Aboriginal man third to die in Australia’s prison system in just over a week

An Aboriginal man has died in custody at a medium-security Melbourne jail — the third death in Australian prisons in the past week.

A man has died in custody at Ravenhall Prison. Picture: File/Jake Nowakowski.

An Aboriginal man has died in custody at a medium-security prison in Melbourne.

The prisoner died at Ravenhall Correctional Centre on Sunday March 7.

Corrections Victoria notified the public of his death four days later and confirmed his death would be investigated.

“All deaths in custody are reported to the Coroner, who formally determines the cause of death,” a Corrections Victoria statement read.

The prisoner’s family has been notified of his death and a smoking ceremony will be arranged to mark the tragedy.

The Aboriginal Justice Caucus was consulted the day of his death and will work closely with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.

“We recognise that all deaths in custody have impacts on family members, friends, corrections staff and the Aboriginal community, and we’re working to ensure they are provided with the support they need,” the statement read.

A man has died in custody at Ravenhall Prison. Picture: File/Jake Nowakowski.

The man is the third Aboriginal to die in custody in Australia over the past week.

An Indigenous man aged in his mid 30s died last Tuesday at Long Bay Hospital, which treats New South Wales prisoners.

Three days later an indigenous woman aged in her mid 50s died in her cell at Silverwater Women’s Prison, also in NSW.

The NSW government did not publicly announce the deaths, which were instead revealed during questioning at a parliamentary hearing.

Both deaths will be referred to the Coroner for investigation.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was completed 30 years ago and since then there have been 455 indigenous deaths in custody Australia-wide.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Nerita Waight said the recommendations of the commission were never fully implemented and now was the time for the Andrews’ government to “listen and act” to protect indigenous lives.

“My thoughts are with the family and community of the Aboriginal man who died at Ravenhall Correctional Centre on the weekend. This is a trauma that will have a lasting impact,” she said.

“This death highlights the urgent need for sweeping reform to the justice system. Our people are grossly overrepresented in the criminal legal system and in prisons.

“We have the solutions ready for the government. We just need them to listen and act.”

Victorian Greens senator Lidia Thorpe said the justice system is “deeply racist” and needed to be fixed.

“This is relentless and traumatizing for our people,” she said.

“The system is broken. Thirty years on since the Royal Commission, how is it possible that our people are still dying in custody and not a single person or institution has been held to account?

“At this point you have to say, the system is deeply racist. We have the solutions in the Royal Commissions recommendations - but there’s no political will to do anything with them.”

There has been a long history of high indigeous incarcerations rates in Victoria.

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services released in January found young people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds in Victoria are nine times more likely to be in custody than their non-Indigenous peers.

Earlier this week the Andrews government launched a nation-first inquiry into the ongoing effects of colonisation on the Indigenous community.

The “truth-telling” commission will guide treaty talks and examine possible reparations to Aboriginal people for past injustices.