Anger after indigenous man Glen Reginald Francis dies in custody

The indigenous community is grieving yet another death in custody after a man was found dead in his cell at Maryborough Correctional Centre.

Maryborough Correctional Centre.

The death of an indigenous man at Maryborough Correctional Centre has been slammed by an Aboriginal elder who says it “should never have happened”.

Glen Reginald Francis, 43, was found dead in his cell at the prison earlier this week.

His name was released on the Stop Black Deaths in Custody Australia Facebook page.

Mr Francis was serving time at the prison for attempted murder after he shattered a man’s head with a hammer in Monkland in 2014.

He was jailed for 15 years in 2017 over the attack on the man, whose brain tissue was left exposed during the violent incident.

The Fraser Coast Chronicle understands Mr Francis’s death in his single cell on Tuesday is being treated as non-suspicious, but no further information has been released.

Aunty Alex Gator, a spokeswoman for the organisation, spoke exclusively to the Chronicle this week, telling of the distress of the prisoner’s family in the wake of his death.

His brother, who had also been serving time at Maryborough Correctional Centre, had long been concerned about the health of Mr Francis, as had the man’s mother, Ms Gator said.

“This is a death in custody that should never have happened,” she said, adding that it was Mr Francis’s family’s “worst nightmare”.

She said he should have been in hospital because of his health issues, not in a jail cell.

Concerns have been raised about the level of overcrowding and staff numbers at the correctional centre.

The day after Mr Francis died, the number of prisoners at the jail stood at 702 in a centre that was built for 500.

Over the past five years there has been ongoing strike action at Maryborough jail and prisons across the state, in response to concerns about the threat of assault on staff members as prisoner numbers and tensions rise.

The death of Mr Francis comes after another prisoner was found dead in his cell earlier this year.

High profile inmate Garry Dubois, 73, who killed Barbara McCulkin and her two daughters Vicki and Leanne McCulkin, was found dead in his jail cell on June 7.

Mrs McCulkin and her daughters disappeared from the Highgate Hill home in inner-city Brisbane on January 16, 1974.

Dubois was found guilty of the manslaughter of Mrs McCulkin, and of the rape and murders of her daughters Leanne and Vicki.

He was due to give evidence at a reopened coronial inquest into the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub bombing the week after he died.

In the wake of Mr Francis’s death, the Chronicle asked Queensland Corrective Services a series of questions about the management of prisoners at the centre, particularly those considered high-risk because of mental health or physical health issues.

“We don’t comment on the management of individual prisoners,” a spokeswoman said.

“In general terms, on reception, prisoners are assessed to determine their risks and needs.

“Prisoners identified as being at-risk are assessed by multidisciplinary teams, and individualised management plans and risk mitigation strategies are developed.

“QCS works closely with Queensland Health and Prison Mental Health, and comprehensive protective, clinical treatment and therapeutic processes are well established to support prisoners at risk.

“Prisoners have access to onsite medical and psychological support.

“Prisoners subject to an at-risk observation regime may be monitored physically or by CCTV.”