'Special treatment' and deaths in custody

January 22, 1997
Issue 

Editorial: 'Special treatment' and deaths in custody

Editorial: 'Special treatment' and deaths in custody

Already this year at least two more Aborigines have died in custody. A 19 year old died after being chased by NSW police and another died in Goulburn jail.

A horrifying start to the year, but not at all surprising. The publication last year of the Indigenous Deaths in Custody 1989-1996 report by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) made it clear that despite the hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to state governments to solve the problem, the incarceration of indigenous people is increasing, as are their deaths in custody.

A cursory look at some of the statistics highlighted by this report reminds us of the extent of institutionalised racism in this country:

  • During the period of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (January 1980 to May 1989), 98 indigenous people died in custody; up until 1996 another 79 died.

  • The rate of death for indigenous women is even higher than that for indigenous men and this has increased since 1989. Between 1980-1989, 10 indigenous women died in custody. Between 1989-1996 another nine died.

  • From 1989 to 1996, 17 people died from police pursuit.

  • Between 1989 and 1995 the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison increased by 61%, almost twice the increase of 38% in the non-indigenous prison population.

This is the sort of "special treatment" John Howard, Pauline Hanson and their ilk believe indigenous Australians deserve. While decrying racism, since taking office Howard hasn't said a word about the growing number of deaths in custody. Late last year Howard's government again deferred setting targets in health, welfare and education to combat discrimination against indigenous Australians.

While Howard and his minister for Aboriginal affairs, John Herron, blithely accuse ATSIC of misusing public money, state governments have squandered the $400 million set aside to implement the royal commission's recommendations, some of which are as basic as setting up a buddy system inside prison. And one of the commission's main recommendations, to keep indigenous people guilty of minor offences out of custody, has also been ignored. The jailing late last year of two young boys for allegedly spitting at Hanson is a case in point.

Governments, both state and federal, must be called to order over their collective failure to take the commission's findings and recommendations seriously.

Just as racism is the reason why public expenditure on Aboriginal health and education is less per capita than it is for non-Aborigines, racism is also the underlying reason why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people disproportionately fill jail cells and die there.

Racism, which decrees that non-white people are inferior, is used by the ruling class and their governments to divide, dispossess, scapegoat and confuse people about the real causes of discrimination, high unemployment, low wages and a declining standard of living for the majority.

Ultimately, to stop deaths in custody, racism has to be eliminated. This will require the replacement of the capitalist system. But change can and must begin now. Bipartisan motherhood motions in parliament about "respecting cultural diversity" have done nothing to change the outrageous reality that the rate of indigenous Australians dying at the hands of the state is increasing.

Turning the tide on deaths in custody will only be possible if governments are pressured by a broad-based campaign involving unionists, students, Aborigines, ethnic minorities and all democratically minded individuals. This is the only way to stop the "special treatment" currently being metered out to Aboriginal Australians.

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