END ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY NOW
END ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY NOW
On 30 June, another First Nations man died in custody at Parklea prison. Our thoughts are with his loved ones, the First Nations community, and the inmates at Parklea Prison who have staged a peaceful protest against preventable deaths in custody.
13 First Nations people have died in custody this year alone, and three of those preventable deaths were at Parklea prison. But just days after the most recent death, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shamefully ruled out a national cabinet to address Aboriginal deaths in custody.
We know why this is happening. It’s because the criminal legal system is racist.
Just last month, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission's (LECC) shocking Operation Eachem Report revealed that a senior police officer of 16 years failed to protect an Aboriginal man with anxiety, depression and schizophrenia from severe self harm. The police officer responsible for the victim, sitting less than four metres away, watched the man bang his head against a metal bench over 40 times, shielded his ears from the sound of the self harm and refused to call an ambulance.
The LECC reported that the police officer in question, who was found to have engaged in racism, cannot be prosecuted because of NSW Law. The Police Act only allows a six-month window for prosecutions to be brought against police - but investigations by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission often take much longer. The LECC have recommended extending the timeframe to at least 12 months, and on behalf of the Greens, I have lodged a motion calling for reform in this space.
For years, Premier Chris Minns and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have refused to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, even as hundreds of First Nations people have died since the recommendations were handed down.
NSW Labor are failing to Close the Gap for First Nations communities. In fact so many of the targets are getting worse, and they continue to defy elders as they approve coal and gas projects on Aboriginal land. It's clear that Labor won't take First Nations justice seriously, so it's up to the community to make them listen.
Conditions in our prisons are barbaric. Inmates are made to work for as little as 65 cents an hour. Inmate lock-ins due to inadequate staff numbers are common. A culture of abuse and coercion is rife within these places. Medical care is routinely withheld. Recently, the NSW Government blocked UN inspectors from entering our prisons centres to inspect for human rights abuses.
It is, tragically, no surprise that deaths of despair are the second leading cause of death behind bars. Deaths in custody in NSW have been steadily rising with 43 reported deaths in 2021 and 49 in deaths in 2022, First Nations people represent 22.4% of these deaths. Half of those who survive their sentences will go on to reoffend. Something is desperately wrong.
The prison system in NSW is a machine that is failing inmates and instead of providing tailored programs of support to educate and heal people so they can reintegrate into society, breeds the conditions that cause harm and reoffending. It’s a staggering betrayal of human dignity and potential, a waste of public money, failing prisoners, people affected by crime and our communities. It does not have to be this way.
Sign the petition calling for urgent prison reforms to respect the human rights of inmates and end the regime of cruelty and the revolving door of despair.