The 2007 ACT Young Australian of the Year says a moment of clarity helped him give up drugs and find a job he loves.

''I was looking at my son and I thought, is this what my son is going to be living? This is bullshit and I made a decision then and there to change,'' he said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are 13 times more likely to be in prison than other Australians, and four times more likely to catch hepatitis C.

More than 20 years on from a royal commission report, the rate of Aboriginal imprisonment has increased to a quarter of the prison population.

Mr Van Den Dugen, a 26-year-old Canberran, has battled his addictions, relapsing several times in the past eight years but has always sought rehabilitation.

''I have been clean for two years,'' he said.

The community advocate says the territory needs more support systems and more treatment facilities to combat the over-representation of indigenous people in jail.

''If they don't get treatment when they want it [they] get caught up in the drug and crime cycle again,'' he said.

''We are sending boys out of Canberra, down to Melbourne, up to Sydney or further on the border of bloody Queensland for treatment.

''The ones [treatment facilities] we do have have quite long waiting lists.''

Mr Van Den Dugen was joined by Public Health Australia chief executive Michael Moore, Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies principal Steve Larkin and Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health chief executive Mick Gooda to launch a report on Aboriginal prisoner health yesterday.

The report concluded investing in the health and wellbeing of prisoners and their families would slash Aboriginal imprisonment rates.

Mr Gooda said the research aimed to improve holistic health in the indigenous population. It concluded prevention and early-intervention programs designed to prevent offending and imprisonment and post-release services designed to help prisoners reconnect with their families and communities could slash recidivism.