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About

Every second young person in detention in Australia is Indigenous (51%).

Unlock the Future is part of the Songs for Freedom project. This project came about from Big hART’s work in the town of Ieramugadu (Roebourne) in the Pilbara, WA, where 40 years ago, 16 year old John Pat passed away in a police cell. The aftermath of the tragedy triggered the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which handed down 339 recommendations in 1991.

32 years on, it is the power of each individual voice, your voice, joining with others, that will affect change.

Together we can show our support to change laws that will keep young Aboriginal people out of jail.

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It costs $713 940 per year, per child held in detention in NSW.

In WA, Indigenous young people make up 77% of the juvenile prison population.

The custody rate of young Indigenous people is 26 time higher than non-Indigenous. Indigenous

10-17 year olds make up less than 6% of the population but 56% of young people in detention.

Between 2006 and 2021, the imprisonment rate for Indigenous adults increased by 67%.

Between 2003 and 2018 Australia’s imprisonment rates grew 3rd fastest in the OECD (behind only Turkey and Colombia)