Police at Gablecross police station declared detainee dead early on Sunday and have referred incident to police watchdog
A man in his 30s has died while in custody at a police station in Swindon, Wiltshire police said. He had been in custody at Gablecross police station since Saturday morning, and became unwell on Sunday morning.
He was declared dead at about 9am on Sunday, the force added. The incident has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Continue reading...Exclusive: Victorian senator criticises lack of monitoring of royal commission recommendations and demands ‘tangible and achievable action’
An alliance of parliamentary crossbenchers has backed a call from senator Lidia Thorpe for the federal government to urgently address long called for reforms in landmark reports on Indigenous deaths in custody and child removals.
Thorpe, the Victorian independent, said the Australian Human Rights Commission should be empowered to oversee progress on the key Closing the Gap measures.
Continue reading...After 11-year wait for inquest into his death in custody, relatives say Devon and Cornwall police still need to admit mistakes
One of the most poignant moments for Alison Orchard came when she was sorting out her son Thomas’s room after his fatal collapse while in police custody.
Over the years, Thomas Orchard had experienced mental health problems and had not been allowed to fulfil one of his ambitions: to drive.
Continue reading...Thomas Orchard died a week after a mental health crisis in which police put an ‘emergency response belt’ over his face
Prolonged use of a heavy webbing belt by police over the face of a vulnerable man during a mental health crisis may have contributed to his death, an inquest jury has concluded.
The way officers used the belt on church caretaker Thomas Orchard would have hampered his ability to breathe and increased his stress levels, the jury said.
Continue reading...Sobering-up facility not completed, emergency workers unclear about their role in new scheme – and it begins on Melbourne Cup Day
It’s been almost six years since Tanya Day hopped on a train to Melbourne but never made it to the city.
The 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman was arrested for being drunk in public on 5 December 2017 after she fell asleep. She was placed in a police cell to sober up, suffered a head injury and later died.
Continue reading...There is ‘a lot of anxiety’ in the Western Downs where at least 16 houses have been destroyed, the mayor says. Follow the day’s news live
Civilians in the blockaded Gaza Strip will receive an extra $15m in humanitarian aid from the Australian government.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement at a joint press conference with US president Joe Biden.
The plaintiff served years in prison that he otherwise would not have. At no stage did Victoria Police take positive steps to remedy its wrongdoing by expeditiously informing the plaintiff of Gobbo’s conduct in order to quash his conviction. Victoria Police has not apologised to the plaintiff.
Starting this court case is a significant moment for me. I am anxious about the future but also cautiously optimistic about finally holding police to account for what they did to me.
In the pursuit of justice, vindication came first, and now I see compensation as a measure of accountability.
Continue reading...Selesa Tafaifa, 45, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre
Selesa Tafaifa told Queensland prison guards four times that she couldn’t breathe and pleaded for her asthma medication six times before dying in custody, a coronial inquest has heard.
Tafaifa, a 45-year-old Samoan woman, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at the Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre and placed in a spit hood.
Continue reading...Inquests flag up gaps in the care of prisoners in relation to at least nine deaths in custody since 2021
Prison understaffing and workload issues have been flagged in at least nine inquests into deaths in custody since the start of 2021, according to an Observer analysis of coroners’ reports.
Issues raised include gaps in monitoring of prisoners due to understaffing, a lack of prison-based clinical staff and shortcomings in the keyworker programme. Coroners have also repeatedly identified problems with staff training and the assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) process for prisoners identified as being at risk of suicide or self-harm.
Continue reading...IOPC apologises ‘unreservedly’ to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after being restrained in Brixton
The police watchdog has apologised “unreservedly” to the sister of a black man who died in police custody in London 15 years ago.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct apologised to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after losing consciousness at Brixton police station, for delays and police failings. She said she hoped that no other family would have to endure her family’s “never-ending trauma”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: MPs urged to implement Poccum’s law, named in honour of First Nations woman who died in a cell while on remand
The family of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson has urged the Victorian government to “listen to [her] cries for help” and go further with its proposed changes to bail laws, which will be debated in parliament this week.
Nelson died alone in a Melbourne prison cell while on remand in January 2020 after her calls for help went unanswered. The 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman had been arrested for shoplifting and refused bail before her death.
Continue reading...‘I want to see the day when deaths in custody stop,’ says nephew of David Dungay Jr, who died in police custody in 2015
Indigenous deaths in custody must stop rather than just be counted, families and advocates say as the government announced a real-time database to collect all custodial deaths as they happen.
The federal government revealed the new deaths in custody reporting system on Wednesday, with states and territories agreeing to provide more up-to-date figures on people dying in state and territory watch-houses, police stations, prisons and detention centres.
Continue reading...New data dashboard to provide up-to-date information supplied by states and territories
Governments will be held more accountable for their criminal justice systems with the launch of a new source of information on Indigenous deaths in custody.
Since the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody released its report in 1991 there have been more than 540 First Nations deaths in custody.
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Continue reading...Productivity Commission report on government services says 26% of Australia’s state-owned Indigenous housing is overcrowded
Indigenous deaths in custody are at their highest in the 15 years that records have been kept while public perceptions of the honesty and fairness of police officers has reached a 10-year low, according to new data from the federal Productivity Commission.
The Report on Government Services also found overcrowding in public housing is on the rise, while the number of public housing properties of an acceptable standard has sharply dropped.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian Australia understands 30-year-old was held close to main counter of police watch house
A man who died in a Queensland police watch house last week was considered a serious suicide risk but was not checked on for more than an hour after he died, Guardian Australian understands.
Police are conducting an internal investigation into the death of the 30-year-old by suicide inside the Beenleigh police holding cells on Saturday.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Veronica Nelson’s mother among critics of Thirrili, which encouraged people to contact it if they didn’t feel its support was adequate
First Nations families grieving the loss of loved ones have accused a federally funded Indigenous suicide and trauma support service of failing to turn up to appointments, not responding to phone calls and not replying to financial support requests.
Guardian Australia has spoken to four First Nations families who have raised concerns about the service provided by the not-for-profit Thirrili, which provides financial, social and emotional support to Indigenous families affected by suicide and trauma.
Continue reading...Inquest into death of Gomeroi man Stanley Russell urges changes to how officers handle people with an intellectual disability
A coroner delivering findings into the police shooting death of Indigenous man Stanley Russell said officers seriously breached their own policies on body-worn cameras during the incident.
The New South Wales deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes also recommended policy changes on how police handle people with intellectual disabilities, and urged them to clarify rules on when officers need to wear body cameras.
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Continue reading...Body of Christopher Alder could have been seen by cadets after mixup of remains, says South Yorkshire force
South Yorkshire police have admitted that officers may have been shown the body of Christopher Alder, a former paratrooper who died in police custody, in a mortuary as part of their routine training years after he was supposed to have been buried.
Alder, an ex-Parachute Regiment soldier, choked to death while handcuffed and lying face down on the floor of a Hull police station on 1 April 1998. CCTV footage showed officers laughing, joking and making monkey noises while he lay unconscious in a pool of blood. It was more than 10 minutes before police went to his aid.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Medical experts also reiterate calls to raise age of criminal responsibility, saying detention facilities have ‘deeply adverse’ affects on children
The Australian Medical Association is calling on governments to divert people away from incarceration and implement the recommendations of the 1991 Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission.
The AMA has also reiterated its call for states and territories to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, particularly due to the disproportionate impact on Indigenous people.
Continue reading...Debra Haigh tells hearing she now understands she should have stood in front of cell for longer and used a torch to look for movement
A Brisbane watch house officer who was suspended after the death of First Nations woman Shiralee Tilberoo has admitted during an inquest that she did not check whether she was breathing or shine a torch into the darkened cell on nine occasions.
The Birri Gubba woman – also known as Aunty Sherry – died of a brain aneurysm in Brisbane City watch house in the early hours of the morning on 10 September 2020.
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Continue reading...Murray Smalpage tells coroner he is ‘struggling to find a reason’ for deviation from arrest plan on day Warlpiri teen was killed by Zachary Rolfe
The Northern Territory police’s second-highest serving officer has told an inquest he is “struggling to find a reason why” there was such a deviation from the “detailed” plan to arrest Warlpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker on the day he was shot and killed by Constable Zachary Rolfe.
Walker, 19, was shot dead by Rolfe during a botched arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in 2019. Rolfe was cleared of all criminal charges in relation to the shooting.
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