Amnesty to probe Black deaths

By Mick White BRISBANE — Amnesty International will send a delegation to Australia in March to investigate the alarming number of Aboriginal deaths in custody. The delegation will examine why the rate of deaths in custody has continued to rise since a similar investigation in 1992. In July 1992, Amnesty released a report criticising the state and federal governments over their lack of action in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Amnesty's decision follows the recent deaths in custody of three young Aborigines in Queensland. On New Year's Day a 23-year-old Aboriginal man was found hanged in his cell at Stuart Prison, Townsville. He had managed to obtain a three-metre rope with which to hang himself. Prison authorities were aware that he was disturbed. On December 8, a 17-year-old prisoner at the David Longland Centre was found hanged in his cell. Despite a juvenile history which clearly showed him to be at risk, and representations to the centre by his solicitor expressing concern for his safety, he was inexplicably categorised as not at risk. On January 12, a young Aboriginal man was found hanged in a secure ward of John Oxley Memorial Hospital, Wacol, where he was being held as an involuntary patient, having been found unfit to stand trial on criminal charges. Health minister Peter Beatie has announced an inquiry into a series of concerns which have arisen at the hospital in recent months. Recommendations 246-271 of the royal commission deal specifically with mental health institutions, and the death has prompted Aboriginal leaders to question whether these were implemented. The deaths have sparked a series of protests, organised by Marshall Bell of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Legal Secretariat prior to the Mundingburra by-election. The racist paternalism of the state government has continued unabated under Labor, alienating the Aboriginal community, who were traditional Labor voters. ATSIC Brisbane regional chairperson Santa Unmoepa said protests would continue every two days until January 26, when a large Invasion Day rally will be held. The rally will be used to highlight concerns about deaths in custody, native title and the Queensland Aboriginal land fund.