Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1987–1991), Aboriginal deaths in custody continue to grow.

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, in 2023 - 2024, there were 24 First Nations people who died in custody, including one in youth detention. Seven as the result of self-harm. This is the highest number since 2000 – 2001.

In part, this is the story of the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Despite a Closing the Gap target to reduce the incarceration rate, the Indigenous prison population nationally has grown by 21 per cent since 2019, while imprisonment of non-Indigenous people has been slowly declining.

In WA in 2024, four out of every 100 Aboriginal adults were in prison. The youth detention rate also increased in 2024 Australia-wide due to higher rates in Queensland and the Northern Territory. In March, Indigenous experts Associate Professor Hannah McGlade and Professor Megan Davis lodged an Early Warning Urgent Action communication to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Race Discrimination outlining the serious breaches of international human rights law directly causing the loss of Aboriginal children's lives.

This is also a story of inappropriate custodial health and safety. There have been many calls from community leaders and academics for reforms to custodial safety regulations since the Royal Commission, and we are still waiting for the implementation of many of these in WA prisons.

The Coroner's Court of WA found Ricky-Lee Cound, a young Noongar man who died in Hakea Prison, was fatally injured in a cell which had not been fully ligature minimised, despite his request to be moved to a safe cell that same day. 24 years ago, the Royal Commission recommended the elimination and/or reduction of potentially dangerous items including hanging points (Recommendation 165) in prisons. As of September 2022, only 3.9 per cent of cells at Hakea Prison had been fully ligature point-minimised, according to evidence at the Coroner's Court, while 39.1 per cent weren't minimised at all.

The lack of culturally-safe care in the justice system for our people is often a contributing factor to deaths in custody. In prison, detention, and police custody, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are at higher risk of experiencing poor physical and mental health, due to the continuing impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that 43 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison have a history of a mental health condition, and 14 per cent reported their mental health had worsened upon entering prison.

The Royal Commission recommended the involvement of Aboriginal Health Services in the provision of health and medical advice, assistance and care with respect to Aboriginal detainees (Recommendation 127). Despite this, just last year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported only 26 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people released from prison reported having received treatment or consultation from an ACCHO or an Aboriginal Medical Service.

The lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff who can speak up for the needs of our people in prison is important because First Nations people are often subject to overt racism or unconscious bias where staff act on their prejudices, treating our people harshly or neglecting to give them proper care. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff can recognise and challenge these attitudes and connect with people in a more meaningful way. The recent efforts of Acacia Prison to appoint Aboriginal auxiliary staff is a notable exception.

It is disappointing that many issues raised more than 30 years ago by the Royal Commission remain largely unaddressed. Recent reports like the Pathways to Justice Report from 2018 also offer recommendations to address the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, such as the establishment of an independent national justice reinvestment body to promote reinvestment of resources to community-led initiatives addressing the drivers of crime and incarceration, and improving access to community-based sentencing options and diversion programs.

We reference the RCIADIC each time we provide expert advice for a coronial inquest into a death in custody. These reforms are shouted from the hearts of those who have experienced a loss in custody, and who have showed up for protests, and yet little has changed.

At the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention we have published recommendations on best practice to prevent or reduce Aboriginal deaths in custody, such as ensuring prisoners have access to culturally safe mental health support services and increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in healthcare and support services in prisons.

Through our project Coronial Responses to Suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, we also made recommendations to reform coronial practices. A key recommendation is to ensure there is accountability to respond to coronial findings and to take action to prevent further deaths, including deaths in custody.

The community-controlled post-vention service, Thirrili, has also developed a deadly resource called The Coroner's Toolkit to help guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities who are going through the coronial process.

But these initiatives are a small consolation to people who have experienced the loss, often completely preventable, of a loved one in prison, and more change is needed. We are comforted and strengthened by the people – both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous – who work together in the fight against suicide.

Together, we will work for a future in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will live strong and fulfilling lives and the terrible injustice of suicides in custody will end.

Associate Professor Hannah McGlade, human rights law expert and member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Professor Pat Dudgeon, psychologist, Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society, and research professor.