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Three young First Nations people have died in custody in the last two weeks.
Two First Nations men in their 20s died in the Northern Territory – one in prison and the other in police custody – and a young First Nations woman died in a prison in Western Australia.
Nine First Nations people have died in custody this year, and there have been a total of 29 deaths in custody.
There have been 627 Indigenous deaths in custody since the Royal Commission.
On Sunday a 26-year-old First Nations man was found unresponsive in the Darwin Correctional Centre, and later died.
Just days earlier on Tuesday last week, a 25-year-old First Nations man died after being arrested by police and placed in the back of a caged police vehicle, where he started to have trouble breathing. He died later that evening.
Further information on the two men who have lost their lives has not yet been released, with legal services working with their families.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission Katie Kiss called on the NT government to “urgently address the number of Indigenous deaths in custody”.
“This includes reviewing its ‘tough on crime’ policies which are increasing the Indigenous incarceration rate, overcrowding correctional facilities and heightening the risk of deaths in custody,” Kiss said in a statement.
“We also renew our calls for Indigenous deaths in custody to be investigated independently. Investigations must be conducted by organisations and individuals who have no potential or perceived conflicts of interest.”
On 16 March a 35-year-old First Nations woman died at Bandyup Women’s Prison in Western Australia.
The woman was found in a single-occupancy cell at the prison.
There have been three deaths in prison in recent weeks, with a 34-year-old man dying at the Metropolitan Remand Centre on 22 March.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology there have been 29 deaths in custody in the first three months of this year.
Twenty of these people lost their lives in prison, while the others were in policy custody.
Nine First Nations people have died in custody this year, more than 30 percent of the total deaths in custody, despite less than 4 percent of the Australian population being Indigenous.
