Inmate in Cessnock Correctional Centre becomes seventh First Nations death in custody in two months

Two Aboriginal people have died in Australian prisons in less than 24 hours, including one man found unresponsive in his cell today.

Two Aboriginal people have died in Australian prisons in less than 24 hours, as authorities investigate the circumstances.

A man, 37, died at the Cessnock Correctional Centre on Tuesday morning, after being found unresponsive in his cell about 10am, a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman confirmed.

“He was found unresponsive in his cell at about 10am before he was pronounced dead at 11.15am,” the spokeswoman said.

“Corrective Services NSW and NSW Police are investigating the incident. All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest.”

The death is the seventh First Nations death in custody in less than two months.

It comes less than a day after another Aboriginal man died at Melbourne’s Port Phillip Prison on Monday night.

He is believed to have suffered a medical episode.

The deaths this week coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, with more than 475 Aboriginal people dying since the 1991 inquiry.

NSW Labor MP Linda Burney told the ABC the deaths were a national emergency.

NSW MP Linda Burney has called the deaths ‘a national emergency’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“We don’t know the circumstances of this man’s death (in Cessnock) but what we do know is it was a person who had a family, whose family and community will be terribly affected,” Ms Burney said.

“Just this morning I read a report... on how the Royal Commission had not been implemented, and part of it was due to systemic racism, and part of it was about not the appropriate medical attention being provided to Aboriginal prisoners.

“It is a national emergency.”

The death of a 37 year old First Nations man in custody this morning in Cessnock is a tragedy for his family, his community and the country. This is the seventh death of a First Nations person in Australian jails since 2 March, FOUR of these deaths were in NSW jails.

— David Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeMLC) April 27, 2021