Aboriginal deaths in custody

Aboriginal deaths in custody became an issue of community concern in Australia because of a widespread perception that a disproportionate number of Indigenous Australians had died in jail after being arrested by police or otherwise convicted of offences. This concern was particularly acute in the 1980s, when there was a perception amongst some sections of the community that these deaths were being caused, either directly or indirectly, by the police and prison authorities.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established in 1987 to investigate the allegations. The Royal Commission concluded that the deaths were not caused by deliberate killing by police and prison officers.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was set up in 1987 to investigate allegations made in relation to deaths of Australian Aboriginal people in prison. The Royal Commission's report stated that the "the immediate causes of the deaths do not include foul play, in the sense of unlawful, deliberate killing of Aboriginal prisoners by police and prison officers". The report found that around a quarter of the deaths investigated were due to "external trauma, especially head injuries" and noted "glaring deficiencies existed in the standard of care afforded to many of the deceased", concluding that "the life styles of the Aboriginal people who died in custody, along with the procedures adopted by custodians and others, are the central determinants of their deaths".

The issue has recently surfaced again in the 2004 Palm Island death in custody controversy, and the death of Western Australian elder Mr Ward in a prisoner transport in 2008.

The ABC News24 reported on 17 September 2012 that an Aboriginal death in custody in January 2012 was, according to a judge, preventable. An inquest into the death in custody of an Aboriginal man took place in the Coroner's Court in Alice Springs, the Northern Territory, in June 2012.

A 2013 review of deaths in custody by the Australian Institute of Criminology found that the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody had increased over the previous five years. The report found that most of the deaths were due to natural causes like cancer and heart conditions, replacing self-harm as the leading cause of deaths in custody. AIC director Dr. Adam Tomison also noted that "especially for the last eight years, Indigenous people in custody have been less likely to die in custody than non-Indigenous people."

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