Latest news with #deathsincustody
The Guardian
07-07-2025
- The Guardian
One report, 33 recommendations, but Kumanjayi Walker inquest findings draw on centuries of pain
The moment coroner Elisabeth Armitage finished speaking about Kumanjayi Walker's death in Yuendumu, nobody seemed to know what to do. There was a silence, an air of uncertainty. Some people gave a few short claps, including a young boy, before realising this was not an occasion for applause. That is often the way with inquests, and particularly inquests about the deaths in custody of Aboriginal people – it is not the findings themselves, but what comes next, that matters. Too often what comes next has been: more preventable deaths. Armitage sets forth a course over 683 pages, with 33 recommendations, to stop more deaths like Walker's. He was shot three times by Zachary Rolfe, then a police constable, at house 511 in Yuendumu, a town 300km north-west of Alice Springs, during a bungled arrest in November 2019. The house is barely 400 metres from where Armitage handed down her findings on Monday. The murder charge that Rolfe faced and was found not guilty of more than four years ago centred on 3.1 seconds between when he shot Walker the first time, and when he shot him twice more. But Armitage was working in centuries, tracing back the impacts of colonisation on the Warlpiri, expanding on the link between the horrors they had faced from police and governments for generations. 'The memory of the 1928 Coniston massacre, the last recorded state sanctioned massacre of Aboriginal people, which occurred not far from Yuendumu, remains enormously significant today,' Armitage said. 'Many stories are still told of who hid where and who was killed. 'Warren Williams, who was born 28 years after the massacre, and was a grandfather to Kumanjayi, said that his old uncle had 'put himself into a hollow and he got burnt out like a rabbit and he took off to Mount Theo, as others had done'.' Armitage's recommendations for the NT government included mandatory drug and alcohol testing for police after a critical incident, as occurs in every other jurisdiction in Australia. She also recommended creating a 10-year plan for youth in Yuendumu, an expanded night patrol in the remote community, a review of the availability of youth services, including the provision of on-country rehabilitation and diversion services, and possibly a leadership group for Yuendumu. She said NT general duties police should no longer openly carry AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles, as Rolfe's arrest team had done in Yuendumu. The only exceptions would be with documented prior approval by a senior sergeant (or above), in an emergency, or 'for the lawful destruction of an animal'. There should be clear procedures for specialist units using the same weapons. It should ensure that the force's cultural reform command should have a similar structure to domestic violence and youth commands, in that it is led by an assistant commissioner, who has power to issue directions. It must also ensure there are clear investigative structures and procedures for when criminal and coronial investigations run side by side. Of the multitude of failings uncovered during the inquest, many of which led to other failings, Armitage found not enough was known about the problems Walker faced growing up, and that if they were, perhaps police could have had a better strategy for arresting him. From the age of around 13 years, Walker engaged in substance abuse, including using cannabis and sniffing alcohol, petrol and solvents. In early 2014, he was identified as a 'high risk youth' by the Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation (WYDAC). A plan was developed with the families who were caring for him, and he took part in a four-week diversion program at Mount Theo, back where his ancestors fled during the massacre decades earlier. 'They were looked after, and guided, by elders and a youth worker or counsellor and he did well there,' Armitage said. He was dead before he was 20, having spent about half of every year between 13 and 18 under some form of restraint. 'I have little doubt that Kumanjayi's behavioural problems as a teenager and young adult stem from his exposure to alcohol in utero and the trauma he experienced as a young child, largely because of his exposure to violence, alcohol and neglect,' Armitage said. 'There is a growing body of evidence about the longterm negative impact on children from exposure to trauma, particularly domestic family violence, during their formative years.' She recommended that NT Health 'in an effort to both prevent and address trauma experienced by young people like Kumanjayi' strengthen its developmental screening programs for children under five years. Armitage also recommended NT Health should only remove staff from remote communities, as they had in the days leading up to Walker's death, as a last resort, and should strengthen recruitment and support of Aboriginal staff. Armitage, her team of lawyers assisting, senior police including acting commissioner Martin Dole, other lawyers, including one representing Rolfe, and media, all started arriving in Yuendumu in the morning. They drove the same way Rolfe came, along the Tanami Road, the only paved road into town. Armitage and her team went back the way they had come soon after the verdict, with the rest following, back towards Alice Springs, and accommodation at a roadhouse about an hour away, in Tilmouth Well. As they did, the house Walker was killed in lay silent, as it largely has since being turned into a makeshift shrine in the days after his death. A large Aboriginal flag has been painted on one wall, and plastic flowers, all vivid pinks, have been strung outside. Occasionally, a desert breeze got up, giving them a flicker of life, before they fell still again. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support. Other international helplines can be found at
The Guardian
17-06-2025
- The Guardian
Hanging points death toll ‘unacceptable', attorney general Michelle Rowland says, urging states to review practices
Michelle Rowland has described the 'unacceptable' death toll linked to the continued presence of hanging points in Australian jails as 'deeply concerning' and told state and territory governments to 'review their practices'. The attorney general has also signalled she will push for accelerated justice reforms during upcoming meetings with her state and territory counterparts at the Standing Council of Attorneys-General forum. 'Every death in custody is a tragedy and the unacceptable number of deaths in custody caused by hanging points is deeply concerning,' a spokesperson for Rowland said. 'The attorney general strongly encourages state and territory governments to review their practices and continue to work toward effective solutions that ensure the safety and dignity of all Australians in the justice system.' A Guardian Australia investigation last week revealed 57 inmates have died in 19 separate prisons using hanging points that authorities knew about but failed to remove, often despite repeated suicides and stark warnings from coroners. At the Arthur Gorrie prison in Brisbane, the same ligature point – a set of exposed bars contained in older-style cells – has been used in 10 separate hanging deaths between 2001 and 2020, despite warnings to the state government as early as 2007 that it 'immediately' fund the removal of the bars. In one of those deaths in 2010, an inmate was sent into a cell containing the bars despite previously telling prison authorities that he had thought of using them to die by suicide, according to coronial findings. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Similar failures were replicated across the state. At the Borallon prison, an inmate hanged himself from a similar set of exposed bars in 2011, five years after the Queensland government was told to 'immediately cover with mesh any bars accessible to prisoners in cells'. At the Townsville prison, two inmates hanged themselves from exposed bars a decade after the government was told to 'immediately' act on hanging points, 'including bars'. The situation was replicated in almost every state in the country. In New South Wales, the Guardian found 20 hangings from ligature points that were known to authorities but not removed. Another 14 deaths were identified in South Australia and seven in Western Australia. The failings have prompted urgent calls from experts and families of the dead for action, including on removing obvious hanging points, but also to improve mental health service delivery to jails. Most of the cases identified by the Guardian revealed failures in mental health treatment, risk assessment, cell placement or information sharing, including the death of Gavin Ellis, who died at Sydney's Silverwater prison complex in 2017. Ellis had a longstanding psychotic illness and had attempted to hang himself twice in his first three days of custody. Despite this, he was not seen by a mental health clinician for eight days, was not reviewed by a psychiatrist for six weeks, and was then sent into a cell with a ligature point that had been used by another inmate in the same unit of the prison two years earlier. 'The system does not have capital punishment, yet it leaves hanging points for inmates to use,' his mother, Cheryl Ellis, told the Guardian. State governments all said they were taking the issues of hanging points seriously, and had conducted long-term programs to make cells safe, as well as investing in better mental health assessment and treatment. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Hanging deaths disproportionately affect Indigenous Australians, owing largely to the failure to decrease their overrepresentation in prison populations. In 2023, First Nations Australians accounted for 33% of the country's prison population – a record high – but just 3% of the overall population. On Tuesday, the former Labor senator Pat Dodson described the death toll using known ligature points as 'totally unacceptable'. Dodson worked on the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, which in 1991 told state and territory governments to remove hanging points and to enact strategies to reduce the incarceration rate for Indigenous Australians. He joined a group of crossbenchers, including David Pocock, David Shoebridge, Zali Steggall and Lidia Thorpe, in calling for national leadership on the issue. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, Katie Kiss, said the removal of hanging points from prison cells to reduce self-harm was a 'key recommendation' from the 1991 royal commission. 'The failure to implement this and … other recommendations exacerbates the ongoing national shame that is Aboriginal deaths in custody,' she said. 'The treatment of our people, particularly when it comes to the administration of the justice system, is a deep stain on this country. They are being failed by an oppressive system that continues to deny their rights.' In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Indigenous Australians can call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for information and crisis support. Other international helplines can be found at
News.com.au
08-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Heartbroken': Family of Indigenous man killed in custody plea for answers
The family of an Indigenous man who died after being detained by police at a supermarket in Alice Springs have made a desperate plea for answers, as hundreds rally in Brisbane and Sydney over deaths in custody. Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White, 24, died after being restrained by two off-duty police officers at a Coles supermarket in Alice Springs on May 27, following what police described an altercation with a security guard. In a statement on behalf of My White's family, chief executive of the Sydney-based National Justice Project, George Newhouse, said they were 'angry and heartbroken' that another Walpiri man had died while in police custody. Mr Newhouse said the 24-year-old was 'deeply loved and missed by his family and his people', and that, with rallies across the country on Sunday, the 'message is clear: We stand with Warlpiri No more deaths in custody.' 'The family demands answers. Right now the Northern Territory Police are undertaking a criminal investigation into Kumanjayi White's death to, in their own words, 'determine whether any criminality was involved'. 'The family has called for these investigations to be independent, but this demand has been unjustly rejected by Northern Territory Chief Minister who continues to oversee a racist agenda against the NT's Indigenous peoples. 'Despite these setbacks, the family continues to fight. 'Now that a criminal investigation is underway, the family call on the Northern Territory police officers involved to be stood down immediately. This should be an obvious action in any criminal inquiry. Stand down now.' The family thanked the Central Land Council, who have pushed for the federal government to 'withhold' funding from NT Police until an impendent probe is established, and called for CCTV and body cam footage to be released. Last month, NT Police acting commissioner Martin Dole acknowledged the 'tragic death' of Mr White and expressed condolences to his family, but 'rejected for the investigation to be handed to an external body'. 'This incident is being investigated by our Major Crime Division, which operates under strict protocols and with full transparency,' Mr Dole said. 'The investigation will also be independently reviewed by the NT Coroner, who has broad powers to examine all aspects of the incident and make findings without interference.' Mr Dole said he had expressed his 'full confidence' in the investigation to NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, who had previously called for an independent probe, and asked the community 'allow the investigation to take its course'. In a statement, NT Police said the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received reports of the altercation involving Mr White shortly after 1pm, after he allegedly placed 'items down the front of his clothing'. Police allege one of the security guards was assaulted during the ensuing altercation, before Mr White was placed on the ground by two plainclothes police officers who intervened – he lost consciousness a short time later. Initial first aid, including CPR, was provided, before police said Mr White was rushed to Alice Springs Hospital where he was pronounced deceased shortly after 2:20pm. Teh cause of death is yet to be officially determined. On Sunday, hundreds rallied across Sydney and Brisbane to 'demand justice' following Mr White's death, with earlier vigils held at Alice Springs, Melbourne, and Cairns.
