Photo – theage.com.au

Today, the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus welcomed the National Deaths in Custody Program Monitoring Report (NIDCP) finding that deaths in custody rates have decreased significantly in the past decade. Let us have a look if this is really the case. The reality is that Aboriginal deaths in custody are one the rise.

The report is published by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).

“Twenty years after the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal  Deaths in Custody, the rates of deaths in custody for Indigenous and non-Indigenous prisoners, particularly suicides, are some of the lowest recorded,” said Mr Dreyfus.

The AIC report argues that between 2003 to 2011 most deaths in custody were due to natural causes. On May 20 The Stringer published Why are more prisoners dying from ‘natural causes’?

The AIC report found that Aboriginal people are now “less likely to die in prison (0.16 per 100 in 2010-11) than non-Indigenous people (0.22 per 100).”

The report found “that in the 20 years since the Royal Commission, the number of Indigenous prisoners has almost doubled.”

The report noted that between January 1, 1980 to June 30 2011 there have been 2,325 total deaths in custody across Australia and of these 450 have been Aboriginal deaths, therefore 19 per cent of the total custodial deaths. In this period, 1,397 of the deaths have been in prison custody, of which 238 have been Aboriginal, therefore 17 per cent of the total prison deaths. 905 were police custodial deaths of which 204 were Aboriginal deaths and therefore 23 per cent of the total police custodial deaths. There were 18 deaths of juveniles while in custody, of which eight were Aboriginal youth and therefore 44 per cent of the total deaths.

“Analysis of data captured by the NDICP over the last 32 years demonstrates that significant improvements have been made to prevent deaths in some areas, but that work should continue in order to reduce other forms of deaths in custody,” wrote Adam Tomison, the AIC director in the report’s foreward.

“First, it is of concern to see that the proportion of Indigenous prisoners has almost doubled over the 20 years since the RCIADC. In 1991, when the final report was handed down by the RCIADC, Indigenous people represented on in seven people in prison (14 per cent ABS, 1998) and one in seven deaths in prison custody.”

“In 2011, Indigenous people represented just over one in four people in prison and one in five deaths. Therefore, the number of Indigenous people in prison appears to have increased at a faster rate than the number of deaths of Indigenous prisoners.”

“Over the last eight years, the rate of death has been consistently lower among Indigenous prisoners than their non-Indigenous counterparts. It can be concluded that the headline finding of the RCIADC that Indigenous persons were no more likely to die in prison custody than non-Indigenous persons remains true today. At the heart of the problem is the over-representation of Indigenous persons at every stage of the criminal justice system. Any efforts to reduce the number of Indigenous deaths in custody must therefore incorporate a focus on reducing the number of Indigenous people who end up in prison.”

“A second point of concern is the relative age profile of Indigenous deaths in custody when compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. Almost half of all Indigenous deaths (48 per cent) in prison custody were of persons aged 25 to 39 years, compared with less than two in five (38 per cent) for the equivalent non-Indigenous cohort. For deaths in police custody and custody-related operations, almost two in five (39 per cent) Indigenous deaths were of young persons under the age of 25 years, compared with just over one in four (27 per cent) for their non-Indigenous counterparts. Apart from dying at relatively younger ages than non-Indigenous persons, a greater proportion of Indigenous deaths are due to natural causes, “noted Mr Tomison.

In 2010-11 there were 85 total deaths in custody of which 21 were Aboriginal deaths and therefore 25 per cent. Therefore it appears that indeed Aboriginal deaths in custody appear on the rise rather than decreasing, and the significant reduction overall is not a significant one. The Aboriginal deaths in prison custody for the year accounted for 21 per cent of the prison population deaths, while Aboriginal deaths in police custody accounted for 26 per cent of the total police custodial deaths. Despite the disproportionate high arrest rates of Aboriginal people and the disproportionate incarceration rates of Aboriginal people these are horrific rates, both crude totals and in proportion to total numbers.

In that period there was also a death of an Aboriginal juvenile while in detention.

In terms of comparative long term trends the report noted “throughout the 1980s, the number of deaths in custody increased steadily from a low of 21 deaths in 1979-80 to a high of 83 deaths in 1989-90. During the 1990s, the number of deaths in custody continued to increase, reaching a peak in 1997-98 with 109 deaths. Since this peak, there has been a moderate decline in total deaths, reaching a 20 year low in 2005-06 of 54 deaths.

However, since this low, the number of deaths has again started to increase.”

The report noted that in the last decade “the number of deaths resulting from natural causes has surpassed self-inflicted deaths as the most prevalent type of death in prison custody.”

The number of Aboriginal “natural cause deaths in 2009-10 was the highest ever recorded and for non-Indigenous prisoners, 2009-10 was the second highest on record, with 2010-11 representing the  peak in the natural cause deaths among this group.”

Medical groups and prison reform advocates have long called for an inquiry into the rise into natural cause deaths.

A few years back the Australian Medical Association (AMA) then national vice president Dr Steve Hambleton supported the call for an investigation into natural cause deaths.

“The ages of Australian prisoners dying are alarming. The differentiation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians makes it even more disturbing,” said Dr Hambleton.

The writer of the article, Gerry Georgatos declares an impartiality conflict of interest. He has completed two Masters which have topically included and analysed Australian Deaths in Custody and he is a PhD researcher in Australian Deaths in Custody and Australian Custodial Systems. He has written widely on deaths in custody and has called for an inquiry to better understand the rise in natural cause deaths. In Crikey, in 2011, he was quoted, “I have deep concerns about the attribution of manner and cause of death and therefore about the classification of deaths in custody. There is nothing natural about a person dying of causes that basic medical intervention could prevent. More than 50 per cent of Aboriginal folk who die in prison are classified as natural cause deaths but maybe what has occurred is that medical attention wasn’t flagged or their insulin dependency was not given proper care or they were maltreated or neglected.”

http://thestringer.com.au/report-on-deaths-in-custody-people-dying-at-high-rates/#.UZ9XOt8iPIU

Photo – AAP, Mick Tsikas

The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Colin Neave, recently released his team’s May 2013 report on ‘Suicide and Self-harm in the Immigration Detention Network’. The 165 page report opens up with, “This report contains information that some readers may find confronting or disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.”

Under the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth), the Commonwealth Ombudsman investigates the administrative actions of Australian Government agencies and officers.

The Ombudsman found in his report that subsequent the greater numbers of Asylum Seekers reaching Australia’s shore in recent years that despite various attributed improvements there still needs more to be done. “Overall, we believe the department (of Immigration and Citizenship) is not in a stronger position in terms of its capacity to manage the immigration detention network and associated risks and issues.”

The report noted, “There is a strong correlation between the rise in the average time in detention and the increase in self-harming behaviour during 2011.”

“Australian and international evidence supports the conclusion that immigration detention in a closed environment for a period of longer than six months has a significant, negative impact on a detainee’s mental health. The data shows that a steady increase in the average length of detention, as well as the rapid rise in the numbers of people in detention, was a precursor to the peak in the rate of self-harm in 2011.”

The report noted that between July 2010 to late April 2013 there were 11 deaths in immigration detention.

The investigation concluded many factors contributing to the self-harming by detainees and which include the personal experiences which many of the detainees had fled from, for instance torture. The factors also included widespread fears for the wellbeing of family and dependents left behind. Factors included social isolation and loneliness. Closed detention environments gave rise to disempowerment, limited privacy and overcrowding. The long delays in ‘processing’ refugee claims were major factors.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has noted that they are nearing a complete rollout of adequate psychological support programs and of a culture that will accentuate the prevention of self-harm among detainees. But when taking into consideration the reports this year alone have come out of Christmas Island, Curtin Detention Centre, Northern Immigration Detention Centre, Darwin Airport Lodge, Manus Island and Nauru these claims of rollout and the imputation of wellbeing are ludicrously way off the mark.

The report stated, “We believe the department needs to further consider the data and governance arrangements that it needs to effectively manage the risk of suicide and self-harm. The department needs to assure itself that the service providers are delivering services consistent with the contract, including providing appropriate clinical response to suicide and self-harming behaviours. “

“In our view, the department could have been more responsive to environment intelligence about the increased risk and incidence of self-harm in the immigration detention network during 2010 and 2011, such as the concerns raised by stakeholders, including this office, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Detention Health Advisory Group, relating to the operational challenges and escalating self-harm.”

In July 2011, the Commonwealth and Immigration Ombudsman announced an own motion to investigate and “examine the incidence and nature of suicide and self-harm in the immigration detention network” and to “identify the factors contributing to suicide and self-harm.”

As at 6 February 2013, there were 24 operational immigration detention facilities including Alternative Places of Detention (APOD) “with a capacity expanded to accommodate some 7329 detainees, and a contingency capacity of 9357.”

“This investigation commenced in July 2011 in response to the deteriorating psychological health of detainees we had observed particularly on Christmas Island, and against a backdrop of several deaths and escalating self-harm in immigration detention. As the Joint Select Committee later observed in its March 2012 report, ‘An alarming number of detainees have resorted to self-harming. The Committee is not able to accurately estimate the current number or frequency of self-harm incidents, however it appears to be a regular occurrence.”

DIAC claimed it was not able to accurately estimate the incidence of self-harm because adequate data systems were not in place. In May 2012 it started producing its Monthly Self-Harm Snapshot.

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman during the course of their investigation sought data from DIAC and Serco on the incidence of self-harm in closed detentions. But the report has cast doubt on the integrity of their data.

“On 15 March 2013, the department provided us with a dataset that it considered to represent an accurate picture of self-harm incidents reported to the department by Serco. While we continue to have concerns about the categorisation of incidents as reported by Serco to the department, we accept that this dataset demonstrates the general trend of self-harm incidents in immigration detention.”

“This office is concerned that self-harm by children in immigration detention facilities is an ongoing issue, notwithstanding the decrease in self-harm incidents since the peak in August 2011.”

“Prior to May 2012, reports produced by the department and Serco did not routinely and separately monitor self-harm by children. However, in October 2011 the department provided data to Parliament that demonstrated that self-harm involving children was at a concerning level, representing almost 14 per cent of self-harm incidents between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011.”

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) published an annual report on Asylum Seekers, the demographics and the trends. The UNHCR’s 2011 statistical report noted a sharp increase in Asylum Seeker applications in the 44 industrialised countries. There were estimated 441,300 claims in 2011, that is 20 per cent more than the 368,000 applications in 2010, and the highest since 2003.

Australia received 11,510 applications which was equivalent to three per cent of the applications among the industrialised countries.

The Asia Pacific regions has at this time more than 3.6 million refugees, around 24 per cent of the world’s total refugee population. In 2011, just 22 countries resettled 79,800 refugees and Australia ranked three in admitting 9,200 refugees. The United States resettled 51,500 and Canada resettled 12,900.

The Ombudsman’s report reinforces only what most know, that studies “have indicated that people who have fled violence and disruption in their countries of origin, and who may have been subject to torture and trauma, often exhibit pre-existing mental health conditions or are vulnerable to developing a post traumatic condition.”

“People detained in an immigration detention facility in recent years may have been exposed to, or involved in, suicidal or self-harm behaviours. This is a particularly difficult issue, as detainees seeking to maintain their own stability are unable to physically dissociate themselves from their environment, and often cannot choose to associate with people with more positive modes of thinking and behaviours.”

“As explored elsewhere in this report, there is a high level of mental and psychological illness among detainees, particularly those detained for extended periods. This creates an environment where many detainees are surrounded by people in the same situation, also experiencing mental illness, frustration or distress.”

“Drawing on our discussions with detainees, we believe there may be a contagion effect that magnifies dysfunctional thinking in these circumstances. Impulsive and dysfunctional methods for problem solving and drawing attention to the perceived problems may include the behaviours seen in riots and disturbance.”

The report pointed to the obvious when suggesting that the witnessing of others self-harming can heighten the risk of “imitative behaviour or contagion and lead to broader self-harm among the detention population. We have been advised that this phenomenon, known as contagion effect, has its origins in social learning theory. The basic premise of this theory is that verbal transfer of information and observation of other people ‘acts make up the basis for the acquisition of all types of human behaviour.’ Witnessing others self-harm or suicide, for example, following the receipt of bad news which is presented as a solution or ‘way out’, may serve to model for others who have similar problems.”

The report noted that in periods where the average time of being held in detention so to were there declines in recorded incidents of self-harm.

Previous The Stringer articles:

Excising Australia

May 20^th 2013 by Dr Binoy Kampmark

Nine year old boy detained at Christmas Island after father’s death

May 7^th 2013 by Gerry Georgatos

Australia’s pathway to poverty – bridging visas

30^th March 2013 by The Stringer

98 bodies thrown into the sea – 32 asylum seekers rescued

21^st February 2013 by The Stringer

Child suicide attempts in Darwin Immigration centre

19^th February 2013 by The Stringer

People smugglers they are not

5^th February 2013 by Gerry Georgatos

Robert Eggington, CEO of Dumbartung

Led by the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation which works with many grieving families of suicide victims a Suicide Crisis Summit was held on May 21. More than 300 attended in what was both a highly emotive experience and a direct call to Governments to reduce the Aboriginal youth suicide rates in Australia.

Australia’s Aboriginal youth suicide rate is the highest in the world. – Australia’s Aboriginal children – The world’s highest suicide rate

Dumbartung CEO Robert Eggington and his grief counsellor wife Selina Eggington called for the Summit and ensured that it was well attended by Government officials.

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), suicides accounted for 4.2 per cent of all registered deaths of people identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in 2010, compared with 1.6 per cent for the general population of Australia,” said Mr Eggington.

“Our children are dying as young as eleven years old, from suicide.”

“This experience has caused a massive rupture of our community’s spiritual heart and it is creating a traumatic burden of pain and suffering for many of our families and people.”

The rise in Aboriginal and Aboriginal youth suicide rates are all the more startling when compared with rates two, three and four decades ago. Aboriginal peoples were not killing themselves in the numbers that they are today – and this indicts Government neglects and an increasing condition of hopelessness and dejection.

The three hour Crisis Summit finished up with a list of recommendations and outcomes which were presented to the Commissioner for Mental Health, Eddie Bartnik and to Premier Colin Barnett.

“We were encouraged by the attendance, over 300 people attended enabling the Nyoongah community to vent and express what is so often the oppressed and silenced voice of our grassroots families and people,” said Mr Eggington.

“Senior Government officials turned up, the National Congress of the First Peoples sent its representatives. It was good to see Mick Gooda (Social Justice Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission) turn up along with many others.”

“We need now a political reaction to the pandemic of suicides that blights our youth.”

Following the meeting we had a forty minute meeting with Premier Barnett. He met with us, twelve Nyoongah representatives which also included my brother Dennis (CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Services WA), Rex Bellotti and Dean Collard.”

They stated to the Premier that it is abhorrent that an industrialised country such as Australia, the world’s 12 largest economy, has according to the United Nations State of Indigenous Peoples report the world’s highest Aboriginal suicide rates.

“In a number of towns and Aboriginal communities in Western Australia the suicide rates amongst Aboriginal populations has reached 100 times the national average.”

“Despite all the support programs and initiatives since the Sue Gordon Report the suicide epidemic among our peoples continues to surge,” said Mr Eggington.

Dumbartung has called for a triennial funding agreement for them to continue and increase awareness of suicide prevention programs and initiatives they have developed during the last three decades.

“The programs need to be coordinated State-wide,” said Mr Eggington.

Mr Eggington called for the development and funding of special Aboriginal taskforces to work alongside the Coroner’s Office, the Health Department and directly with the State Government.

“This suicide crisis is one that both the Government and our community need to work very closely together to deter the ever increasing pain and suffering that is being experienced by many of our families and communities.”

http://thestringer.com.au/political-reaction-needed-to-end-suicides/#.UZ9WDd8iPIV

Once again the United Nations has ranked Australia second behind Norway in its annual Human Development Index – for public health, social wealth, education, even happiness. But if Aboriginal peoples go stand-alone they would not be part of that 2^nd rating – they would be 122^nd.

The United Nations Human Development Index is a measure of the quality of life across 187 nations.

Aboriginal peoples in various parts of Australia continue to languish in third-world conditions despite Australia powering on as the world’s thirteenth largest economy. The Northern Territory is the worst for Aboriginal peoples but Western Australia’s Kimberley, Western Deserts and the Goldfields and South Australia’s APY Lands are not far behind – and similar with a number of regions in Queensland and NSW.

NT-Utopia

The Northern Territory township of Utopia, 350 km northeast of Alice Springs, is an example of Government neglect – it is third-world and most of its 1,200 Alyawarra and Anmatjirra peoples languish in dilapidated homes and without the suite of public services that most other Australians enjoy. The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay condemned the deplorable conditions and described the neglect as racism. Amnesty International’s Shalil Shetty described Utopia as third-world.

Last week the Australian Government finally meted out $4 million to Utopia for housing refurbishments and facilities – this is peanuts and let us hope that most of the $4 million is not eaten up by bureaucracy and contractor payments.

The money was secured by NT Lingiari Senator Warren Snowdon from Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin’s $3.4 billion Stronger Futures.

“Vital community infrastructure will be upgraded in the Utopia homelands in the Northern Territory thanks to a $4.36 million investment from the Australian Government,” said Mr Snowdon.

Ms Macklin naively stands by Stronger Futures despite no evidence to prove the Intervention has improved living conditions – in fact most evidence, anecdotal and research, points to the opposite.

“Stronger Futures has a firm focus on improving living standards for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory – in the bigger communities and also in remote homelands,” Ms Macklin said.

“The Government is providing $4 million for the Centre for Appropriate Technology to deliver a range of projects to help families in Utopia live more sustainably.”

“These will include critical work to make housing safer, helping residents to reduce their energy consumption and improving the safety and reliability of the local water supply.”

The work to improve housing in Utopia will focus on electrical and fire safety, water and waste management, and washing, cooking and food storage facilities.

Mr Snowdon said the Government will also provide funding of $360,000 over three years for a coordinator position at the Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation so it can better represent the interests of the Utopia homelands.

“The new coordinator will play an important role in negotiating and implementing a plan with the Government to address the key areas of disadvantage in Utopia,” Mr Snowdon said.

“We will also employ two Indigenous Engagement Officers to be based in the Utopia homelands. They will be locals who understand the culture and can speak the local language.

“I’ve seen how effective Indigenous Engagement Officers can be in linking residents to important services and strengthening relationships between Government and remote communities, and I’m confident we will see the same happen in Utopia,” he said.

Photo – abc.net.au

Despite Stronger Futures, Northern Territory Aboriginal peoples – 30 per cent of the population – do not enjoy the standard of living that the United Nations Human Development Index report lauded on Australians.

The report stated Australians have the world’s fourth highest life expectancy in the world – 82 years. But this is not so for Aboriginal peoples – subtract 20 years from the Australian life expectancy average for Aboriginal peoples, and in some regions of Australia make that 30 years less off the average.

With education – in terms of number of years of schooling achieved and the standard of school performance – Australians are ranked second highest but that would not be the case for Aboriginal peoples who do not enjoy quality schooling in many semi-remote and remote communities.

Australia has the lowest suicide rate of the world’s top ten nations but Aboriginal peoples have the world’s highest youth suicide rates.

Nothing has improved since the 2011 United Nations State of the Indigenous Peoples report, “In Australia, an Indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-native compatriot.”

Last year a Northern Territory Select Committee on Youth Suicides reported, “The suicide rate for Indigenous Territorians is particularly disturbing, with 75 per cent of suicides of children from 2007 to 2011 in the Territory being Aboriginal.”

“For too many of our youth there is not enough hope to protect them from the impulse to end their lives.”

The suicide rate doubled for youth between ages 10 and 17 – up from 18.8 percent to 30.1 percent per 100,000 – in contrast to non-Aboriginal youth suicides which dropped from 4.1 percent to 2.6 percent.

It was only a few years ago that the West Australian town of Derby and nearby communities, such as Mowanjum, experienced nearly 30 Aboriginal youth suicides in the one year.

Mowanjum’s Community Director Eddie Bear said every loss is felt right throughout the community. “Everybody feels hurt, we all go through it.”

In NSW, with Australia’s largest Indigenous population, the youth suicide rate is one in 100,000. In the Northern Territory, the rate is 30 deaths in 100,000. In the Kimberley, with an Indigenous population at 15,000, the rate is at a rate of 1 death in 1,200, over 80 per 100,000.

And then there is homelessness – In the Northern Territory nearly 8 per cent of Aboriginal peoples are homeless. The 2012 ABS reported that one of the key three groups of homelessness in Australia remains Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and little has improved. The ABS reported that in 2011 alone there was a rise in the total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – rising by 3 percent.

Seven percent of the Kimberley’s Aboriginal peoples are homeless – the region’s homelessness rate is at least ten times the national average. The State Government cannot even keep a promise to build a $12 million hostel in Broome and instead people sleep rough at One Mile Community, Kennedy Hill and on Broome’s sand dunes.

The United Nations Human Development Index report got this right – that there had been a global improvement in human development led by nations such as Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, East Timor, but Australia’s Aboriginal peoples in the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia remain forgotten.