Aboriginal Legal Service’s Post

⚠️ Warning: This post contains confronting information about deaths in custody. Every death in custody is a tragedy. No one should die alone, forcibly separated from their family in a prison or police cell. Yet 24 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people died in custody last year, including one child. Over half of the people who died were unsentenced.   We’ve known since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody over 30 years ago that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody are driven by structural discrimination at every stage of the criminal process meaning that Aboriginal people are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned than non-Aboriginal people.   Today’s report underscores the urgent need for governments to reform punitive bail laws and divert resources away from dangerous and costly policing and imprisonment responses into culturally safe, community-led supports that prevent people coming into contact with the criminal justice system in the first place. The report is available online: https://lnkd.in/gYD_jhxu -- If this post has brought up anything difficult for you, 13YARN is available for 24/7 crisis support on 13 92 76.