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‘Deepening breakdown’: Indigenous man’s death marks seventh in custody since March
By Laura Chung and Lucy Cormack
An Indigenous man has died at Cessnock Correctional Centre, marking the seventh First Nations death in Australian jails since March 2.
A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said the man was found unresponsive in his cell at about 10am on Tuesday before he was pronounced dead at 11.15am.
An Indigenous man has died at Cessnock Correctional Centre on Tuesday, marking the seventh First Nation death in Australian jails since March 2. Credit: Andrew Meares
“Corrective Services NSW and NSW Police are investigating the incident,” the spokeswoman said. “All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest.”
The death marks the seventh death in custody since March 2, four of which have occurred in NSW.
“There is a deepening breakdown in the relationship between First Nations communities and prison and police authorities in NSW and this death will only broaden that divide,” NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for justice and police, David Shoebridge said. “Today another First Nations family is mourning the loss of a loved one who has died while in the ‘care’ of the justice system.
“It cannot be accepted that First Nations people routinely die in custody.
“Right now there is also a need to make the coronial process culturally safe for First Nations families so that the seven families who have lost a relative in the last six weeks are not further traumatised and get the answers they need.”
An Aboriginal man died at Port Phillip Prison in Melbourne’s west on Monday night from a medical episode. A statement from the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety said a smoking ceremony for the man was being arranged.
“We recognise that all deaths in custody have impacts on family members, friends, corrections staff, victims of crime, and the Aboriginal community. We are consulting with all affected by this death to ensure they are provided with the support they need,” a department spokesperson said.
Earlier this month, an inquiry into Indigenous deaths in custody recommended the powers of NSW’s independent police watchdog should be expanded to include responsibility for investigating deaths in custody and the state’s bail laws should be amended to require police and courts to take into account a person’s Aboriginality.
In a report released on Thursday, 30 years to the day since the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, a NSW parliamentary committee examined the “unacceptably high” level of First Nations people in custody and made 39 urgent recommendations.
More than 400 Indigenous people have died in custody since 1991, when the final report of the royal commission was handed down.
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