Aboriginal deaths in custody

Aboriginal deaths in custody became an issue of community concern in Australia because a disproportionate number of Indigenous Australians had died while being held in prisons or under the arrest of police. This concern was particularly acute in the 1980s, when there was a perception by some that these deaths were being caused, either directly or indirectly, by the police and prison authorities. There was a Royal Commission in 1987 which highlighted deficiencies in the standards of care to the deceased.

The term is usually used to refer to people under arrest (in police custody, on remand (pre-trial detention), or in prison after sentencing. People under police pursuit may also be included.

A report monitoring deaths in custody found that they had decreased in the ten years up to 2011, but concerns continue and are re-examined with continuing cases up to the present ().

Background and description

Concern about the high number of Indigenous people who had died in custody in the 1980s led to the establishment of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1987, to investigate and report upon the underlying social, cultural and legal issues behind the deaths, including allegations of mistreatment of prisoners which may have led to their deaths. The Royal Commission concluded that the deaths were not caused by deliberate killing by police and prison officers, but that "glaring deficiencies existed in the standard of care afforded to many of the deceased".

A 1996 report prepared by prepared for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in 1996 reported 96 Aboriginal deaths in custody in the seven years following the completion of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, with a peak of 22 in 1995. A change in the definition of a death in custody in 1989 meant that only deaths in institutional settings, rather than police pursuit, were examined when comparing the figures.

A report monitoring deaths in custody found that they had decreased in the ten years preceding 2011, including eight years in which the Indigenous rate of deaths had been lower than non-Indigenous.

The Guardian'''s Deaths Inside database, tracking all Indigenous deaths in custody since 2008, shows high numbers through the 2010s, with numbers reducing since 2016.
Responses
In Australia, all deaths in custody trigger an inquest. By August 2018 it was found that there had been a lack of action on recommendations arising from inquests, including the recommendations made as part of the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Over half of the Indigenous people who died in custody since 2008 had not been found guilty.
Commentary

Suvendrini Perera, a member of the working party that reported to the West Australian Attorney-General on the coronial findings into the death of a Wongai elder who died in the back of a police van in Perth in 2008, wrote of "a culture of racism, cronyism and cover-up" evident within the Australian criminal justice system, targeting Aboriginal people as well as Sudanese Australians and asylum seekers.

Notable incidents
Death of Ms Dhu
Cameron Doomadgee
John Pat

See also
2004 Palm Island death in custody
Custody Notification Scheme
Deaths in custody
Health Effects from Incarceration of Indigenous Australians
Missing and murdered Indigenous women (United States and Canada)

References

Further reading

Deaths Inside database Deaths inside: Indigenous Australian deaths in custody, 2019] - database which tracks and displays graphics of all deaths since 2008.
The 147 dead: terrible toll of Indigenous deaths in custody spurs calls for reform (Guardian investigation of a decade of Indigenous deaths, 2018)
Indigenous deaths in custody worsen in year of tracking by Deaths Inside project "17 more people have died since August 2018, when analysis revealed 407 deaths since the end of 1991 royal commission" (Guardian, 23 August 2019)

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Reports

Google Scholar search results
Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody (Creative Spirits website)

NIT FORUMS: History repeats, over and over (Issue 121 - 25 Jan 2007, National Indigenous Times'')
John Pilger (1992): "A Secret Country" 
Daniel Yock : Coroner's report.  Socialist Labour League website
Kwementayaye Briscoe: Coroner's report.  The Australian 18.9.2012
Troy Foster: ABC Online 9.12.2014 by Peter McCutcheon.  Coroner's report Southport 24.11.2014
Edward Russell: Sydney Morning Herald 6.8.2003  Western Advocate 9.6.2003
Mulrunji Doomadgee "The Tall man" by Chloe Hooper
Bradley Coolwell: ABC news 11.4.2011
Sean Coolwell: ABC News 29.2.2016
Maureen Mandijarra: Coroner's report
Kumanjayi Langdon: The guardian 15,7.15 by Helen Davidson.  Coroners report
Dennis Phillips: Coroner's report
Rebecca Maher: Sydney Morning Herald 16.8.2016
David Dungay: ABC News 8.9.2016 by Brooke Boney and Lexie Metherell.
Graham Charles Waters: Port Macquarie News 10.8.06
Joseph Duncan: Coroners report
Patrick Fisher: Sydney Morning Herald 11.2.2018.  ABC News 9.2.2018 by Jessica Kidd
Mr Ward: ABC Goldfields 5.10.2011 by Emma Wynne
Wayne "Fella" Morrison: VICE.com 27.1.2017 by Amy McQuire.  
Sydney Morning herald 20.10.2016 by Calla Wahlquist
Steve Freeman: Coroner's report
Frank Townsend: Justice Action website
Veronica Baxter: Star Observer

Category:Indigenous Australian politics
Category:Australian people who died in prison custody