Reform needed to cut indigenous jail rates

The number of indigenous Australians serving short prison sentences in NSW could be cut by 500 a year if offenders were instead placed on intensive correction orders, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research says.

Locking up Aboriginal people for minor offences has contributed to indigenous imprisonment rates in NSW climbing 25 per cent between 2013 and 2016, census figures show.

"ICOs are rarely given for the sorts of offences that have driven recent growth in indigenous imprisonment in NSW," bureau director Dr Don Weatherburn said on Monday.

"It's to be hoped reforms currently underway to increase the use of ICOs have the effect of reducing the rate of indigenous imprisonment in NSW."

New bureau research released on Monday suggests the number of Aboriginal people being incarcerated for offences like stalking and intimidating, reflects changes to policing rather than an increase in actual incidences of those crimes being committed.

BOCSAR found the number of indigenous Australians imprisoned in NSW for stalking and intimidation was more than eight times higher in 2016 than it had been in 2011.