DEATHS IN CUSTODY BACK INTO LIGHT AFTER DEATH OF NGEMBA MAN IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

The death of Ngemba man Frank Coleman in Sydney’s Long Bay Correctional Complex has brought deaths in custody back into the public sphere.

Noongar Associate Professor Dr Hannah McGlade is a senior professor at Curtin University specialising in Indigenous people’s experience in the criminal justice system. She said given the evidence it is clear what we need to do.

“We are seeing a country that is simply thumbing its nose at human rights.”

McGlade supports justice reinvestment as a response to the high rates of Indigenous people in incarceration.

Justice Reinvestment is a process in which money is redirected from the justice system into community programs to build strong communities in order to prevent crime.

The program has been successfully trialled throughout the country including in Western Australia in Armadale’s Youth Partnership Program.

The issue of Aboriginal deaths in custody was taken internationally last month, David Dungay Jr’s family filed a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee.