Aboriginal women are now imprisoned at 22 times the rate of non-Indigenous women — the highest on record.
More than 60 per cent of women in NSW prisons are held on remand — awaiting trial — with 52 per cent ultimately not receiving a custodial sentence.
Most are charged with minor offences. Most are mothers. Most could be safely diverted from prison.
It costs $180,000 per woman per year in prison, plus $110,000 per child per year in out-of-home care.
Justice Dina Yehia of the Supreme Court of New South Wales will deliver the keynote address at the 10th Annual KWOOP Parliamentary Breakfast today.
The Breakfast, held at the Strangers' Dining Room at NSW Parliament House, convenes more than 250 parliamentarians, judicial officers, community leaders, and representatives across the justice sector. It marks a decade of sustained bipartisan engagement on women's imprisonment in NSW.
Justice Yehia has spent more than three decades at the forefront of First Nations justice and is one of Australia's most respected voices on sentencing, diversion, and the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the criminal legal system. Her work establishing the Supreme Court's Walama List — a list dedicated to addressing Aboriginal over-representation in sentencing — exemplifies her commitment to systemic reform.
The event is co-hosted by the Hon. Jodie Harrison MP, Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, and the Hon. Natasha Maclaren-Jones MLC, Shadow Minister for Families and Communities, Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Shadow Minister for Disability Inclusion, Shadow Minister for Homelessness and Shadow Minister for Youth.
The remand crisis is now reaching critical levels. The increase in women's imprisonment since 2014 is driven almost entirely by remand — women detained without conviction, many for months or years, pending trial. Research shows that exposure to the prison environment during remand increases risk of reoffending and family separation, making it a destructive intervention for women unlikely to receive custodial sentences.
For Aboriginal women, the crisis is particularly acute. At 22 times the rate of non-Indigenous women, Aboriginal women's imprisonment represents systemic inequality with intergenerational consequences. When Aboriginal mothers enter prison — often on remand — their children typically enter the care system, perpetuating what researchers call the 'care-to-prison pipeline'.
The KWOOP Coalition is calling on the NSW Government to substantially increase investment in evidence-based diversion programs. These approaches — which research consistently shows deliver better outcomes for women, children, and communities — offer a clear alternative to incarceration for women facing minor charges and remand detention.
The evidence is decisive. Women who engage with community-based diversion programs show lower reoffending rates, stronger family outcomes, and far better prospects for stable housing and employment. Evidence-based alternatives can be funded for as low as $25,000 per woman per year — a fraction of the $180,000 annual cost of imprisonment — while consistently delivering better results and significant cost savings across government.
KWOOP Co-Chair Professor Emerita Eileen Baldry AO said the case for action was clear and urgent. "We are spending over $200 million a year to imprison women most of whom are on remand or short sentences, while their children enter care at a cost of $110,000 per child per year. But because the drivers of their offending are not addressed prison is a very expensive revolving door. This is not a funding problem — it is a political will problem. The solutions exist. The programs work. What we need now is the decision to invest."
KWOOP is generously funded by the Judith Neilson Foundation and is a sub-fund of the Sydney Community Foundation.
