Hundreds have protested deaths in custody at G20 with minimal coverage by the mainstream media. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, whose report was released in 1991, had provided 339 common sense recommendations as well as a explicit condemnation of shocking Indigenous incarceration rates. More than 20 years later incarceration rates are increasing, First nation people making up 26% of the population and only 2.6% of the population. For juveniles the rates are even more staggering reaching up to 80% in some jurisdictions. Since the report very few recommendations have been implemented. For example the following recommendations:
87. Arrest people only when no other way exists for dealing with a problem.
92. Imprisonment should be utilised only as a sanction of last resort.
161. Police and prison officers should seek medical attention immediately if any doubt arises as to a detainee’s condition.
are not only common sense recommendations but would have avoided the death of a proud first Nations woman, 22 year old Ms Dhu earlier this year, who was jailed for unpaid fines and then denied access to a doctor three times while in custody. Continued indifference to First Nation suffering and oppression is not acceptable.
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