This report argues that $111, 000 can be saved per year per offender by diverting non-violent Indigenous offenders with substance use problems into treatment instead of prison. The report has been produced by the major accounting firm Deloitte Access Economics and also reveals a further $92,000 per offender in the long term will be saved...

Indigenous Australians make up almost one-quarter of Australia’s prison population. In the past 20 years, Indigenous Australians have continued to fill our country’s prisons at alarmingly disproportionate rates. The issues experienced by Indigenous offenders are significant and complex. The strong links between substance misuse and Indigenous incarceration highlight an urgent need for government to address...