Category Archives: Indigenous incarceration

Advocates call for urgent action after two ‘incredibly tragic’ Aboriginal deaths in custody

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Linda Burney says rates of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody 30 years after royal commission are a ‘national shame’

Advocates say the “heartbreaking” deaths of two Aboriginal people in custody within days of each other in Western Australia over Christmas should jolt state and federal governments into urgent action.

A 41-year-old First Nations woman died in a Perth hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a “medical episode” in Wandoo rehabilitation prison 13 days earlier.

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Zachary Rolfe ‘humiliated’ Indigenous teen in violent arrest before Walker shooting, inquest told

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Video from Rolfe’s body-worn camera shows him approach wheelie bin with 14-year-old hiding inside before slamming lid and pulling bin to ground

The Northern Territory police officer who shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker was involved in an earlier arrest of another Indigenous youth that was allegedly violent and humiliating, an inquest has been told.

The inquiry into the death of 19-year-old Walker – who was shot during a bungled arrest in Yuendumu in 2019 – was played a video on Tuesday of Const Zachary Rolfe detaining a 14-year-old boy in 2018.

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Uncle Jack Charles: First Nations elder and storyteller farewelled at state funeral in Melbourne

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Film-maker Amiel Courtin-Wilson says Uncle Jack ‘gave people space to be themselves … in a way that afforded them unique dignity’

A crowd waving Aboriginal flags has lined St Kilda Road in Melbourne to send off Indigenous elder and storyteller Uncle Jack Charles after his state funeral.

The actor, musician, activist and member of the stolen generations died at Royal Melbourne hospital on 13 September after suffering a stroke. He was 79.

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Northern Territory moves to raise age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12

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Government says authorities will refer children under 12 and their families to parenting and behavioural change programs to break the cycle of offending

The Northern Territory government is seeking to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old to 12 years old.

The Labor government introduced the legislation to parliament on Thursday, saying authorities would now refer children under the age of 12 and their families to intensive parenting and behavioural change programs to break the cycle of offending.

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Indigenous man’s death in Victorian custody the second in a month

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Family of 38-year-old Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man Clinton Austin say he was let down by police and justice systems

An Aboriginal prisoner in central Victoria has become the second Indigenous person to die in custody in the state in a matter of weeks.

Clinton Austin, a 38-year-old Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man, died at Loddon prison near Castlemaine in Victoria on Sunday. Austin’s family has said they are devastated by his death.

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Indigenous death in NSW jail from ear infection ‘the result of systemic failures’: coroner

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Douglas ‘Mootijah’ Shillingsworth’s ear problems would have been picked up by proper procedures, coroner Joan Baptie finds

The death of an Aboriginal man from an ear infection while in custody was preventable and due to failures in the New South Wales justice system, a coroner has found.

Douglas “Mootijah” Shillingsworth, a Budjiti and Murrawarri man, died of a middle ear infection, known as otitis media, at the age of 44 on 15 February 2018 while incarcerated at the Silverwater prison in Sydney.

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Indigenous woman’s screams for help before her death were ‘excruciating’, fellow inmate tells inquest

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Veronica Nelson died in a Melbourne jail in early 2020 and a woman who was in a nearby cell has told an inquest authorities ‘let her die’

Prison staff allegedly left Indigenous woman Veronica Nelson to die in her cell after she screamed for help for hours, a former inmate has told an inquest.

Aboriginal woman Kylie Bastin was in a cell close to Nelson’s at Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on the evening of 1 January 2020.

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WA coroner says police failed to monitor breathing of Aboriginal woman pinned to the ground

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It was ‘incomprehensible’ that a police internal investigation into Cherdeena Wynne’s restraint found it was in line with policy and procedures, coroner finds

A Western Australian coroner has criticised police offices for their “woefully inadequate” monitoring of an Aboriginal woman’s breathing after she was pinned to the ground and lost consciousness before being allowed to sit up.

Cherdeena Wynne, a 26-year-old Noongar Yamatji woman, died in hospital five days after she was pinned in a prone position by police officers, one of whom had his knee on her shoulder blades and leg across her upper back for almost two minutes.

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Veronica Nelson made repeated calls for help before her death in custody, inquest hears

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Melbourne coroner’s court hears audio of the 37-year-old Yorta Yorta woman screaming in pain in her prison cell

Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Marie Nelson made repeated calls for assistance in the hours before she was found dead in a maximum security prison cell, a coronial inquest has heard.

The 37-year-old, who also has Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung and Wiradjuri heritage, died at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on 2 January 2020, four days after being arrested because she had failed to attend a sentencing hearing for a shoplifting offence.

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Decriminalisation of public drunkenness delayed by Victorian government

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Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service ‘disappointed’ that official repeal will not occur in November

Victoria will delay repealing public drunkenness as a crime, in a move that has triggered the state’s Indigenous legal service to urge the state government to prioritise the “overdue reform”.

The offence was to be officially repealed in November, but Guardian Australia understands the decriminalisation of public drunkenness may not take effect until 2023 – more than five years after the death of 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day.

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David Dungay’s death in custody to be taken to UN human rights committee

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International lawyer Geoffrey Robertson to argue Australia failed to protect Dungay’s right to life and denied family justice for his 2015 death in Long Bay jail

International human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will take the case of the death in custody of David Dungay to the United Nations, arguing that Australia violated his human rights and those of his family by denying them justice and accountability for his 2015 death in prison custody.

Robertson’s London-based Doughty Street Chambers will lodge the complaint on behalf of the Dungay family at the UN human rights committee in Geneva. In it they will say that Australia has failed to protect his right to life and failed to undertake investigations into anyone or any organisation responsible for his death.

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Australia news live: NSW Aboriginal deaths in custody inquiry recommends sweeping reforms; dance squad blasts ABC over navy twerking coverage

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NSW MPs call for end to police investigating themselves on 30th anniversary of royal commission; Queensland eases Covid restrictions; fashion designer Carla Zampatti farewelled in Sydney. Follow updates live

Scott Morrison is speaking now.

Now that unemployment has hit 5.6%, the treasurer Josh Frydenberg has signalled he will revisit the budget strategy - which is that the Morrison government won’t tighten fiscal policy until unemployment is “comfortably within” 6%.

Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra that 5.6% was not “comfortably within” 6% and that now is “not the time for austerity”.

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The WA cops rounding up Indigenous kids: a ‘toxic and racist environment’

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The police stories: Two former Western Australian and NSW officers speak out about what they saw during their time in uniform

One of the worst moments of Jim Taylor’s eight-year career as a Western Australian police officer was the day he strip-searched a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy.

Taylor, now 44, was working in Perth in the Juvenile Aid Group, or “Jag”. He says he was driving around the city’s central business district with his senior sergeant and two other officers when they came across a group of four young Aboriginal kids. They rounded them up and took them back to the station.

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Human Rights Watch warns US Capitol attack should be ‘wake-up call’ for Australia

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Global group urges the Morrison government to be vigilant about the growth of far-right extremism here

The Morrison government has been urged to treat the deadly mob assault on the US Capitol as “a wake-up call”, with a leading human rights organisation saying Australian security agencies must counter the growth of rightwing extremism.

Human Rights Watch published its annual global report on human rights abuses on Wednesday evening, calling on US allies such as Australia to work with the incoming Joe Biden administration to “shore up a global defence of human rights”.

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‘I fell asleep at the wheel’: my life changed the day my partner died | Rhonda Davis

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Mat was killed when the car rolled on our way home from a party. I was jailed for five years

My name is Rhonda Davis. I’m a 38-year-old Kamillaroi woman with four children.

In September 2013, I found myself for the first time involved in the criminal justice system.

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Victorian coroner changes how Indigenous deaths in custody are investigated

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Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the new commitments

The coroner’s court of Victoria has changed the way it investigates Indigenous deaths in custody to reflect recommendations made in a royal commission almost 30 years ago, but Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the court’s new commitments.

The Victorian state coroner, judge John Cain, issued a practice direction on Tuesday outlining new standards for investigating Indigenous deaths in custody. It includes a requirement that the coroner attend the scene of death where practicable, instead of relying on the report of the police officer conducting the investigation.

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Labor senator reads out names of Indigenous deaths in custody – video

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In a powerful statement to the Senate, Malarndirri McCarthy has read out the names of First Nations people who have died in custody, citing Guardian Australia's Deaths inside project.

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Essential poll: most Australians believe there is institutional racism in the US but not Australia

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Almost 80% of those surveyed agree US authorities have been unwilling to deal with racism and that is why incidents continue to occur

A significant majority of Australians in the latest Guardian Essential poll sample believe Americans are correct to demand better treatment for African Americans in their society – but only 30% believe there is institutional racism in Australian police forces.

The latest survey of 1,073 respondents shows the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police – an incident sparking fury that spilled over into mass protests in a number of US cities, including the capital Washington – resonated strongly in Australia.

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: NSW, Victoria, Qld and WA provide update on Covid-19 cases – latest news

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Mathias Cormann to appear before Senate committee seeking answers on the government’s botched wage subsidy projections. Follow the latest live

Mutual obligations for welfare recipients return today.

There are now about 1.6m people receiving the unemployment benefit jobseeker.

Mutual obligations return today & will be gradually phased in.

We are in Phase 1 meaning there are no financial penalties for not meeting activity requirements.

We don't have a timeline of each "phase" but I will keep following up with the Minister for more clarity.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian was giving a press conference just now. She was pressed on comments from her police minister, David Elliott, who said yesterday that police would not approve future permit protests that did not comply for the health guidelines.

Does she agree with Elliott?

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Tanya Day’s arresting officer tells inquest he didn’t think she needed medical attention

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Constable dismisses suggestion that according to police checklist he should have taken her to hospital

The police officer who arrested Tanya Day at Castlemaine train station said he did not think she needed medical attention despite police guidelines stating that intoxicated people who cannot provide intelligible answers should be sent to hospital.

Senior Constable Stephen Thomas told an inquest into the 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman’s death in custody that he also did not tell her she had been placed under arrest, saying it was “the most low-key arrest I have ever done”.

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