Indigenous imprisonment rates have jumped by more than 50 per cent over the past decade, with a report showing they now account for a quarter of the prison population.
The incarceration level climbed in a decade which started with the Sydney Harbour Bridge reconciliation walk and included an apology to the stolen generations.
The indigenous imprisonment rate surged from 1248 for every 100,000 Australian adults in 2000 to 1892 by 2010, marking a 52 per cent increase, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report has found.
Indigenous people now make up 26 per cent of the prison population despite making up just 2.5 per cent of the Australian population.
In Western Australia and South Australia, indigenous people were 20 times more likely to be jailed.
Almost 7,600 indigenous Australians were behind bars in June 2010, 91 per cent of them male.
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation national director Jacqueline Phillips said tough state law and order policies were partly to blame for the sharp increase in indigenous imprisonment rates.
"It's an outrageous statistic," she told AAP.
"The situation is appalling.
"There's a range of factors: the tough law and order approaches state governments have adopted and the failure of governments to address the social causes of poverty, homelessness and alcohol problems."
Ms Phillips called on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to adopt targets for reducing indigenous imprisonment rates and consider US-style early intervention programs, whereby resources to prevent crime are directed towards particular disadvantaged communities.
"The figures will certainly get worse unless there's concerted efforts to address the prison rates," she said.
The report examined the social effects of high imprisonment rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"This not only affects the health and wellbeing of those imprisoned, but also of their families and children," it said.
"Adverse employment consequences and a lack of positive role-models in the community further erode the capacity of the indigenous community to support its structures."
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