This paper documents 56 homicides that have occurred in Australian prisons since 1980. The Deaths in Custody program at the Australian Institute of Criminology monitors all prison deaths, and while these 56 homicides comprise only 7 per cent of all prison inmate deaths, the area is worthy of study. It confirms the violent nature of prisons in that the homicide rate per 1000 prisoners is up to 7 times higher than the homicide rate in the comparable non-prison community.
This Trends and Issues paper contains preliminary analysis of ongoing work in the area of prison homicides, and further detailed analysis and research will tease out some of these findings, specifically addressing issues of apparent motives leading to prison homicide such as victim impulsiveness, gang issues and responses by authorities.