MEDIA RELEASE
Thursday 7 August 2025
The Aboriginal Legal Service welcomes the Deputy State Coroner’s recommendation for Corrective Services NSW to ensure there is ongoing communication with families of people in custody in circumstances where the death of their loved one may be imminent and they are transferred to hospital.
The recommendation was made by Deputy State Coroner Stuart Devine in the inquest into the death in custody of proud Kamilaroi and Barkindji man Lathan Brown.
Lathan was only 28 years old when he died at Orange Hospital on 6 January 2024 after being found unconscious and unresponsive at Wellington Correctional Centre earlier that day. Lathan died from a cardiac arrhythmia. He had no previously identified health conditions.
“Together with our client, Lathan’s father, Michael Brown, we welcome this recommendation and urge Corrective Services NSW to prioritise implementing changes now to ensure no other families have to experience what Michael went through in his son’s final hours,” said Emma Parker, Coronial and Trial Advocate at the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited.
“It is a tragedy that Lathan’s final moments on this earth were in a prison cell and at hospital without being surrounded by his loved ones,” Ms Parker said.
Deficiencies in communication meant that Mr Brown travelled from Orange to Dubbo Hospital on the night of Lathan’s death, travelling past Wellington where Lathan was being treated at the time. Lathan was ultimately airlifted to Orange Hospital. By the time Mr Brown arrived back in Orange, Lathan had passed away 10 minutes earlier.
“I did not get to see my son Lathan alive one last time. This opportunity was robbed from me because we had been told earlier in the night that he was being transported to Dubbo Hospital when this wasn’t the case,” Mr Brown said.
“Lathan passed away without his family being with him and this is still deeply horrifying and upsetting to me. We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. There was time wasted where we could have spent time with him and we can never get that time back.
“The heartbreak of lack of communication on that night, not getting updates on his condition and not being told of his whereabouts has resulted in endless pain.
“I hope that Lathan’s death in some ways through this process clears up and provides a pathway forward so the next family that goes through this is better informed and does not have the same issues that we had,” Mr Brown said.
The inquest heard that it wasn’t clear on the night of Lathan’s death whether Corrective Services, police or hospital staff were responsible for liaising with his family.
The Aboriginal Legal Service, on behalf of Mr Brown, argued in the inquest that when people are in the custody of Corrective Services and unexpectedly admitted to hospital in a life-threatening medical condition, the onus to accurately update family should fall to them.
The inquest also made recommendations relating to investigating and improving the audio quality of ‘knock-up’ intercom calls at Wellington Correctional Centre; and considering a requirement for at least one incoming and one outgoing officer to be present in Wellington Correctional Centre’s J Block during the staff handover period.
Lathan was a son, a brother and an uncle. He grew up in Weilmoringle and Bourke and was proud of his Aboriginal culture. He loved footy and cricket and was known as the life of the party. People who knew Lathan told his family he was a respectful young man and a pleasure to be around.
Lathan is one of more than 600 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody and police incidents since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. His death occurred in a context where Aboriginal people are imprisoned at almost 11 times the rate of non-Indigenous people in NSW.
ENDS
Media contact:
Alyssa Robinson [email protected] 0427 346 017
Additional information:
Michael Brown’s preference is not to speak to media.
The full coronial findings and recommendations will be uploaded to the Coroner’s Court website and can alternatively be sought from the court registry of the NSW Coroner’s Court: [email protected] / 02 8584 7777
Michael Brown has given media permission to publish the following photos of Lathan:
The following photo is of Emma Parker (ALS Coronial and Trial Advocate), Michael Brown, and Tia Caldwell (ALS Solicitor) outside Dubbo Courthouse:
