MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 18 February 2025
Impact of two deaths in custody will be felt throughout community
The Aboriginal Legal Service is devastated by media reports that two Aboriginal people have died in prison in the ACT, and within days of each other. We extend our condolences to their families.
“The impacts of these individuals’ deaths will be felt not only by their immediate families, but throughout their communities,” said Karly Warner, CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited.
“It is unacceptable that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are still dying in custody more than 30 years on from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
“The ACT Government must do more to address its shameful over-imprisonment of Aboriginal people,” Ms Warner said.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that, compared with other states and territories, the ACT imprisons Aboriginal people at extraordinarily high rates. This is a trend that has worsened over the past 10 years.
“We know that police and courts are the gateway to prison, and that Aboriginal people face worse outcomes at every stage of the criminal process. To meet its obligations under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the ACT Government must take urgent action to address the real drivers of mass incarceration – over-policing and over-criminalisation – and invest in evidence-based, community-led solutions and the priorities they have agreed upon in the National Justice Policy Partnership,” Ms Warner said.
ENDS
Media contact: Alyssa Robinson [email protected] 0427 346 017
