Mallott, Kath --- "State and Territory Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission: Western Australia" [2001] IndigLawB 37; (2001) 5(8) Indigenous Law Bulletin 14

State and Territory Implementation of the Recommendations of the Royal Commission –

Western Australia

by Kath Mallott

In WA the over-representation of Indigenous people in prison and the continuing high level of Indigenous deaths in custody indicate that the underlying causes of Indigenous disadvantage have not been addressed since the release of the recommendations of the RCIADIC. About one-third of prisoners in WA are Indigenous despite constituting approximately 3% of the general population. In fact WA has the highest Indigenous incarceration rate per head of population in the world.[1]

The fact that since the RCIADIC prison deaths have continued to increase is damning of the WA criminal justice system.

We believe that very little has been achieved toward the effective implementation of the 339 recommendations handed down by the RCIADIC. In November 2000 the Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (‘the DICWC’) travelled to Geneva to submit a report detailing the abuses and maltreatment in WA prisons to the United Nations Committee Against Torture.[2]

Australia’s duty to observe human rights and standards of treatment specified in particular treaties and conventions is governed by international law. It is the DICWC’s view that the high levels of self-harm, suicide, suicide attempts and deaths due to illness in WA prisons are, in large part, due to a regime of systematic abuse constituting breaches of international conventions, including the Convention Against Torture.

Western Australia has seen more Aboriginal deaths in custody per head of population since the RCIADIC than any other state in Australia. An Aboriginal person is more likely to be sought by Police; to be arrested rather than charged by summons or granted bail, and to have fewer sentencing options when convicted. An Aboriginal person is three times more likely to die in custody in WA than a non-Aboriginal person. In WA over 50% of Aboriginal deaths in custody are due to illness with the average age of those dying being 30 years of age.[3]

The tragic consequence of government failure to effectively implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission is that Aboriginal people will continue to die in custody.

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, the late Dr Jack Davis AO, BEM

Kath Mallott is an Executive Officer at the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in Western Australia.

---

[1] See Deaths in Custody Watch Committee, Report to United Nations Committee Against Torture, November 2000. The report highlights that the male rate of Indigenous incarceration in WA is some 5,600:100,000 against a national rate of some 140:100,000. Also stated in the report: ‘the Ombudsman's Annual Report 1999 noted the huge increase in complaints received from prisoners. The Smith Inquiry Report (March 1999) and the Nevill Parliamentary Standing Committee Report (29 June 2000) strongly criticise systemic problems in the WA Prison Service, such as the inadequacy of grievance procedures, monitoring and review, training of prison staff, prison programs and health services and serious flaws in the administration of prisons.’

[2] See www.deathsincustody.com/report_final.html.

[3].Ibid.