The tally of First Nations people dying while in custody in Australia has reached its peak point since records started in 1980.
Fresh data indicate that 33 of the 113 individuals who passed away in detention in the 12-month period ending in June have been identified as of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. This represents an uptick from 24 fatalities in the preceding corresponding period.
Indigenous Australian people remain grossly overrepresented in the justice system. They constitute more than one-third of all incarcerated individuals, despite comprising less than four per cent of the national people.
These disturbing numbers emerge over three decades after a seminal royal commission into First Nations deaths in custody, which made hundreds of proposed changes.
Of the 33 Aboriginal deaths in custody logged between last July and this June, twenty-six occurred while in prison custody, which is an increase from 18 in the previous year.
A single death was in youth detention, and all except one of the deceased were male.
The remaining six fatalities happened in police custody, defined as when someone dies while police are detaining them.
The leading reason of First Nations deaths was classified as "self-inflicted," followed by "natural causes." The data found that asphyxiation was the method in eight of the deaths.
The state of New South Wales had the highest number of Indigenous deaths in correctional facilities with nine, then Western Australia with six. Queensland, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory all recorded three deaths.
The increasing number of Indigenous deaths in custody in this state is a "deeply distressing tragedy," the state's chief medical examiner recently remarked.
In a recent statement, Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan stressed that this upward trend was not "mere statistics" and that these deaths required "thorough and careful scrutiny, dignity and responsibility."
The mean age of those who died was 45 years, and eleven of the individuals were still waiting for a court sentencing.
A criminal law expert, Amanda Porter, described the data as representing a "national emergency" that needs "leadership and government action."
Ms. Porter, who has been present at multiple official inquiries with bereaved families, stated little has changed since the 1991's national inquiry that aimed to tackle this crisis.
"It's heartbreaking to witness the quantity of investigations I attend, the number funerals families have to attend, and the reality that we are three decades after the inquiry, and the problem is getting increasingly worse," she noted.
Since the royal commission, a total of 600 Indigenous people have lost their lives in detention, which includes six in youth detention, as per the findings.
