Melbourne meeting discuses Mr Ward campaign

Twenty people attended a September 28 Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) meeting to hear Bruce Campbell, from the WA Deaths in Custody Watch Committe, discuss the campaign for justice for Mr Ward.

On Invasion Day (January 26) 2008, Mr Ward, a respected Aboriginal elder, was arrested and died of heat stroke in the back of a prison van the next day while being taken 360km in 42°C heat.

Nobody has been charged, despite the coroner finding that the drivers, their employer (the private prison company G4S), and the Department of Corrective Services all contributed to Mr Ward's death.

The meeting expressed solidarity with Mr Ward's family and resolved to take action in Victoria. ISJA will hold a rally in the lead-up to the forthcoming Victorian election. The meeting also called on parties contesting the election to pledge to end G4S contracts in Victorian prisons.

From GLW issue 855