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The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) was an inquiry called by the Australian Government in 1987, after growing public attention on the deaths of Aboriginal people in prisons and police stations. Over four years, it investigated 99 individual deaths of First Nations people across Australia and the systemic problems which had helped cause them. The Commission’s final report in April 1991 found major failures by all Australian governments, police and prison authorities had contributed to the deaths of First Nations people in custody, and made 339 recommendations to address these problems and end Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The 339 recommendations from the RCIADIC included changes to prison conditions and procedures, reforms to how police worked, and changes in the law to keep Aboriginal people out of prison. Unfortunately, Australian governments have not done enough to implement these recommendations, and in many cases circumstances have gotten worse. For example, the Victorian Government has only recently decriminalised public drunkenness (this crime was disproportionately used to charge First Nations people) – more than 30 years after the RCIADIC’s report. The Commonwealth Government’s own review of the implementation of the RCIADIC recommendations found that only 64% have been fully implemented with an independent report by Aboriginal scholars finding that number was much lower.
We need to reduce the number of Aboriginal people who are incarcerated. Reducing incarceration rates for First Nations peoples will require changes in employment, housing, health and social support – not just the legal system. However, several simple legal changes would immediately make a difference.
Criminal charges of public drunkenness are disproportionately used by police against Aboriginal people. The tragic case of Tanya Day, who died in custody in December 2017 after being arrested for being drunk in public, shows how Aboriginal people are brought to police stations when they pose no danger. After extensive advocacy by the Day family, Victoria passed a law to decriminalise public drunkenness. This means that in Victoria, people who are drunk in public will receive a health-based response, however, the details are still being worked out by the Victorian government. Victoria is the second-last Australian state to decriminalise public drunkeness, with Queensland being the last to keep the criminal offence.
Over thirty years ago, the RCIADIC recommended that all Australian governments should “revise any criteria which inappropriately restrict the granting of bail to Aboriginal people”. Instead, Victoria has consistently tightened its bail laws. Changes in 2013, 2017 and 2018 have made it harder to access bail, especially for people without stable housing. As a result, the number of unsentenced Aboriginal people held in Victorian prisons quadrupled from June 2015 to June 2019. More than half of the Aboriginal people who have died in custody since the Royal Commission had not been sentenced to jail time – they died while being held by police or ‘on remand’, waiting for a trial after they were refused bail. There have been some recent changes to Victorian bail laws following the inquest into the passing of Veronica Nelson, which has had some positive impact on remand rates. These will be discussed in a future edition of About Time.
Currently, children as young as 10 can be imprisoned in Australia, with Aboriginal children being detained at nearly seven times the rate of non-Aboriginal children in Victoria. Experts have found that raising the age to 14 would reduce the number of Aboriginal children in prison by 15%.
Conditions in prisons and police cells can have devastating effects on the mental and physical health of Aboriginal people. The use of solitary confinement needs to be ended, and healthcare within prisons should be equivalent to what is available in the community – both these measures were recommended by the RCIADIC in 1991.
Independent oversight can effectively improve conditions in prisons and police cells. Under an international treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), Australian governments have to establish an independent agency to inspect prisons and make recommendations for how conditions need to be improved. OPCAT was explained in Issue 2 of About Time, for those who still have access to the paper. Aboriginal people should be consulted on how detention inspections can be culturally appropriate for Aboriginal people.
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) was an inquiry called by the Australian Government in 1987, after growing public attention on the deaths of Aboriginal people in prisons and police stations. Over four years, it investigated 99 individual deaths of First Nations people across Australia and the systemic problems which had helped cause them. The Commission’s final report in April 1991 found major failures by all Australian governments, police and prison authorities had contributed to the deaths of First Nations people in custody, and made 339 recommendations to address these problems and end Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The 339 recommendations from the RCIADIC included changes to prison conditions and procedures, reforms to how police worked, and changes in the law to keep Aboriginal people out of prison. Unfortunately, Australian governments have not done enough to implement these recommendations, and in many cases circumstances have gotten worse. For example, the Victorian Government has only recently decriminalised public drunkenness (this crime was disproportionately used to charge First Nations people) – more than 30 years after the RCIADIC’s report. The Commonwealth Government’s own review of the implementation of the RCIADIC recommendations found that only 64% have been fully implemented with an independent report by Aboriginal scholars finding that number was much lower.
We need to reduce the number of Aboriginal people who are incarcerated. Reducing incarceration rates for First Nations peoples will require changes in employment, housing, health and social support – not just the legal system. However, several simple legal changes would immediately make a difference.
Criminal charges of public drunkenness are disproportionately used by police against Aboriginal people. The tragic case of Tanya Day, who died in custody in December 2017 after being arrested for being drunk in public, shows how Aboriginal people are brought to police stations when they pose no danger. After extensive advocacy by the Day family, Victoria passed a law to decriminalise public drunkenness. This means that in Victoria, people who are drunk in public will receive a health-based response, however, the details are still being worked out by the Victorian government. Victoria is the second-last Australian state to decriminalise public drunkeness, with Queensland being the last to keep the criminal offence.
Over thirty years ago, the RCIADIC recommended that all Australian governments should “revise any criteria which inappropriately restrict the granting of bail to Aboriginal people”. Instead, Victoria has consistently tightened its bail laws. Changes in 2013, 2017 and 2018 have made it harder to access bail, especially for people without stable housing. As a result, the number of unsentenced Aboriginal people held in Victorian prisons quadrupled from June 2015 to June 2019. More than half of the Aboriginal people who have died in custody since the Royal Commission had not been sentenced to jail time – they died while being held by police or ‘on remand’, waiting for a trial after they were refused bail. There have been some recent changes to Victorian bail laws following the inquest into the passing of Veronica Nelson, which has had some positive impact on remand rates. These will be discussed in a future edition of About Time.
Currently, children as young as 10 can be imprisoned in Australia, with Aboriginal children being detained at nearly seven times the rate of non-Aboriginal children in Victoria. Experts have found that raising the age to 14 would reduce the number of Aboriginal children in prison by 15%.
Conditions in prisons and police cells can have devastating effects on the mental and physical health of Aboriginal people. The use of solitary confinement needs to be ended, and healthcare within prisons should be equivalent to what is available in the community – both these measures were recommended by the RCIADIC in 1991.
Independent oversight can effectively improve conditions in prisons and police cells. Under an international treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), Australian governments have to establish an independent agency to inspect prisons and make recommendations for how conditions need to be improved. OPCAT was explained in Issue 2 of About Time, for those who still have access to the paper. Aboriginal people should be consulted on how detention inspections can be culturally appropriate for Aboriginal people.
I’m sick of doing crime, I’m sick of doing jail. It’s time to put pen to paper, and send this in the mail.
Two new artworks from First Nations artists.
Being in a space that does not acknowledge, respond to or understand you can be deeply challenging.
It all has a history. So just take a second to think on how old that could be and where it came from or even who or how it could have got there.