Increasing numbers of inmate separations from Australian prisons

To the Editor: In 2009, we calculated that an estimated 50 405 prison inmate separations occurred in Australia in the 2007–08 financial year,1 and argued that the significant mortality risks associated with release from custody necessitated accurate and routine dissemination of such information. We believe this is still required, and that reporting the most current estimate of inmate separations may help facilitate better through-care and post-release health service provision. Our previous estimates have been used to contextualise discussions of prisoner health,2 estimate the number of post-release deaths,3 and advocate for needle and syringe programs in Australian prisons.4

Consistent with the approach detailed elsewhere,5 we estimated the number of inmate separation episodes occurring in Australia for the financial year 2008–09, using benchmark data from public documents on the website of each state and territory government department responsible for prisons. We attempted to obtain the total (ie, sentenced and on remand) number of inmates released from prison in 2008–09. This figure was available for Victoria (5458), South Australia (4489) and the Northern Territory (3078). For New South Wales, data could only be obtained for separations of sentenced prisoners (8941).

To adjust for separations of prisoners on remand in NSW, we assumed that separations of sentenced prisoners comprised 38% of all separations, reflecting the ratios of separations in other jurisdictions. Hence, the total estimated number of separations in NSW was 21 468. Adding this to the other three figures gave a total of 34 493 separations in four jurisdictions that collectively hold 63% of the national prisoner population. A multiplier of 1.59 (1/0.63) was applied to this figure to produce a national estimate of 54 751 prison separations in 2008–09, each of which is associated with a significant increase in risk of death.

Our estimate represents an 8.6% increase on the estimate from the previous financial year. This substantial increase suggests that routine reporting of actual incidents of separation, as well as numbers of unique individuals released from prison, remains vital to the provision of adequately scoped and resourced post-release health and welfare services in Australia.