Prisons are the Problem: A Re-Examination of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Abstract

The background to the establishment in 1987 of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was a belief that the defining risk characteristic of persons dying in custody was their Aboriginality. Australia's long history of violence and injustice towards its Indigenous population underpinned the expectation that continuing racism in custodial situations was the principal driver of high Aboriginal mortality rates. On that basis, analysis and proposed solutions would focus upon the specifics of Aboriginal custodial experience as well as broader issues of criminal justice system administration. This paper suggests that, in the context of prison custody, equal or greater emphasis should have been placed on the nature of prison regimes and prisoner management generally, as they impact upon all prisoners. Rates of prison deaths have remained unacceptably high since the RCIADIC, in contrast to police custodial death rates which have improved markedly. A great deal was generally known about the epidemiology of prison custodial deaths before the work of the RCIADIC. Across-the-board implementation of this prior and subsequently acquired knowledge would arguably have made more effective impact upon Aboriginal as well as non-Aboriginal deaths. The defining risk characteristic of prison mortality was, and still is, the nature of prison custodial regimes.