Alarm over spike in Indigenous deaths in custody

A 45-year-old Aboriginal man has died in custody on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the final report of a royal commission designed to end the tragedy of preventable deaths in jails of Indigenous Australians.

A candlelight vigil to protest against the deaths in custody of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people held in in Brisbane in June 2020. Picture: AAP

A 45-year-old Aboriginal man has become the fifth Indigenous Australian to die in custody on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the final report of a royal commission designed to end the tragedy of preventable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in jails and watch houses.

The man was a prisoner at Casuarina maximum security jail on Perth’s southeastern fringe and died on Saturday night in the intensive support unit at Perth’s biggest public hospital, Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Over the past month, prison guards had taken him there more than once for treatment for lung and heart problems. He had been hospitalised in March for the same condition, taken back to Casuarina then readmitted to hospital on Friday. He underwent surgery but did not recover.

The deaths of five Indigenous people in custody since March 2 has caused alarm in part because if the rate continues over the course of 2021, this would represent a huge spike in the number and rate of deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody. The most recent official figures show 16 of the 89 people who died in custody in the 2018-19 financial year were ­Indigenous.

The latest report of the National Deaths in Custody Program found the death rates of Indigenous prisoners have been consistently lower than the death rates of non-Indigenous prisoners since 2003–04. In 2018-19, it was 0.13 per 100 Indigenous prisoners and 0.23 per 100 non-Indigenous prisoners.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody concluded on April 15, 1991, that Indigenous people were no more likely to die in custody than non-Indigenous people, but they were significantly more likely to be arrested and imprisoned.

The proportion of the prison population who are Indigenous has doubled since the royal commission, from about 14 per cent to about 28 per cent.

The Indigenous imprisonment rate has also increased by 35 per cent since 2009, compared with an increase of 26 per cent for non-Indigenous prisoners.

Western Australia police commissioner Chris Dawson telephoned the state’s deaths in custody watch committee on Sunday morning to notify members of the latest death.

One organisation that conducts prison visits in Western Australia, the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, called for a change to federal legislation that excludes prisoners from Medicare except where there has been an exemption from the Commonwealth.

Project director Megan Krakouer said the more than 150 Aboriginal Medical Services around Australia should be allowed to treat Indigenous prisoners.

“We have something like 12,000 brothers and sisters that are incarcerated.” she said.