Grave concerns - Aboriginal deaths in custody
For a moment, even the West Australian State Coroner, Evelyn Vicker, was helpless. Just after she handed her report of the inquiry into the death of Donald Keen to the family – murmuring ‘I am sorry’ – she left the courthouse with tears in her eyes. For Linda, the young deceased’s mother, it was yet another disappointment. ‘Nothing’s changed. We [Aboriginal Australians] never win,’ she sighed.
Donald Keen was only 18 when he entered Hakea Prison. Unlike the juvenile detention centres where he had spent much of his young life, this was an adult prison with mostly convicted criminals. The photo in Linda’s hands of her son shows a young boy with soft skin, a gentle look and shiny hair: too fragile for the environment he was in. Donald was sexually abused by his father and was afraid of being abused again by the elder inmates. Auditory hallucinations caused him to hang himself in his cell. The Coroner’s report details Donald’s cries for help: the times he had shown signs of self-harm. It also sets out the chain of events within the system that failed to prevent his death.
Reports about how Aboriginal people die within the justice system have to date had little impact on the problem. In 1991 – after a five-year inquiry – the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody issued 339 recommendations, and many reports have been written since then. Yet too little has changed. Aboriginal people are still over-represented in the criminal justice system, being over 20 times more likely to be taken into police custody than a non-indigenous person who has committed a similar offence. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, 91 people died in all forms of custody in Australia during 2000, a 40-per-cent increase since 1990. Over a third of the dead were Aboriginal – completely disproportionate to their presence in the community (less than three per cent of the Australian population is Aboriginal).
Join over 10,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, issue alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are copyright of the photographer/illustrator or representative agency.Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
