LODDON-MALLEE’S Aboriginal community is over-represented in jails, and yesterday community leaders, local authorities and state politicians met in Bendigo to discuss ways to arrest the trend.The Aboriginal Justice Forum, chaired by parliamentary secretary for justice Brian Tee, met at the All Seasons to discuss ways to avoid the troubling social anomaly.“You are 19 times more likely to be in prison if you are Aboriginal, and we are trying to find practical solutions to that,” he said.“This forum brings together the local Aboriginal community and justice people like police, corrections and sheriffs, and we are looking at ways to reduce Aboriginal over-representation with police and our prisons.”Recent statistics show indigenous prisoners from the Loddon-Mallee area, make up 17 per cent of Victoria’s prison population, while non-indigenous offenders from the region make up just 5 per cent.In 2006 there were 4612 indigenous people in the Loddon-Mallee area and of them, 58 per cent are under 25.“The Aboriginal population in Bendigo is much younger than the non-indigenous population and it is a growing population so we need to focus on those areas,” Mr Tee said.Some ideas discussed have included homework groups, working with police on sporting activities and general community engagement.“Sport means young kids are involved with something positive and it helps build up esteem and builds up a healthy lifestyle,” he said.Chairman of the State Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee, Dr Alf Bamblett, said he was working toward greater Aboriginal participation in addressing the issues.“We need to make early intervention a reality,” he said.“We need to address issues of health, housing and education as a matter of preventing people getting into the system (prison).”