RECORD INDIGENOUS CUSTODY DEATHS SPARK OUTCRY IN AUSTRALIA’S NSW

Wed 15 October 2025:

Local media reported on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, that New South Wales (NSW) has seen an unprecedented number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody this year, igniting widespread outrage across the country.

The state has so far recorded 12 deaths in custody this year, ABC News reported, citing NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan.

In a rare public statement, O’Sullivan described the situation as a “profoundly distressing milestone,” highlighting the ongoing and “entrenched over-representation” of Indigenous Australians in the state’s prison system.

“They are individuals whose deaths demand independent and careful scrutiny, respect and accountability,” she said.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

The chief executive of the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service, Karly Warner, said the state government’s tough on crime measures were compounding the problem – contradicting their pledge to close the gap in Indigenous incarceration.

“NSW is driving more Aboriginal women, children and men into prison than ever before through punitive laws and policing practices … instead of preventing people from entering prison in the first place by meeting their needs and investing in vital community-based supports” she said.

Warner said many deaths in custody were preventable. She said the ALS had represented families whose loved ones had died of treatable health conditions behind bars, while others had involved hanging points in prison cells which a Guardian Australia investigation found authorities knew about, but failed to remove.

“A prison sentence should not be a death sentence,” she said.

According to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, as of March this year, there were 4,244 Aboriginal adults in custody, which is 32.4% of the adult custody population.

“In the past five years, the number of Aboriginal inmates increased by 18.9% (up 676 individuals from 3,568 in March 2020 to 4,244 in March 2025) while non-Aboriginal prisoners decreased by 12.5% (from 9,877 in March 2020 to 8,644 in March 2025),” it said.

The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited, a community-run organization, in a statement called the report a “horrifying record.”

“This is a crisis and a preventable tragedy that should deeply alarm everyone in NSW. A prison sentence should not be a death sentence,” said Karly Warner, the CEO of the organization.

In May, a 24-year-old Indigenous man also died after being restrained by two plainclothes police officers during an altercation with a supermarket security guard in Alice Springs of Northern Territory.

According to ABC, 594 Indigenous people have died in custody since 1991, including nine so far this year.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22