The prison population in Australia is at its highest-ever recorded level.

Over the past decade, the number and rate of people imprisoned across all Australian states and territories has risen rapidly.

Data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show there were, on average, 43,028 people in prisons in Australia during the first quarter of 2019.

This is up from 25,968 10 years ago.

The largest increases have been in remand, Indigenous, and women prisoners.

28,721 were Sentenced prisoners of which -

2,088 were serving Sentences of 20 years or longer; and

2,101 had committed homicide.