LL:PR: Institute of Criminology - Prison Suicide Numbers Triple

[Deaths In Custody Watch Commitee (WA) Inc.]

media release
DEATHS IN CUSTODY WATCH COMMITTEE (WA) Inc.
119 MATHIESON RD        ASCOT WA 6104

Tel:    61 (0)8 9277-1533       Fax:    61 (0)8 9478-4204

E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]       

URL:    http://www.omen.net.au/~dicwc

Monday, 30 August 1999

Institute of Criminology - Prison Suicide Numbers Triple..

"Today's new figures by the Australian Institute of Criminology
(AIC) from the National Deaths in Custody database show a
doubling of incarceration rates from 1980 to 1998, but prison
suicides increasing by 240 per cent in that period."  said Ms
Kath Mallott, the Executive Officer of the Deaths In Custody
Watch Committee.

"Yet these figures tell only half the story, as Indigenous people
continue to needlessly die in custody of illness.  The majority
of these deaths are treatable illnesses and are therefore
preventable deaths.  The Australian Institute of Criminology is
yet to analyse these issues.  In 1998 in Western Australia, of
the five Indigenous deaths in custody, two were hangings and
three were allegedly due to "illness."  Ms Mallott emphasised.

"However, of the twelve non-Indigenous deaths in custody, nine
were hangings, with one overdose, one police pursuit and one
illness, an utterly different profile from the picture presented
by the mortality of Indigenous Australians."  Said Ms Mallott

"Western Australia's rate of incarceration is the shame of our
nation.  When Victoria imprisons its people at a rate of 79 per
100,000, and this State achieves the distinction of some 209 per
100,000, one does not have to wonder about the new material from
the AIC, this is especially so when the figures reveal that in
this State, Aboriginal women are imprisoned at a rate of 436 per
100,000 and Aboriginal men at a rate of 5,639 per 100,000.  These
figures are a blatant breach of the findings and recommendations
of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody
(RCIADIC) which state that prison should be a sanction of last
resort."  she said.

"Given that approximately one-third of those in custody are
Indigenous Australians with a health profile that has been
defined by the United Nations as "Fourth World", when can we
expect both deaths in custody due to illness, and all incidents
of self harm in custody to be reportable events.  These events
then subject to epidemiological analysis as health issues, so
that the whole material is in the public domain and may be
examined, not just by the AIC, but also by the community at large
and especially the Indigenous community and Indigenous health
practitioners?"  Ms Mallott concluded.


Media Contact:  Kath Mallott    08 9277-1533    0419930375
                        
To monitor and work to ensure the effective implementation of the
recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In
Custody

Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc)
119 Mathieson Road, REDCLIFFE, Western Australia,  6104

"The beginning of the cause of deaths in custody does not occur within the
confines of police and prison cells or in the minds of the victims.
Initially it starts in the minds of those who allow it to happen."
Elder Dr. Jack Davis (OA, MBE)

* [EMAIL PROTECTED]                 http://www.omen.net.au/~dicwc *



--

           Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
                            mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
         http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html

Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink