Western Australia’s criminal justice system is struggling under the weight of rising incarceration and soaring prison costs. New research by the Institute of Public Affairs has established:
- Western Australia’s incarceration rate is the highest of all states in Australia, and is over 50 per cent higher than the national average.
- WA prisons are at 83 per cent of their designed capacity, meaning new prisons will need to be built, at immense taxpayer cost, in the absence of reform.
- Reducing the incarceration of low-risk, non-violent offenders would avoid the need to build new jails and could save $405 million per year for taxpayers.
