The number of Aboriginal people in prison in NSW are at their highest levels on record, new data released on Tuesday reveals.

The statistics are likely to only exacerbate the criticism of the NSW government's "tough on crime" approach, which Attorney General Michael Daley previously admitted will see more young people incarcerated.

The latest quarterly custody statistics from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) revealed the number of Aboriginal people currently in prison was at a "record high," with Indigenous adults making up 31 per cent of the prison population.

Executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said: "Concerningly, NSW is no longer on track to meet its Close the Gap target to reduce the rate of Aboriginal young people in prison".

The state's target is to reduce Indigenous imprisonment by 15 per cent by 2031.

Ms Fitzgerald said the rates weren't just confined to adults, with 148 Aboriginal young people in detention, 27 more than in March 2019.

Two-thirds (66.4 per cent) of the youth detention population is now made up of Aboriginal young people — a new record in NSW.

78.4 per cent of Indigenous youth in detention are on remand.

Overall, in NSW, BOCSAR data revealed 3,841 Indigenous adults were in detention in March 2024, up 344 - or 9.8 per cent - from March 2019.

Principal legal officer of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Nadine Mills told Guardian Australia it was a "crisis we should all be furious about".

"The mass incarceration of Aboriginal people in NSW is the direct result of government policies which have been developed without community input and which give the green light to continued discrimination against Aboriginal people in the legal system," she said.

Indigenous, legal and civil liberties groups have heavily criticised the NSW government in recent months over a series of laws they argue are punitive and will only lead to further incarceration of Indigenous people, as well as unnecessary interaction with police.

In March, new youth bails laws, brought to ostensibly reduce crime, were labelled a "devastating betrayal of Aboriginal children in NSW," by ALS chief executive Karly Warner, whilst NATSILS have argued continued fear mongering surrounding youth crime will only lead to further imprisonment.

Knife laws introduced in the wake of the Bondi Junction attack have been labelled knee-jerk and unlikely to prevent crime, whilst guaranteeing more Indigenous people are forced to interact with the police.

"Too often we see Aboriginal people – often children – speak up against police targeting and end up with police charging them with a trifecta of offensive language, resist arrest, and assault police, without having done anything wrong in the first place," Ms Warner said of the new knife laws.

In a letter to the Attorney General, NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Lydia Shelly said there was "no evidence supporting the introduction of these laws".

"Proactive policing does not serve as a deterrent for crime, nor does criminalisation and increased penalties," she said.

Ms Shelley told Guardian Australia on Tuesday: "The premier has allowed NSW to be transformed into a state where the police will have the extraordinary power to search members of the public without a reason and prison populations will continue to balloon with further presumptions against bail introduced".

NSW premier Chris Minns accepted the latest crime statistics were a "major issue" and said he wanted to work with the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations (CAPO) and other Indigenous organisations, "to reduce the rate of incarceration".

The Minns government has previously ruled out raising the age of criminal responsibility - in line with medical and international consensus - despite calls from a number of organisations.