Ms Dhu's death in custody shows little learnt

The death of Ms Dhu - a22-year-old Aboriginal woman who died in police custody in Western Australia - has sparked community outrage. However, those familiar with this country's dismal record of deaths in custody will not be surprised by the disturbing similarities between Ms Dhu's death and many deaths before hers.

The key questions being asked about the circumstances ofMs Dhu's death concern why she was imprisoned for such an apparently minor offence as unpaid fines and why she was twice taken for medical attention but deemed fit for continued incarceration, despite reportedly begging to be hospitalised.

Similar questions were asked by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody more than 20 years ago. And they have been repeated at dozens of inquests into deaths in custody since.

Advertisement

Could Ms Dhu's death have been prevented if those who were charged with her custody and care had acted differently? The commissioners concluded as much in the case ofMuriel Gwenda Binkswho died of multiple organ failure in Queensland police custody in 1989. The 38-year-old was held at Innisfail watch house for failing to pay a $30 penalty issued nearly a decade earlier, after she didn't lodge her income tax return. The commission found a 22-hour delay in medical treatment had contributed to her death, which "[i]n all likelihood ... was preventable."

They wrote similarly ofNita Blankett's1982 deathin custodyat Bandyup, WA. The mother of five had "complained that she was ill, appeared distressed and asked for a doctor and an ambulance" but died en route to hospital from a severe asthma attack. Custodial officers and nurses at the prison failed to arrange medical treatment "until it was too late", the commission found.The 40 year old was serving asix-month sentence for drink driving offences.

Notably, in both cases coroners determined the cause of death to be "natural causes" - a description that often belies the agony in which many detainees find themselves in their final hours. It also tends to suggest that death was not preventable, and occurred as part of nature's course.

Natural causes is now the most frequent cause of deaths in custody, having surpassed deaths by hanging historically the most frequent cause in 2002-03.

Some government institutions have tried to use this trend to shift emphasis away from natural cause deaths.The Productivity Commission and the Department of Attorney General and Justice, for example, now report on deaths from "apparent unnatural causes", rather than the total number of deaths in custody.

Butthese deathsand dozens since show that natural-cause deaths deserve no less scrutiny.

Go here to read the rest:
Ms Dhu's death in custody shows little learnt