 82.5 hours.
Queensland	Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) delivers or funds external service providers to deliver offending behaviour programs and desistance programs. Offending behaviour programs delivered by QCS are measured against the National Offending Program and Facilitation Standards to ensure they align with accepted best practice. The programs directly target the causes of offending, are group-based and use structural behavioural and cognitive-behavioural approaches. Offending behaviour programs range in length depending on intensity, from six weeks to 12 months. Current programs include: sexual offending programs: Getting Started Preparatory Program, Medium Intensity Sexual Offending Program, High Intensity Sexual Offending Program, Sexual Offending Maintenance Program, Inclusion Sexual Offending Program (for individuals with cognitive impairments) and Strong Solid Spirit (First Nations program) violence programs: Living Without Violence, Disrupting Family Violence Program, Men’s Domestic Violence Education and Intervention Program general offending programs: Turning Point Program and Making Choices Women’s Program. Desistance programs are designed to address responsivity issues, address needs more broadly and support behaviour change to desist from offending. All programs have been accredited through an internal accreditation panel and range in length from six to 100 hours. Current programs include short substance intervention, low intensity substance intervention, moderate intensity substance intervention, high intensity substance intervention and substance abuse maintenance intervention; Positive Futures program (culturally specific for First Nations); and Build Don’t Break Resilience Program. Additionally, QCS works with community partners to deliver quality local interventions and funds selected external providers in the areas of education and employment, chaplaincy services, substance misuse, re-entry support services, specialised services, and parenting programs.
Western Australia	The Rehabilitation and Reintegration business area of the Department of Justice, Corrective Services provides a range of offence related programs to adult offenders in the community and in custody across Western Australia. These programs and services seek to address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law-abiding way of life. Two examples of such programs are: The Choice, Change and Consequences program which addresses factors associated with general offending is a generalist offending program developed specifically for female offenders with a wide range of offending behaviour (including substance use and violence). The program is a cognitive-behavioural, skills-based program and targets a range of general criminogenic needs including violence propensity; offence related emotions and cognitions; criminal associates and attitudes; impulsivity, risk taking and self-management; emotional regulation and distress tolerance; problem solving, relationships, lifestyle balance and victimisation; and drug and alcohol issues as they relate to offending. This is a moderate intensity criminogenic program. The Criminal Conduct & Substance Abuse Treatment, referred to as the ‘Pathways program’, is designed to reduce problematic alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and related offending. The program design includes a cognitive-behavioural based program for offenders who have co-occurring issues of AOD abuse and criminal conduct. The program aims to prevent recidivism, and relapse into AOD abuse, and assist participants to live a responsible and meaningful life. This is a high intensity criminogenic program. Western Australia also has the following ‘offence specific’ programs: Choices, Change and Consequence – General offending program for female offenders in prison. Medium Intensity Program – General Offending program for male offenders in prisons. Pathways Program – Addictions offending program for male and female offenders in prison. Wandoo Therapeutic Community – Addictions offending program for females in prison. Solid Steps Therapeutic Community – Addictions offending program for males in prison. Parole In-Reach Program (pilot) – Addictions and Family Domestic Violence Streams; provide a throughcare approach to program delivery for men, commencing in prison and finishing in the community. Sex Offending Deniers Program – Sexual offending program for male prisoners who deny their offending. Community Based Sex Offending Treatment Program – Sexual offending program for males in the community. Sex Offending Medium Treatment Program – Sexual offending program for males in prison. Sex Offending Intensive Treatment Program – Sexual offending program for males in prison. Violence Prevention Program – Violent offending program for males in prison. Not Our Way – Family and Domestic Violence program for Aboriginal males in the community and prison. Stopping Family Violence – Family and Domestic Violence program for males in prison and the community. Connect and Respect – Family and Domestic Violence program for males in prison and the community.
South Australia	The department for Correctional Services delivers criminogenic programs to custodial (and some community-based) participants who have received a sufficiently long sentence to complete the program, and have been assessed as being at moderate or high risk of reoffending. Participants are referred to programs based on the offence types in their offending histories, including (but not limited to) their index offence, their assessed risk level, and other responsivity factors. Criminogenic programs are offered in the following streams, with specialisms available in each: Violent offending programs (differentiated for moderate or high risk; low cognitive functioning; Aboriginal participants) Sexual offending programs (differentiated for moderate or high risk; low cognitive functioning) Domestic violence offending programs (differentiated for Aboriginal participants) General offending programs (differentiated for female participants). DCS also delivers additional programs that are designed to be therapeutic in nature, and offence-related.
Tasmania	Tasmania offers a range of offence specific criminogenic programs and psychoeducational programs targeted at offending behaviour and developing protective factors to reduce reoffending. The Interventions and Reintegration Service multidisciplinary teams conduct a range of assessments including static and dynamic risk assessments and cognitive and mental health assessments to inform service triaging, delivery and treatment planning. Other programs delivered to prisoners include: a drug and alcohol brief intervention program and the Resilience Program (a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based skills acquisition program). Tasmania also funds non-government organisations to provide parenting programs, the Red Cross Volunteering for Change program and other peer mentoring, chaplaincy and accommodation support programs. Family Violence Offender Intervention Program (approx. 100 hours) is an evidence based treatment program which targets all aspects of abusive behaviours which are considered family violence. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is a comprehensive, evidence-based program that has been shown to be effective in treating many psychological problems such as mood disorders and substance abuse problems. Violence Prevention Program (approx. 170 hours) is an evidence based treatment program that targets both instrumental and expressive forms of violence. New Directions (approx. 78-300 hours) is a treatment program that draws its theoretical underpinnings from CBT, the Risk-Need-Responsivity Model, The Good Lives Model and the Self-Regulation Model. The Resilience Program is based on CBT and provides innovative coping and resilience skills for adults of all stages and walks of life. For offenders on community based orders, Tasmania offers the Family Violence Intervention Program (50 hours in the community) as outlined above as well as the EQUIPS suite of programs developed by Corrections New South Wales. The programs utilise CBT, whilst motivational interviewing techniques, strengths-based and stages of change perspectives also inform the programs. Each program consists of five modules which are completed over 20, two hour sessions. In addition, the Sober Driver program, developed in New South Wales, is an educational and skills-based group program that targets adult offenders who have been convicted of two or more drink driving offences within the last five years.
Australian Capital Territory	The Australian Capital Territory Corrective Services provide a range of programs to detainees in custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) and offenders supervised on community-based orders. In 2021-22, programs were reviewed and a new suite of contemporary, evidence-based programs was implemented as a result. This included the roll out of the EQUIPS suite of programs across the AMC and community corrections in the first half of 2022. EQUIPS is accessible for male and female sentenced detainees in the AMC and male and female offenders supervised in the community. The suite includes a total of five stand-alone offence specific and offence related programs, each with a 40-hour duration. Examples of offence related Programs are: EQUIPS Foundation and EQUIPS Addiction. Equips Foundation is a general therapeutic program available to all offenders assessed as higher risk of re-offending, regardless of their offence type. Equips Addiction is designed to address the addictive behaviour of eligible offenders and to provide participants with a pathway to support services for addictive behaviours.
Northern Territory	The Northern Territory provides a number of offence-specific and offence related programs to assist prisoners address offending behaviour. Offence specific programs offered in the Northern Territory include: Sex Offender Treatment Programs; Violent Offender Treatment Programs; and Recognising Anger and Gaining Empowerment Program. The RAGE program is an intensive program for family and domestic violence offenders developed by clinicians in the Northern Territory with the support of Elders and Aboriginal staff. In addition, individual treatment programs are provided to prisoners with an identified need for specific treatment programs or for whom a group program is not recommended. The offence specific programs are facilitated by psychologists or social workers with experience in delivering rehabilitation programs and under the supervision of psychologists. The Northern Territory also offers the offence related program, Intensive Alcohol and Drug Program. Psycho-educational (preparatory) programs are also provided in the Northern Territory, recognising that many prisoners have limited experience in participating in structured learning/group activities. These programs include the Safe, Sober, Strong Program; Family Violence Program; and Addictive Behaviours Program. These programs are delivered by trained officers in the administrative stream supervised by psychologists. Northern Territory has endeavoured to have these roles filled by Aboriginal staff. Each program is delivered in accordance with the nominated program hours. The programs are structured to address cultural differences, language difficulties and lower literacy levels which prisoners in these programs may experience. The Northern Territory adult correctional centres have a disproportionately high number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody. Accordingly, input has been provided by an Indigenous Torres Strait Islander Consultative Committee and from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees attached to the Offender Services and Programs Team to provide targeted, relevant and appropriate programs.

‘Education and training’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing programs and services that address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law abiding way of life.

‘Education and training’ is defined as the number of prisoners participating in one or more accredited education and training courses, as a percentage of those eligible to participate. Classification of education courses is based on the Australian Qualifications Framework. The Vocational Education and Training category includes advanced diplomas, diplomas, and certificates I to IV. The secondary schools education category includes senior secondary and certificate of education. The higher education category includes doctoral and masters degrees, graduate diplomas, bachelor degrees, diplomas and advanced diplomas.

Prisoners who are eligible exclude those unable to participate for reasons of ill health, relatively short periods of imprisonment, hospital patients who are medically unable to participate, fine defaulters who are incarcerated for only a few days at a time, prisoners held at centres where education programs are not provided as a matter of policy (for example, 24-hour court cells), and remandees for whom access to education is not available. Education and training data do not include participation in non‑accredited education and training programs or a range of offence-related programs that are provided in prisons, such as drug and alcohol programs, psychological programs, psychological counselling and personal development courses which are not AQF accredited. Percentages are based on an average of the number of prisoners enrolled on the first day of the month. Any deviation from this is noted in data table footnotes.

High or increasing education and training participation rates of prisoners are desirable. The rates reported for this indicator should be interpreted with caution as the indicator does not assess participation relative to individual prisoner needs, or measure successful program completion.

Education rates can fluctuate between years due to various external factors, such as government funding for particular initiatives that may not continue into future years and corrective services responses to such changes, as well as for other reasons such as active targeting of particular types of courses, for example, completion of specific pre-certificate courses as a prerequisite for vocational training courses.

Nationally in 2024-25, 24.0% of eligible prisoners participated in accredited education and training courses, a decrease from a peak of 35.1% in 2018-19 (figure 8.6). Vocational education and training courses had the highest participation levels (16.5%), followed by pre-certificate Level 1 courses (5.9%), secondary school education (1.5%) and higher education (1.5%) (table 8A.11).

‘Prisoner employment’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing programs and services that address the causes of offending, maximise the chances of successful reintegration into the community, and encourage offenders to adopt a law-abiding way of life.

‘Prisoner employment’ is defined as the number of prisoners employed as a percentage of those eligible to work.

Prisoners who are eligible exclude those unable to work for reasons of ill health, relatively short periods of imprisonment, prisoners in full-time education or other full-time programs, prisoners whose protection status precludes their access to employment, fine defaulters in prison custody for only a few days, hospital patients or aged prisoners who are unable to work, prisoners at centres where the jurisdiction's policy is not to provide work or where work is not available (for example 24-hour court cells), and remandees who choose not to work.

High or increasing percentages of prisoners in employment are desirable, as addressing the limited vocational skills and poor employment history of some prisoners has been identified as a key contributor to decreasing the risk of reoffending.

Nationally in 2024-25, 80.4% of the eligible prisoner population was employed (figure 8.7).

‘Time out‑of‑cells’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing a safe, secure and humane custodial environment.

‘Time out‑of‑cells’ is defined as the average number of hours in a 24‑hour period that prisoners are not confined to their cells or units. The periods during which prisoners are not confined to their cells or units provides them with the opportunity to participate in a range of activities that may include work, education and training, wellbeing, recreation and treatment programs, the opportunity to receive visits, and interacting with other prisoners and staff.

A relatively high or increasing average time out‑of‑cells per day is desirable. Prison systems with higher proportions of prisoners who need to be accommodated in more secure facilities because of the potentially greater risk that they pose to the community are more likely to report relatively lower time out‑of‑cells.

Nationally in 2024-25, the average number of hours of time out-of-cells per prisoner per day was 8.9. Average time out-of-cells was higher for prisoners in open custody (13.2 hours) than for those held in secure custody (8.1 hours) (figure 8.8a). Total time out-of-cells per prisoner per day is available by jurisdiction and year (figure 8.8b).

‘Community work’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide appropriate management of community corrections orders.

‘Community work’ is defined as the number of hours of unpaid community work acquitted on eligible community corrections orders as a percentage of the total hours that were imposed on the orders, for orders that were discharged during the reference period.

Eligible orders are community corrections orders issued by a court with a condition that the offender perform a specified number of hours of unpaid community work. These data do not include hours on orders that that were not issued directly by a court, for example, community work orders made in default of payment of a fine. A discharged order refers to an order which has been finalised by corrective services due to being:

successfully completed (all requirements on the order were met)
revoked or breached (either due to a new charge being laid or other reasons).

Hours of community work are generally acquitted by undertaking the unpaid work, but in some jurisdictions hours may also be acquitted through participation in other approved programs or activities.

The percentage of hours completed can be affected by the general levels of compliance across all offenders required to do unpaid community work as a condition of their order. Community work may only be one component of an order alongside other requirements and non-compliance with the other requirements can result in a breach of the whole order and therefore affect an offender’s capacity to successfully complete the community work hours in full.

A high or increasing percentage of ordered hours acquitted is desirable.

Nationally in 2024-25, for orders discharged during the financial year, the proportion of imposed hours of unpaid community work that was acquitted was 72.2%, an increase from 69.6% in 2023-24 (figure 8.9).

‘Prison capacity utilisation’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing a safe, secure and humane custodial environment.

‘Prison capacity utilisation’ reflects the extent to which the current total prison capacity (formally approved permanent and ongoing beds) meets the demand for prison accommodation. It is defined as the annual daily average prisoner population as a percentage of the annual average number of fixed prison beds which have been formally approved for permanent ongoing use on a daily basis. It excludes contingency beds, such as mattresses on the floor, or bunk beds which are not fixed and can be moved to different locations.

It is generally accepted that prisons require spare capacity to cater for the transfer of prisoners, special‑purpose accommodation such as protection units, separate facilities for males and females, and different security levels, and to manage short‑term fluctuations in prisoner numbers. Therefore, percentages close to but not exceeding 100% are desirable.

For jurisdictions except Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory, prison capacity utilisation as a proportion of design capacity was higher for secure facilities compared to open prisons. For South Australia, prison capacity utilisation for both open and secure prisons was 100% (figure 8.10).

‘Apparent unnatural deaths’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing a safe, secure and humane custodial environment.

‘Apparent unnatural deaths’ is defined as the number of deaths, divided by the annual average prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (to give the rate per 100 prisoners), where the likely cause of death is suicide, drug overdose, accidental injury or homicide.

Zero, low or decreasing rates of apparent unnatural deaths are desirable.

The rates for this indicator should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population can represent only a very small number of deaths.

Nationally in 2024-25 the overall rate of deaths of prisoners from apparent unnatural causes was 0.06 per 100 prisoners (table 8.2a). The rate for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners and non-Indigenous prisoners was 0.06. There were 26 deaths reported as being due to unnatural causes, 10 of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (table 8.2b).

‘Assaults in custody’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing a safe, secure and humane custodial environment.

‘Assaults in custody’ is defined as the number of victims of acts of physical violence committed by a prisoner that resulted in physical injuries reported over the year, divided by the annual daily average prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (to give the rate per 100 prisoners). Rates are reported for two measures:

assaults against another prisoner by seriousness of impact
assaults against a member of staff by seriousness of impact.

‘Assaults’ refer to acts of physical violence resulting in a physical injury but not requiring overnight hospitalisation or ongoing medical treatment. ‘Serious assaults’ refer to acts of physical violence resulting in injuries that require treatment involving overnight hospitalisation in a medical facility or ongoing medical treatment, as well as all sexual assaults.

Data include assaults by a prisoner in corrective services legal custody, whether held in a prison or other facility under the supervision of corrective services staff, and includes those occurring during prisoner transport and escorts.

Zero, low or decreasing rates of assaults in custody are desirable. The rates reported for this indicator should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger prisoner populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population may represent only a very small number of actual incidents.

There are different reporting practices and variation in service delivery arrangements for delivering prisoner health care, whereby not all jurisdictions have access to the medical information needed to accurately classify incidents into the assault categories used in this indicator.

Table 8.3 shows the rates of assault per 100 prisoners, committed against another prisoner or member of staff, by seriousness of impact. Australian averages have not been calculated due to different reporting practices and variation in service delivery arrangements for delivering prisoner health care across jurisdictions.

‘Cost per prisoner/offender’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide corrective services in an efficient manner.

‘Cost per prisoner/offender’ is defined as the average daily cost of providing corrective services per prisoner and per offender, reported separately for net operating expenditure and for capital costs per prisoner and offender and for secure and open custody for prisoners.

A low or decreasing cost is desirable in achieving efficient resource management. Efficiency indicators are difficult to interpret in isolation and should be considered in conjunction with effectiveness indicators. A low cost per prisoner, for example, can reflect less emphasis on providing prisoner programs to address the risk of reoffending.

Factors that can affect the results for this indicator include: the composition of the prisoner population requiring different accommodation and/or management; the size and dispersion of the geographic area across which services are delivered; the potential (or lack of) for economies of scale; and the impact of the wider criminal justice system policies and practices.

Nationally in 2024-25, recurrent expenditure comprising net operating expenditure and capital costs was $440.60 per prisoner per day (figure 8.11a) and $32.17 per offender per day (table 8A.19).

Nationally in 2024-25, excluding capital costs, the real net operating expenditure was $326.43 per prisoner per day (figure 8.11b). This represents a 22.9% increase in real net expenditure per prisoner per day since 2015-16.

Nationally in 2024-25, excluding capital costs, the real net operating expenditure was $31.18 per offender per day (figure 8.11c). This represents a 14.8% increase since 2015-16.

‘Completion of community orders’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to the protection and creation of safer communities through the effective management of offenders.

‘Completion of community orders’ is defined as the percentage of community corrections orders completed during the year that were not breached for failure to meet the order requirements or because further offences were committed. Order requirements may involve restrictions on the offender’s liberty (as with home detention), a requirement to undertake community work or other specified activity (such as a drug or alcohol program), regularly attending a community corrections centre as part of supervision requirements, or other conditions.

High or increasing percentages of order completions are desirable. Completion rates should be interpreted with caution. The indicator is affected by differences in the overall risk profiles of offender populations, and risk assessment and breach procedure policies. High‑risk offenders subject to higher levels of supervision have a greater likelihood of being detected when conditions of orders are breached. High breach rates could therefore be interpreted as a positive outcome reflecting the effectiveness of more intensive offender management. Alternatively, a high completion rate can mean either high compliance or a failure to detect or act on breaches of compliance.

Nationally in 2024-25, 76.4% of community corrections orders were completed (figure 8.12).

Completions by order type were highest for supervision orders (76.7%), followed by reparation orders (74.9%) and restricted movement orders (73.8%) (table 8.4). Completion of community corrections orders were higher for non-Indigenous people compared to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for females compared to males.

‘Escapes’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to the protection and creation of safer communities through the effective management of prisoners.

‘Escapes’ is defined as the number of escapes divided by the annual average prisoner population, multiplied by 100 (for a rate per 100 prisoners), and is reported separately for prisoners escaping from secure custody and from open custody.

Numbers and rates exclude ‘other escape’ incidents such as: prisoners failing to return from unescorted leave, work release or day leave or found at unlawful locations, prisoners in work parties or participating in activities outside the perimeter without direct one-to-one supervision, prisoners found outside the perimeter of the correctional centre but within the centre precinct, or ‘walk-offs’ from work camps or outstations linked to prisons.

Zero, low or decreasing rates are desirable. Escape rates should be interpreted with caution. A single incident in a jurisdiction with a relatively small prisoner population can significantly increase the rate in that jurisdiction but would have only a minor impact in jurisdictions with larger populations. A relatively high rate in a jurisdiction with a small prisoner population can represent only a very small number of actual incidents.

Nationally in 2024-25, the rate of escapes was 0.39 per 100 prisoners held in open custody and 0.03 per 100 prisoners held in secure custody (table 8.5a). The number of escapes in open and secure custody are shown in table 8.5b.

Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Data

Performance indicator data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this section are available in the data tables listed below. Supporting information can be found in the explanatory material tab and data tables.

Further information on the historical and ongoing context for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is available on the Closing the Gap Information Repository website – Target 10

Corrective Services data disaggregated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Table number	Table title
Context data
Table 8A.4	Prisoner population (average daily number)
Table 8A.5	Prisoner population (average daily number) and rates per 100,000 relevant adults, by Indigenous status
Table 8A.6	Community corrections offender population (average daily number)
Table 8A.7	Community corrections offender population (average daily number) and rates per 100,000 relevant adults, by Indigenous status
Table 8A.8	Imprisonment and community corrections rate per 100,000 adults
Performance indicator data
Table 8A.10	Prisoner employment by Indigenous status
Table 8A.17	Deaths from apparent unnatural causes by Indigenous status, number and rate per 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander/non-Indigenous prisoners
Table 8A.21	Completion of community corrections orders

Explanatory Material

Terms	Definition
24‑hour court cell	Cells located in a court and/or police complex that are administered by corrective services.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	People identifying themselves as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders if they are accepted as such by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community.
Assault	An act of physical violence committed by a prisoner that resulted in physical injuries. An assault is recorded where either: a charge is proved either by a jurisdictional correctional authority, a Governor’s hearing or a court of law, or there is evidence that an assault took place because at least one of the following circumstances apply: there is at least one apparently reliable witness to the assault, or the victim claims assault and there is no obvious reason to doubt this claim, or a visible injury has occurred and there is sufficient circumstantial or other evidence to make an assault the most likely cause of the injury on the basis of the balance of probabilities. The rate is based on a count of victims of assaults not incidents, that is, an assault by two prisoners on one other prisoner is counted as one assault, whereas a single incident in which one prisoner assaults two other prisoners is counted as two assaults.
Apparent unnatural death	The death of a person who is in corrective services custody (which includes deaths that occur within prisons, during transfer to or from prison, within a medical facility following transfer from prison, or in the custody of corrective services outside a custodial facility): whose death is caused or contributed to by traumatic injuries sustained, or by lack of proper care, while in such custody who dies or is fatally injured in the process of prison officers attempting to detain that person who dies or is fatally injured in the process of that person escaping or attempting to escape from prison custody where there is sufficient evidence to suggest, subject to a Coroner’s finding, that the most likely cause of death is homicide, suicide, an accidental cause or a drug overdose.
Capital costs	Combined depreciation costs, the user cost of capital (calculated as 8% of the value of government land and other assets), and debt servicing fees – interest portion of the repayment of the finance lease repayment incurred by governments as part of contracts for privately owned prisons and prisons built under Public‑Private Partnership arrangements.
Community corrections	Community‑based management of court‑ordered sanctions, post‑prison orders and administrative arrangements and fine conversions for offenders, which principally involve one or more of the following requirements: supervision; program participation; or community work.
Community corrections offender rate	The annual average number of adults with community corrections orders per 100,000 population aged 18 years or over. For 2017-18 and earlier years, Queensland rates were calculated against adult population figures for people aged 17 years or over. Male/female and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander/non-Indigenous breakdowns are calculated against the relevant population, that is, per 100,000 male, female, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous adults respectively.
Community work (offenders)	Unpaid community work (hours) by offenders serving community corrections orders during the counting period.
Debt servicing fees	The interest portion of the repayment of the financial lease repayments incurred by governments as part of the contracts for privately owned prisons and prisons built under Public-Private Partnership arrangements, comparable to the user cost of capital for government owned facilities. This item is only applicable to New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Escapes	The escape of a prisoner under the direct supervision of corrective services officers or private providers under contract to corrective services, including escapes during transfer between prisons, during transfer to or from a medical facility, escapes that occurred from direct supervision by corrective services outside a prison, for example during escort to a funeral or medical appointment.
Health expenditure	Expenditure on primary, secondary and tertiary health services for prisoners incurred either directly by corrective services or indirectly by other departments, agencies or service providers on behalf of Corrective Services. There are differences across jurisdictions in the extent to which the cost of health services to prisoners is incurred by corrective services or funded through health departments.
Home detention	A corrective services program requiring offenders to be subject to supervision and monitoring by an authorised corrective services officer while confined to their place of residence or a place other than a prison.
Imprisonment rate	The annual average number of prisoners per 100,000 population aged 18 years or over. For 2017-18 and earlier years, Queensland rates were calculated against adult population figures for people aged 17 years and over. Male/female and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander/non-Indigenous breakdowns are calculated against the relevant population, that is, per 100,000 male, female, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and non-indigenous adults respectively.
Net operating expenditure	Operating expenditure minus operating revenues.
Net operating expenditure per prisoner/offender	The daily cost of managing a prisoner/offender, based on operating expenditure net of operating revenues (refer to definitions below) divided by (i) the number of days spent in prison or detention by the daily average prisoner population and the daily average periodic detention population on a 2/7th basis or (ii) the number of days spent under community corrections supervision by the daily average community corrections population respectively.
Offender	An adult person subject to a non-custodial order administered by corrective services, which includes bail orders if those orders are subject to supervision by community corrections.
Open prison	A custodial facility where the regime for managing prisoners does not require them to be confined by a secure perimeter physical barrier, irrespective of whether a physical barrier exists.
Operating expenditure	Expenditure of an ongoing nature incurred by government in the delivery of corrective services, including salaries and expenses in the nature of salary, other operating expenses incurred directly by corrective services, grants and subsidies to external organisations for the delivery of services, and expenses for corporate support functions allocated to corrective services by a broader central department or by a ‘shared services agency’, but excluding payroll tax and excluding prisoner health and transport/escort costs where able to be disaggregated by jurisdictions.
Operating revenues	Revenue from ordinary activities undertaken by corrective services, such as prison industries.
Operational staff	Staff whose main responsibility involves the supervision or provision of support services directly to offenders in community corrections. These include: Probation/parole/community corrections officers Unit/team leaders, senior community corrections officers Home Detention Officers (excluding HD officers based at Head Office) Specialist community corrections officers (e.g. Drug Courts, Domestic Violence Courts) Case Managers/Community Corrections Assistants/Community Support Officers Community Development Officers Community Service Order Supervisors/Field Supervisors Court Advice Workers Program Co-ordinators Psychologists/social workers and other community corrections staff who provide psychological/therapeutic services.
Periodic detention	An order requiring a person be detained in a legally proclaimed prison or periodic detention facility for two consecutive days per week. Periodic detention only applied in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2017-18, periodic detention did not operate in any jurisdiction.
Prison	A legally proclaimed prison or remand centre for adult prisoners.
Prisoner	A person held in full time custody under the jurisdiction of an adult corrective services agency. This includes sentenced prisoners serving a term of imprisonment and unsentenced prisoners held on remand, in both public and privately operated prisons.
Private prison	A government or privately owned prison (refer to prison) managed under contract by a private sector organisation.
Recurrent expenditure	The combined total of net operating expenditure (i.e. operating expenditure excluding operating revenues) and capital costs (refer to previous definitions).
Reparation order	A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders with a community service bond/order or fine option that requires them to undertake unpaid work.
Restricted movement order	A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders that limits the person’s liberty to their place of residence unless authorised by corrective services to be absent for a specific purpose, for example, Home Detention Orders.
Secure prison	A custodial facility where the regime for managing prisoners requires them to be confined by a secure perimeter physical barrier.
Supervision order	A subcategory of community‑based corrections orders that includes a range of conditions other than those categorised as restricted movement or reparation.
Transitional Centres	Transitional Centres are residential facilities administered by corrective services where prisoners are prepared for release towards the end of their sentences.
Transport and escort services	Services used to transport prisoners between prisons or to/from external locations (for example, court), whether by corrective services officers or external contractors involved in escorting prisoners as part of the transport arrangements.
User cost of capital	The cost of funds which are tied up in government capital used to deliver services and identifies the opportunity cost of this capital (the return forgone by using the funds to deliver services rather than investing them elsewhere or using them to retire debt). User cost of capital is calculated by applying a nominal rate of 8% to the value of government assets.

A PDF of Part C Justice can be downloaded from the Part C sector overview page.

Report on Government Services 2026PART C, SECTION 8: RELEASED ON 3 FEBRUARY 2026

8 Corrective services

Data downloads

Context

Objectives for corrective services

Service overview

Roles and responsibilities

Funding

Size and scope

Prison custody

Community corrections

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Report on Government Services 2026
PART C, SECTION 8: RELEASED ON 3 FEBRUARY 2026