New statistics paint a damning picture of the NSW prison system, with overcrowding at record highs and inmates more likely to be back within two years than any other state.

One-in-three people behind bars in NSW is now on remand and not convicted of a crime, a growth of more than 10 percentage points in five years.

Corrections Minister David Elliott Credit:Marco Del Grande

The news on re-offending, released on Friday, also makes for difficult reading for the state government: it has gone up for every year the law-and-order focused coalition has been in power in NSW.

But in an interview, the Corrections Minister, David Elliott, who presides over the most crowded prison system in NSW's chequered correctional history, has outlined a plan to drop that figure.