Three Indigenous Australians have died in prisons in just the last week, two of which were kept from the public, casting a spotlight on differing state government’s transparency and accountability around deaths in custody.
Two Indigenous people died in New South Wales prisons and one Indigenous person in a Victorian prison in the first week of March alone.
While the death in Victoria was revealed by the corrections department in a public statement issued four days after the incident, the two deaths in NSW were only uncovered days later by the media and during a budget estimates hearing.
NSW Corrections has a policy of deliberate secrecy around deaths in custody due to the anxiety and anger these events cause, despite Victorian authorities actively informing the public of them.
Appearing at a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday, Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin confirmed that the department deliberately does not inform the public when an individual dies in prison.
“We do not publicise deaths in custody now - we do not have a policy that proactively informs the public of deaths in custody,” Severin told the hearing following questioning by Greens MP David Shoebridge.
“I would suggest that it is not appropriate for us to simply advise the public in the absence of any detail that we can provide and cause a lot of anger, a lot of angst and a lot of grief that already no doubt exists by adding to that with a non-specific, simple message that somebody has passed away.”
This policy of secrecy was slammed by Shoebridge.
“It is utterly unacceptable that neither the Minister or the Commissioner inform the public about deaths in custody, and we only find out about these tragic deaths through persistent questioning in estimates,” Shoebridge said.
“Two First Nations deaths in a single week is devastating and the government’s new policy of secrecy only adds to the growing concern about First Nations deaths in custody. The government’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement has not been to address deaths in custody but to hide them from public scrutiny.”
An Indigenous man in his mid-30s died on 2 March at Long Bay Hospital, a healthcare facility in the Long Bay Correctional Complex in NSW, but this was only revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald four days later.
An Indigenous woman in her 40s died at Silverwater jail in NSW on 5 March, but this was only revealed during questioning by Mr Shoebridge at the budget estimates hearing on Tuesday, four days later.
Despite the public not being informed about these deaths in custody, Severin said that legal and community groups had been notified.
“It was proactively notified in the context of the requirements in our policy,” he said. “All deaths in custody are subject to a very comprehensive investigation independently undertaken by the Coroner.”
Days after the deaths in custody in NSW were revealed, Corrections Victoria posted a short statement on the department’s website revealing the “passing of a prisoner” at Ravenhall Correctional Centre, which is operated privately by US conglomerate GEO Group.
“We recognise that all deaths in custody have impacts on family members, friends, corrections staff and the Aboriginal community, and we’re working to ensure they are provided with the support they need,” the statement said.
The Coroner will now investigate the death at Ravenhall prison. Under its contract with the state government, GEO Group is liable for a potential fine for any deaths in its facility, but the size of this fine has been hidden from the public. In other states, this fine is typically about $500,000.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service CEO Nerita Waight said the state government needs to urgently reconsider its “law and order agenda which has disproportionately affected Aboriginal communities”, pointing to bail laws and the underfunding of Aboriginal community groups.
“This death highlights the urgent need for sweeping reforms to the justice system” Waight said. “Our people are grossly overrepresented in the criminal legal system and in prisons. We have the solutions ready for government. We just need them to listen and act.
“We await the Victorian Attorney-General and the Justice Minister to answer our calls for change and empower us to lead the way.”
Denham Sadler is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne. He covers politics and technology regularly for InnovationAus, and writes about other issues, including criminal justice, for publications including The Guardian and The Saturday Paper. He is also the senior editor of The Justice Map, a project to strengthen advocacy for criminal justice reform in Australia. You can follow him on Twitter.
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