A vigil outside Western Australia's Bandyup woman's prison has shone a light on the ongoing crisis facing Aboriginal women in custody.
Held on Tuesday night, the eve of the 35th anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody issuing its findings and recommendations, the vigil called for justice for Patricia Howell, a young Noongar woman who died in Bandyup last month.
The vigil also called for fundamental change and the full implementation of the Royal Commission's hundreds of recommendations to address the ongoing humanitarian disaster of Indigenous deaths in custody.
Dr Hannah McGlade, human rights law academic and member of the Noongar Family Safety and Wellbeing Council, told the vigil Ms Howell died in "horrendous circumstances" in the prison, noting it had been alleged Ms Howell cried out for help before her death.
"Women like Patricia do not need to go to prison. She was not a violent criminal," Dr McGlade said.
Dr McGlade, who is also a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Association, said Ms Howell's imprisonment was driven by a "punitive and neglectful attitude" on the part of the authorities.
"Aboriginal women in Western Australia are the most incarcerated people in the world," she noted.
"Lives are at risk here because this is not a safe prison.
"Last year (nationwide) we had more Aboriginal deaths in custody than in any other year, with 33 deaths. This year we have already seen 12 Aboriginal deaths in custody across this country.
"We are not seeing the implementation of the Royal Commission's recommendations."
Dr McGlade noted the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recognised over-incarceration in Australia as a racial discrimination issue that must be addressed and has told the Australian Government - "who have ignored that advice".
"It is a form of Indigenous femicide, to have the most incarcerated group of people in the world here, as Aboriginal women who suffered colonisation and dispossession, violence and poverty for which there has been no reparations," she said.
"This is shocking treatment to this day."
On Wednesday, Dr McGlade was among 34 Aboriginal leaders and other justice advocates to sign an open letter to the WA Government urging immediate justice reforms to end the tackle of deaths in custody.
