By Gerry Georgatos
Australian deaths in custody - one of the world's worst records - has
become an obsession with me as I quickly compile a University Press
book for community and research my PhD (Law) from a criminological
aspect into the extensiveness of Australian deaths in custody. The
Human Rights Alliance is working to disseminate the facts, and is
beginning regional Deaths in Custody Advocacy Units to help affected
families especially with their rights, and we continue the campaign
calling upon the Australian Senate for an urgent Joint Committee
Inquiry. There are a number of concerned human rights groups and some
agencies such as the Aboriginal Legal Services and the Australian
Human Rights Commission complementing each other in shining the light.
We all need to spread the word.
---
Australia has one of the world’s worst deaths in custody records.
Deaths in custody includes prison and police custody. We, of The Human
Rights Alliance, have called upon our 76 Australian Senators to
initiate an Australian Senate Inquiry into Australian Deaths in
Custody. We ask that any Inquiry ensure a Joint Committee of Senators
and experts, and not only researchers from the Australian Institute of
Criminology however expert researchers from the Australian Human
Rights Commission, and academics who have researched the criminal
justice system and include our most respected and qualified Aboriginal
Elders. It is negligence and constitutional impropriety for the
Commonwealth to delay an Inquiry into Deaths in Custody. I myself have
commenced a PhD (Law), through James Cook University, from a
criminological aspect of the extensiveness of Deaths in Custody in our
Australia. I am quickly writing a book for community, through a
University Press, so as to en masse raise community awareness about
the extensiveness of Australian Deaths in Custody.
There are more non-Aboriginal deaths in custody than Aboriginal
deaths. The rate of Aboriginal deaths in custody is higher than in
South Africa during the peak of apartheid (excluding Apartheid South
Africa’s ex-judicial killings). Most Australians have not realised the
extent of deaths in custody, and we must ensure they do so we can move
to the next step of procuring genuine remedies and save lives.
The Australian Institute of Criminology’s National 'Deaths in Custody'
Program said there were 601 deaths in custody in Australia from 2000
to 2007 alone. The same rates continue. These 601 deaths in custody
over eight years (an average of 75 deaths a year) compares badly with
the horrific 1980-2000 tally: 1442 deaths in custody (an average of 72
deaths a year). The rate of deaths in custody is increasing. The 99
Aboriginal deaths in custody from 1980 to May 1989, which led to the
1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, do not reveal
the total numbers of Australian deaths in custody. They do not reveal
the bottom-of-the-barrel, sub-standard custodial services of police or
prisons. The 2008 figures increased with 85 deaths in custody
nationally. Between 1982 to 2008 we have had 2,056 deaths in custody
with the national average having increased to 77 per annum.
Shamefully, Aboriginal deaths in custody have not improved. In fact,
they have risen, 20 years after the Royal Commission. The Commission
report made 339 recommendations, but — in terms of police and prison
custodial handling and services — most of the recommendations have not
been carried out or substantially budgeted for.
Non-Aboriginal deaths in custody have blown out to unacceptable and
inhumane levels. We have a tragic scandal-in-waiting. A Royal
Commission into Australian deaths in custody is urgently required. Our
Australian Senators, 76 of them, are derelict in their constitutional
duties because they have failed to call for and implement such a
commission. They have failed to educate the Senate and the lower house
of the horrific custodial death statistics. They have no excuse as the
Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Deaths in Custody Data
Bank, set up in 1992, as a result of the RCIADC recommendations,
publishes (and explains) the data. It seems many politicians are
inspired to act only when the community at large is aware of a
horrific wrong. Well, the Human Rights Alliance has begun a campaign
to ensure our Australian community is availed to the facts and I will
assist with a short book. Our politicians need to oblige their moral
duties and not be guided by the polls. If the polls are all they
listen to then we will do our best to continue bringing the facts to
Australians and the international community. The Human Rights Alliance
has begun public talks to educate community to “inspire” our
parliamentarians into action.
Of the 1442 deaths in all forms of custody from 1980-2000, there were
1367 males and 75 females. Two hundred and forty-eight were Aboriginal
deaths — 18% of all deaths in custody. The Aboriginal population of
Australia is 2.6% of the total population. Of the 75 female deaths,
the Aboriginal female deaths were 32%. These figures are closely
related to incarceration rates. There are higher incarceration rates
of Aboriginal people in terms of proportion of Aboriginal people to
total population. So, systemic racism towards Aboriginal people does
not directly cause their deaths in custody — deaths in custody are
rather the result of substandard treatment towards prisoners, in
addition to prejudices towards prisoners that the criminal justice
system and broader society may have.
Between 1980 to 2007, 494 prisoners took their lives by hanging.
Deaths by hanging are decreasing because there has been a relatively
concerted effort to decrease hanging points. It is argued that a
significant number of prisoners are dying of natural causes and that
this is a result of an ageing prison population. This needs to be
qualified with the fact that if urgent medical attention is not
flagged someone can still be considered to have died of natural
causes. Furthermore prison populations always age, and we need to
better understand this argument as a possible indictment of the
sentencing schedules of the criminal justice system and the role of
the parole boards. We need to understand that ageing infrastructure,
overcrowded prisons, lack of pro-social resources such as educational
opportunities and psychosocial counselling contribute to suicides and
death by ‘natural causes’. Prison and police officers may follow
protocols that are high risk and result in the maltreatment of
prisoners as exemplified by WA’s Mr Kevin Spratt, tasered 41 times
over five days and who could have become a death in custody. On June
9, 2009, a man in Townsville was tasered 28 times to his death.
Discrimination happens against all prisoners — it’s not targeted only
at Aboriginal people. But systemic racism can be argued as directly
leading to the much higher Aboriginal incarceration rates. Rates of
deaths in custody appear linked to incarceration rates, in terms of
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. But an Aboriginal person is 15
times more likely to be locked up than a non-Aboriginal Australian.
This is a 50% increase on when the 1991 Royal Commission into
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Reports were released. In August, ABC
Online said in WA, 68% of incarcerated juveniles were Aboriginal, and
40% of the adult prison population was Aboriginal. Aboriginal people
make up about 3% of the total population of WA. The NT has an
Aboriginal population that is 35% of the total NT population, however
outside the NT, WA is the only other state with more Aboriginal deaths
in custody than non-Aboriginal deaths. WA has three times the national
average of Aboriginal deaths in custody however WA has only 3% of its
total population as Aboriginal. If my preliminary research is correct
WA surely unfortunately recorded 2010 with more Aboriginal deaths in
custody than in any other year.
From 1982 to 2008 there have been 2,056 deaths in custody, 379 of
them Aboriginal. This is a national disgrace and essentially a hidden
truth. In 1991, when the Royal Commission released its reports, there
were 69 deaths in custody. Thirteen were Aboriginal. Ten years later,
there were 87 deaths in custody, with 19 Aboriginal deaths in custody.
In 1997, there were a record 105 deaths in custody, with 22 Aboriginal
deaths in custody. For Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians,
nothing has improved. The statistics have worsened.
There has been an Aboriginal death in custody somewhere in Australia
every month of the past 18 months. For each Aboriginal death in
custody, there are about eight to 10 non-Aboriginal deaths in custody.
There is an Australian death in custody less than every five days, and
an Aboriginal death in custody less than every four weeks. How can
Australia have more deaths in custody than the record of peak
apartheid South Africa (excluding ex-judicial killings), and one of
the world's worst records? For every death in custody we must
acknowledge that there are scores of people maltreated, neglected and
suffering.
The time has come for us to have a good look at ourselves and find out
what is going on. We need a Royal Commission to ensure the
recommendations are carried out. The situation must be monitored and
reported to the Senate. We cannot turn a blind eye. Our prisons are
filled with the poorest among us. The middle and upper classes are not
the majority of prisoners and generally serve less time for similar
offences or for their predominantly white-collar crimes. In WA the
prison population has increased by 18% during the last year. During
this same period parole denials have dramatically increased and prison
sentences have increased by an average of 118 days.
We may be turning a blind eye because we have been taught to be harsh
on the poor and on our Aboriginal brothers and sisters who suffered
under Australia’s own apartheid practices. Sincere remedy requires
state and federal budgets to prioritise our Aboriginal brothers and
sisters and eliminate disparity. We must invest in services that help
those incarcerated from among our poorest classes. Annually, in WA
alone, we spend nearly half a billion dollars to incarcerate 4,700
people. It is not true that a significant number of prisoners have
been incarcerated for defaulting on fines alone however the majority
of prisoners are incarcerated for minor offences. We need to treat
them fairly when judging and sentencing them.
Till as such time as we remedy disparity and the criminal justice
system we must ensure we do not compound the problems. We must improve
and educate the police and prison services, protocols, manuals,
procedures and their supervision, handling and treatment of all
prisoners. We need Australia to ensure that it is a just and civil
society. If we do not invest in our people then by 2020 we will have
in the very least another near thousand deaths in custody, and no less
than a dozen more gaols built around the country.
In WA alone there are 4,700 prisoners at a direct cost to the state of
more than half a billion and an indirect cost to the state in the many
billions, in terms of health, mental health and community burdens and
in terms of dysfunctional families and hence the perpetuation of
vicious cycles. 40% of our prisons are filled with Aboriginal people,
68% of our juvenile detention centres with Aboriginal youth. 70% of
Aboriginal adults reoffend, and 80% of Aboriginal youth reoffend.
The answers do not lie in mandatory sentencing, nor in increased jail
sentences - they have risen by on average 118 days - nor in parole
denials. The answers do not lie in building more jails. A new jail is
being built in this country every year. Build jails and what happens
is that they are filled. It is only now with the acknowledgment of
overcrowding in our jails, and its effect on the mental health of
prisoners, increasing suicide rates, that we are considering other
options. I believe people are good, and all people have some good in
them and here lies the solution - tap in to the goodness.
I have visited jails to promote alternative pathways and hope to
prisoners. They jump at the chance - there is a real yearning for
their form and content to make them employable and contributing to
their family and community. Half the road is about helping people to
believe in their capacities and the other half to provide the
opportunities for education and employability. In WA Aboriginal
juveniles make up two thirds of juvenile detention, and they are forty
times more likely than non-Aboriginal youth to finish up there.
Nationally they are 30 times more likely. Many of us know the
statistics or have a fair idea. The sole reason that we have these
abominable rates is because of Aboriginal disadvantage. Poverty, for
any Australian, is the primary cause of crime and its recidivism.
There are some strategies which have been proposed which will work.
One such strategy is Justice Reinvestment, where communities with an
over representation of people in the criminal justice system are
assisted with target specific funding for infrastructure and various
services. The community is encouraged to take a role in its
accountability and in working within itself to make for a safer
immediate society. Such communities take ownership of diversion
programs, preventative crime programs, rehabilitation and education
programs, and community counselling programs. In some communities they
have taken responsibility for managing ‘prisons’. They have proven to
have done better jobs than that of for instance private prison
management companies, who arguably are led by a profit motive, such as
G4S and Serco. There are many examples of where this localised
management has worked.
In Alberta, Canada the first nations people coordinate the National
Couselling Service of Alberta and have taken charge of educating and
assisting families experiencing domestic violence and mental trauma,
and as a result have decreased family violence and have educated
family members of their roles as protectors and providers. The
Canadian Government confirmed that 80% of the participants in these
programs did not reoffend. Justice Reinvestment works in the manner
that money saved from less people in jail who have instead been helped
by these programs is then reinvested in the community to provide more
services, opportunities and infrastructure. In the end we must
acknowledge that only self determination changes people. They have a
right to protect and promote their cultural settings and hence find
their esteem filled place in the world. It works. Ones cultural and
historical identities should not be a liability!
These Justice Reinvestment programs bring community together and this
includes the Police, Corrective Services, the criminal justice system,
community organisations, the local councils, health services, and the
non government organisations. This enshrines secure cultural settings
and a place for all people. It breeds understanding and ensures inter
and intra cross cultural awareness.
From the Australian Human Rights Commission I have learned that such
programs have worked in Oregon where “there was a 72% drop in juvenile
incarceration, after money was reinvested in well-resourced
restorative justice and community service programs for juvenile
offenders.” As a result Texas reinvested $241 million in ‘treatment
programs and improved probation and parole services’. What is
beautiful is that the ‘Texan prison population stopped growing for the
first time in decades.’ From other sources I have identified that
these community programs have been effective in Ohio’s criminal
justice system, in Indiana where the Governor and state leaders
described a strengthening of increased public safety and lower
reoffending rates as a result of reinvestment initiatives. In New
Hampshire these programs have led to reduced spending on correction
facilities and once again achieved increased public safety. Here in
Perth, we have such a program, the HALO program, whose participants
have not reoffended and are involved in worthwhile community and self-
esteem building pursuits. Isn’t this what we want?
Firstly, if we want to halve our prison population we must invest and
reinvest in our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. Let us address
Aboriginal disadvantage, which we have imposed upon them, however let
us ensure that we allow for the political conviction of Aboriginal
advancement by Aboriginal people. Many of us who mean well must know
when to step away from working on the front-line towards Aboriginal
advancement and allow them to do it for themselves, be the managers
and policy makers and the agents of change. This goes for government,
human rights groups and community organisations. No one wants to be
made feel like that they are a ‘Jacky-Jacky’ (forgive me for using
this term) which is a complaint put to me many times over by my many
Aboriginal friends. In the pursuit of India’s liberation many non-
Indian folk who assisted towards this either stepped back or Gandhi
asked them to step back when he needed to ensure Indian advancement by
Indian people. Secondly, we need to ensure what shall remain of our
prison facilities shall have a full suite of psycho-social
counsellors, psychologists and mentors present and on stand-by, and
that these remaining prisons are exemplified with diverse education
facilities and employment generating opportunities to help people, all
people, in terms of their future prospects and place within society
rather than harden them up for reoffending.
Mandatory detention does not work in improving society or in
rehabilitating people, it only serves to fill our jails, and has
contributed to an unfortunate need for more jails. If we continue in
the belief that we should have a harsh criminal justice system then we
will be burdened with a new jail every year, and with an annual $200
million cost for each jail to be managed whether by the Department of
Corrective Services or by a private profiteer such as G4S or Serco.
Sadly, private management companies are moving into many layers of
government services (the criminal justice system, immigration,
transport, health, welfare and I have it on good authority before we
know it into child and family services and education). Mandatory
detention and a harshly inflexible formal criminal justice system that
does not recognise the need for substantive equality understandings
are hardening criminality and breaking the human spirit. Substantive
equality requires us to recognise disadvantage and in order to treat
people equally we may need to treat many of them differently, pro-
socially, and work with them and for them. By so doing we tap into the
good that is in all of us. Let us move as far away as possible from
the bars and barbed wire. To take the first steps towards decreasing
deaths in custody, and in helping the poorest and most troubled in our
prisons overcome trauma and to become employable, and to decrease our
prison populations and bring on humanity in all its pride to society
we must begin with a legitimately empowered Senate Inquiry into
Australian Deaths in Custody, as a Joint Committee of Senators and
experts. With the passing of each day people are hardened into
reoffending, less than every five days someone does, and with the
passing of every year another jail is built.
Gerry Georgatos
PhD (Law) researcher in Australian Deaths in Custody
Convener of The Human Rights Alliance
---
Gerry Georgatos
Managing Consultant - Education, Training, Advocacy
Human Rights Practice - 0430 657 309
BA (Phil), BA (Med), BA (AIS),
G/Dip (Human Rights Ed), MHumRgts, MA (Social Justice)
PhD (Law) Candidate (Australian Deaths in Custody)
Human Rights Practice
Human Rights Alliance (WA) (Australia)
www.studentswithoutborders.com.au
Ecological, Social Justice, Aboriginal Group (WA)
www.georgatos.com
'Go tell the Spartans, Passerby, That here, obedient to their laws, we
lie.' Molwn labe
"A theologian said that all will be well with me and all permitted to
the degree that I obey the Council, and he added, 'If the council were
to declare that you have but one eye, despite the fact that you may
have two, it is your duty to agree with the Council.' I replied to
him: 'Even if the whole world were to affirm that, I, utilising
whatever reason I may possess, could not acknowledge such a thing
without a rejection of my conscience.'" (Karel Kosik, Czech
philosopher and victim)
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter."- MLK
Comments
Volunteer groups, justice groups, government bodies listen up!
We do need a Senate Inquiry into Australian Deaths in Custody and through this to ensure that Aboriginal disadvantage and the reason for Aboriginal over representation in our jails ends. We do need to stop deaths in custody. Gerry is a remarkable man who has dedicated himself to many things and he is the right person to bring the facts out. He is a Phd Law researcher and he has brought to light what others have failed. We all need to campaign with him to bring on the justice that is overdue and to make Australia the place it needs to be for everyone.
To Gerry Georgatos I say to you well done and may you some day some how become a parliamentarian because it is real justice we all need.
Can all the volunteer groups, justice groups, government bodies get behind the campaign to end deaths in custody and listen to this man?
Also inquire into the medical care prisoners are given
I believe there should be a Senate Inquiry into the deaths in Australian prison and also into the medical care prisoners are given.
My son went into Long Bay Prison in Sydney on a five months sentence. A few weeks before he was due for release I was told he was in Prince Henry Hospital dying. I got to Sydney (from Melb) as quick as possible, to find my son on life-support. I was told he would not make it however he did survive, with massive brain damage. He has not been able to speak or move now for 17 years, come June. I have been looking after him for almost 17 years now and I have waited all this time but not one person from that prison has ever rang me to say sorry or ask how my son is going.
They did not ring for an ambulance for my son for ages after they found him ill and because he did not get oxygen to the brain his life is hell on earth. Prince Henry Hospital was right next door to the prison and I will never understand how they could let this happen.
I would also like to thank Gerry Georgatos for trying to do something about the way things are here in the Lucky Country.
Regards,
Rose.
It is such trauma that begs the questions
Dear Rose, it is trauma such as yours, of your son, that begs the questions. People, no matter where, should not have to endure what could have been avoided where possible. I feel for you and we will try our best. You are welcome to write to me, gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
Kindly, Gerry.
Miserable failure in duty of care
the call to arms by gerry georgatos is indeed timely as aa deaths in
custody continue their steady climb.
i thank lez and ros for on-sending this to me.
an important area that gerry has not addressed however is the death in
custody of juveniles. though few in number, they matter and their deaths
highlight the insanity of the juvenile justice systems in the state of
nsw, at least 2, ans 1 in the nt.
gerry is correct in stating that most royal commission recommendations
were not implimented correctly, if at all.
the major push of the recommendations was to significantly reduce the
numbers of aborigines - males, females and youth - from being
incarcerated. as gaol commissioners and ministers were able to hide behind
the truism that they were at the bottom of the process, they were able to
argue that they had no real control over the numbers being incarcerated.
whilst this point could be accepted they were charged with their duty of
care to inmates and that needed to be their first priority. that they
failed miserably is history. in fact, commissioner woodham has placed a
media blackout relative to death in custody and other controversial gaol
issues. this blackout is also endorsed by his minister. nowhere else in
australia does this blackout apply and seemingly accepted by the nsw media
and others.
as we are aware there are two previous steps occuring prior to being
locked up in a gaol. the middle step is the court system at all levels.
the federal court, the state/territory courts, the juvenile courts, the
drug courts, the koori, murri, noongar, etc courts. we are weighed down
with courts. the aboriginal courts, whilst still under the legal thrall of
the white justice systems, appear to be working reasonably well by keeping
their constituency out of gaol/jj and thus successfully lowering the
recidivism rate. in this the recommendations are working, however slowly
and perilously.
the mainstream courts, with perhaps some exceptions from the drug court
and jj courts, present a no-nonsense view of the world, aided by the dpp
and lying-on-oath coppers, to rid society's streets of criminals and their
gangs. whether guilty or not. in my 20-odd years working within the system
i firmly believe that i met some, not very many, but some innocent
inmates. even a previous police minister, on his way to being dumped,
stated that. but perhaps he was merely being mischievous.
of the previous 339 recommendations, less 1, accepted by the hawke
government some 170 recommendations dealt with the australian custodial
system. specific women's issues were not dealt with by the commissioners
and that blot remains with them. overwhelmingly the recommendations dealt
with male inmates and, perhaps as an afterthought, juvenile justice. of
those 338 accepted by the hawke government, initially, 98 dealt with
police issues. the states and territories then accepted most, but not all,
of the recommendations over several years.
nationally the police forces were horrified at the absurd, ignorant and
insulting interference from 'people' who knew nothing about policing
issues. how dare they!!
when our imported police commissioner, 'thumper' ryan, was running the
show the watch committee had a meeting with him to bring him up to speed
with police/aboriginal issues. he had had of course dealings with the
indigenes in his own country, hence the title 'thumper'. he showed little
interest and handed us on to his 2ic who sternly informed us that 'the
recommendations were for the politicians and were not the concern or
purview of the nsw police. their job was to catch criminals'.
that belief is as set in police culture thought as it was on the day it
was uttered. i firmly believe that all police forces in australis
emphatically agree with that blind ignorance.
the royal commission recommendations have a natural fiow to them. the
proper implimentation of each recommendation is absolutely necessary to
the proper implimentation of the previous and to the following
recommendation. to break the sequence is to break the social ethos and
humanity of the recommendations themselves.
yes the recommendations failed but only because of the bully-boy
intransigence of the australian police forces, the weakness of state and
ter4ritory governments (that had falsely accepted their responsibility for
the recommendations) in enforcing their police, courts, jj and gaols to
impliment them in full. a further major problem was the absolute
nonchalant attitude of white society who bothered not with white deaths in
custody - and still do - let alone suffer from black deaths in custody.
you can count on one hand the community groups involved in death in
custody issues.
not wishing to spread doom and gtloom over the recommendations, there was
one nsw judicial department that totally implimented their 39
recommendations and that was the nsw coroners court when state coroner
dereck hand was in charge. this justice nirvana worked well for some years
up to and including his retirement. the new state coroner, john abernethy
eventually took the advice of the pathologists who hated us for 'looking
over their shoulder' and the police. the recommendations were dropped
forever more.
i am sure that gerry already realises he is attempting to open up a
pandora's box of judicial and custodial crimes committed against all
those - black, white or brindle - who have died at the hands of their
supposed protectors. those who carry the social duty of care that is worn
with the uniform. the same duty of care that is forever denied by the
greater majority of those who work within the systems.
some quibbles, jerry. you say that hanging deaths are decreasing; i
question that. and even if true hanging deaths should have decreased in
far greater numbers than is happening. one of the eternal discussions with
then-minister bob debus and then- senior acting commissioner, ron woodham
related to recommendation ( 60 recommendations in total ) 165 that called
for the removal of obvious hanging points. could not be done, they cried,
the older gaols have heritage status and could not be changed. their newer
john moroney gaol 2 at windsor was built with metal screens that, when
tested, were able to support a man's weight. when this was pointed out i
was moved from the premises. when the metropolitan remand and reception
gaol was being built, i and several others complained of the heavy duty
shower rails being used in every cell. no problem, they said. after the
hanging death of the sixth inmate over as many months they tore out those
rails and replaced them wjth a much lighter rail. the consruction argument
was that the light rails would be continiously vandalised whilst the
heavier rail would not. duty of care, anyone?
whilst i can accept that a person can be hung whilst sitting on the floor
i believe that corrective services australia-wide still have obvious
hanging points in their cells. a nation-wide study of this matter must be
done as a matter of emergency. for ron and his cohorts, i volunteer.
the numbers of health related deaths in custody continue apace. the death
of mark holcroft who died of a heart attack whilst being transported from
bathurst gaol to mannus gaol is a classic case in point. not only was he
refused his medication at bathurst gaol and told to wait until he got to
mannus gaol the transport officers refused to stop when informed by other
inmates of his heart attack. callously they drove past one hospital,
possibly two, until they reached mannus some two hours later. mark was
dead. yes, of natural causes but also of unnatural circumstances when the
transport officers dropped their duty of care to mark to allegedly protect
themselves from possible attack, and the escape of, the other non-dead
inmates. rubbish. their own rule book states that in emergencies,
especially of the medical kind, they can stop at any police station and
seek assistance. they read that as emergencies, medical or otherwise,
strictly for themselves. as is their understanding of their duty of care.
i believe that this is still to go to the coroner so we wait with interest
the cover-up and whitewash of this case.
i argue that there are very few real natural cause deaths in police or
prison cells.
i fail to see the real value of a political enquiry basically looking,
inter alia, at the faults of previous governments and their departments.
no justice there, jerry. i realise no one body outside of australia would
be listened to and that leaves only an internal review. perhaps each state
and territory could formulate their own citizens councils made up of
emminent jurists, like street who looked at the mulrungi killing,
unaligned pathologists and doctors, i can think of some, and our now
retired aboriginal police officer from queensland and emminent aboriginal
personages of whom i could name quite a few. we would need to have
representatives for the non-aboriginal deaths. i admit that i am quite
open to discussion on the final make-up of this body.
i could go on but enough already.
i thank jerry for his work in raising these events once more and offer him
any small assistance that i can give.
fkj
ray jackson
president
indigenous social justice association
There's a lot we can't cover in an article
Hi Ray, please feel free to write to me - gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
Are you with the Indigenous Social Justice Assocation based in Melbourne? or in Sydney?
I could not capture everything in a summary article, you are correct about deaths in Juvenile Detention, some years they have reached 17 deaths... even if a few they must be explored... we need investigations by truly Independent bodies or Inspectorates that do not report directly to any Minister or portfolio holder but independently of such limited auspice and maybe directly to a whole State Parliament.
I agree with you that most certainly enough has not been achieved to lower suicides and hanging deaths - much more can be done.
There's a lot we can't cover in an article. At this time we need to ensure some Senator has the propriety and the honour to finally call for a Joint Committee Senate Inquiry into Australian Deaths in Custody. Because we have such a shameful record on a global scale we need to kindle some support by bringing on the international support to ensure that Australia does what it should.
Ray, Thanks for writing all that for it is more information for me to mull over and work with - please write to me if you like, all the help we have the better and we can work together with you and the Indigenous Social Justice Association.
Many cases do need to be reopened and many cases need to go to the United Nations, to CERD, to the Torture and Trauma mob there, under the Convention of Torture and Trauma, it's the only way to highlight things so for us to move forward. If this is Inquiry is not called it says much about processes, attitudes, origins of attitudes in Australia.
If you have time, I did a one hour interview with Tiga Bayles the other day for 98.9FM and it's now on their home page - google 98.9FM and you can click in and listen and let me know what you think.
The more information we have, the more of us join as one in this pursuit, I think Ray we may get there.
April 15 is 20 years since the 339 recommendations and the Final Report from the RCIADC were released.
And I look forward to meeting you in person some day Ray.
Kindly, Gerry.
We need people like you to speak effectively and accountably
Gerry, this is well done, kudos to you. We need people like you who can speak effectively and accountably to take this issue on because to often politicians don't listen because they think they are addressing vitriol and emoted people.
I'm right behind you and I'd like to find out what I can do so I suppose I should join the Human Rights Alliance.
Groups need to unite and work with experts and the Stop Deaths in Custody groups can be supported by your wealth of knowledge and ability to make sense of it.
Susie T. (Law student, UWA)
More of us must get behind a call for any such Senate Inquiry
More people should read this, this is incredible that is as little known as it is. Wish you well with your PhD. More of us must get behind a call for any such Senate Inquiry. I have found your articles on Indymedia, three of them today quite interesting and newsworthy. You throw the facts and figures in and I appreciate this.
Maybe somehow this article can be fixed on the homepage for a while, it is powerful and an education.
Dahlia
People like you and Uncle Ray have the hearts to change the worl
Gerry and dear Uncle Ray you should both on that Senate Committee. Our people need you there. To Gerry I know of your battles in the West with those that dont understand racism and I love you for standing up to those who think they know justice. I know of your pain and what they have done to you. The things you do for us are amazing. We have many among us who shoot from the hip and who dont spend time with our own people and i say no more. You should be the voice and in parliament. People like you and Uncle Ray have the hearts to change the world. Dear Uncle Ray you have fought long and hard for us and Gerry you do the work of many.
Michelle and with much love.