Australia's prison population surges to 10-year high

Australia's prison population has jumped 10 percent over the last 12 months, according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday.

The number of prisoners in adult corrective custody has reached a 10-year high, with 33,791 men and women imprisoned around the country in 2014. In 2013, the number of people in custody was 30, 775.

The number of Australian males imprisoned in 2014 was 31,200 compared with 28,426 in 2013, while 2,591 women were in custody in 2014 compared to 2,349 in 2013.

People from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island background make up 27 percent of all prisoners despite making up just 2.4 percent of the Australian population.

One in five (21 percent) male and female prisoners were taken into custody for acts intended to cause injury. The proportion of prisoners locked up for drug offences was at 17 percent for females but at 12 percent for males.

For males, instigators of sexual assault and unlawful entries also made up 12 percent of prisoners each compared to 2 percent and 9 percent for women respectively.

Eleven percent of women and 10 percent of men were locked up for offences against the course of justice.

The increase in prisoner numbers did not increase in accordance with population growth however.

Australia's prisons are taking more inmates per person than any time over the last decade.

In 2013, Australia has an imprisonment rate of 172.2 per 100, 000 people, while for 2014, that figure surged to 185.6 per 100, 000 residents.

Ten years ago, the figure was at 158.8 imprisonments per 100, 000 people.