12 First Nations people have died in NSW prisons just this year - the most ever recorded in a year and it is only October. 

In a rare public statement, the NSW state coroner has said:

• “These are not mere statistics. Each of these deaths represents a person whose life mattered and whose loss is felt deeply by families, loved ones and across the state.”
• “These figures reflect the entrenched over-representation of First Nations peoples in the criminal justice system — a systemic issue that compounds the risks and vulnerabilities contributing to the rising number of deaths in custody”

Since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, over 600 First Nations people have died in custody, with 79 just this year. This is a national emergency, yet the NSW Government is making the problem worse. 

NSW Labor are locking up First Nations people at alarming rates - including children and young people. The latest BOCSAR figures show that 30% of people in prison are First Nations people, despite making up just 3% of the State’s population. The number of First Nations people held on remand - innocent under the law - has increased by 20% since the Minns Labor Government came to power. 

Rather than implementing evidence-based policy, the Minns Labor Government have passed punitive laws to lock up more First Nations people, increased police powers, and failed to make prisons safer. 

A prison sentence should not be a death sentence. 

This is a national shame, an abandonment of Closing The Gap, and a preventable tragedy. We need to hold Premier Chris Minns to account.

Sign our petition to end the over-incarceration of First Nations people and make prisons safer. We can prevent another death in custody.