During the period 1 January 1980 to 31 May 1989 there were 99 reported cases of Aboriginal deaths in custody in Australia falling within the jurisdiction of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Between the final report of the Royal Commission in 1991 and 30 June 2019, at least another 451 Aboriginal people have died while in police or prison custody.
Current published statistical records do not yet include the period between 1 July 2019 to the present day.
The following historical information is divided in to two sections – deaths in police custody and deaths in prison custody
DEATHS IN POLICE CUSTODY
Between 1991 and 30 June 2019, a total of 156 of the Indigenous deaths were while the individuals were in police custody and custody-related operations.
In 2018–19 there were 24 deaths in police custody and custody-related operations according to the Australian Government’s Institute of Criminology Statistical Report 31.
Of these 6 deaths were in Western Australia, 5 deaths in each of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, 2 in South Australia and one in Tasmania. No deaths in police custody were recorded in the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory.
Sixteen of the 24 deaths occurring in police custody were categorised as category 1 deaths – that is they occurred during close police contact with the deceased, including deaths in police stations, and most police shootings and raids. The remaining 8 deaths were classified as category 2 deaths occurring during contact, such as foot pursuits or self-inflicted deaths in the presence of police after the commission of an offence.
Of the 24 deaths 4 were of Indigenous persons, 19 were of non-Indigenous persons and one person had no Indigenous status recorded.
Of these 4 deaths Indigenous deaths in police custody 3 were male and one was female and their median age was 22 years. One cause of death was listed as unknown, one was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and 2 were recorded as accidental death as a result of other/multiple causes.
The Indigenous person whose cause of death was unknown died while police were in the process of detaining or attempting to detain this individual.
Of the 4 Indigenous deaths in police custody, 2 occurred in a public place, one on private property, and the other in a public hospital. The location of death for the individual whose Indigenous status was not recorded was a public place.
Of the four Indigenous persons who died in police custody, 2 were suspected of having committed theft-related offences, one was suspected of having committed a good order offence and, an suspected offence was not stated or unknown for the remaining Indigenous death. The 11 non-Indigenous persons who died in police custody in 2018-19 were most commonly suspected of having committed a violent offence.
This breakdown of suspected offences by persons dying in police custody has been similar over the last 30 years of statistical records.
In 2018-19 the death rate of Indigenous persons in police custody was 0.61 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 10 years and over, compared with a death rate of non-Indigenous persons in police custody of 0.09 per 100,000 non-Indigenous population aged 10 years and over.
DEATHS IN PRISON CUSTODY
Between 1991 and 30 June 2019, there have been a total of 295 Indigenous deaths in prison custody, including in youth detention centres and during prisoner transfers.
In 2018–19 there were 89 deaths in prison custody. The largest number of deaths in prison custody occurred in New South Wales (33 persons), followed by Victoria (19 persons), Western Australia (15 persons), Queensland (11 persons), Northern Territory (3 persons) and Tasmania (2 persons). None of these six jurisdictions recorded a decease in the number of deaths. There were no deaths in prison custody in the Australian Capital Territory.
Of these 89 deaths 16 were Indigenous deaths in prison custody, accounting for 18 percent of all deaths in prison custody over that period.
All 16 of these deaths were Indigenous males, with 6 being 55 years of age or older, 8 being between 40 to 54 years of age and 2 between 25 to 39 years of age.
The highest number of Indigenous deaths in prison custody in that period occurred in Western Australia with 5 deaths, followed by New South Wales with 4 deaths, the Northern Territory with 3 deaths and Queensland with 2 deaths. No Indigenous deaths occurred in South Australia, Tasmania or the ACT.
The overall death rate in the prison population in 2018-19 was 0.21 per 100 prisoners. The death rate of Indigenous prisoners was 0.13 per 100 prisoners and 3.11 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population aged 18 years and over.
The cause of death was recorded for 13 of the 16 Indigenous deaths in prison custody, with 11 being listed as death due to natural causes, and one listed as death by hanging. The remaining cause of death was not specifically identified in Report 31.
A total of 4 Indigenous deaths in 2018-19 occurred in a prison cell and 7 occurred in a public hospital. The place of death is not identifiable for the remaining 5 individuals.
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