14 April, 2011 2:34PM AWST

Two decades on from landmark royal commission, Aboriginal deaths in custody still not addressed

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The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody began in 1987, and published 339 recommendations on April 15, 1991.

The commission found that there was an over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison, and to reduce deaths is custody, it was necessary to reduce incarceration rates by addressing the social issues that lead to offending.

The Royal Commission recommended that police arrest people only when no other way exists for dealing with a problem and that imprisonment should be utilised only as a sanction of last resort.

The WA Deaths in Custody watch committee was set up in 1993 to lobby for the implementation of the recommendations. Spokesman Marc Newhouse says in the early days there was some willingness to act, but that urgency has now been lost.

"In the last 5-6 years it's been a brick wall in our talks with the state government, their attitude is that it's all been taken care of."

"But WA currently has the highest incarceration rate of Aboriginal people in the country."

"The Government does know the answer - the Royal Commission identifies that it's social and economic disadvantage, we've failed in addressing that."

The Deaths in Custody watch committee is planning to march to WA Parliament house on the 20th anniversary of the commission report, carrying 269 white crosses as a memorial to those who have died in custody, but Marc Newhouse fears politician still won't listen.

"We've invited every parliamentarian in the state to the rally and had a poor response rate."

Goldfields focus of attention

The watch committee is also setting up an office in Kalgoorlie, where the Aboriginal community is reeling from two recent deaths in custody - Mr Ward and Mr Phillips, whose full names are not published for cultural reasons.

The story of Mr Ward's death provoked national outrage. The respected elder from the Western desert died on January 2008 after being transferred 400km in 46 degree heat in a prison van without air-conditioning. He had been arrested in Laverton for driving under the influence of alcohol and refused bail by a local JP.

On arrival in Kalgoorlie, he was unconscious. Mr Ward was taken to the hospital but died of heatstroke.

The metal surface of the seats in the van reached 56 degrees. Nurse Frances Wakeham told ABC Four Corners she saw "a new deep burn on his belly, which had taken off all the skin"

The Coroner found that the prison van drivers, the Department of Corrective Services and the transport contractor had all breached their duty of care, and each had contributed to Mr Ward's death. Work Safe is currently prosecuting all parties involved.

The death of Mr Phillips doesn't provoke the same raw horror, but a deep sense of injustice was expressed by the 70 people who attended a public meeting about the circumstances of his death in the Kalgoorlie police station in January this year.

Ben Taylor-Cuiermara is a life member of the watch committee. He's in his mid seventies, with a heart condition and a walking stick, but he travelled from Perth to attend the Kalgoorlie meeting because he feels so strongly.

"This young man [Mr Phillips], I saw him as a boy and I'm in my mid seventies now, he was only 51 when he died. He shouldn't have died when the police picked him up," Mr Taylor-Cuiermara said.

"He should have been taken to the hospital, he was a chronic diabetic, he had an alcohol problem, and he was riddled with all these health problems. And they just threw him in a cell."

In the lock-up

Mr Phillips died in a cell at the Kalgoorlie police station at 3.30am on the morning of January 8, 2011. He had been arrested the previous afternoon had been arrested for disorderly conduct, assault and failing to obey a move-on order.

All of his friends and family acknowledge that Mr Phillips had an extensive criminal record, and was an alcoholic. But they also remember him as a non-violent, happy man who went by the nickname of 'Dynamite'. Mr Phillips had suffered severe burns in a fire a year before he died - he had lost a hand and number of toes and continued to wear bandages.

Brendon Slattery is former head solicitor of the Aboriginal Legal Service office in Kalgoorlie who represented Mr Phillips in court on numerous occasions.

"He's one of the larrikin type characters that I've known. He had a fairly significant knowledge of the area and of his people. I always found him pleasant to deal with despite his involvement with police. As his lawyer he was a good client to deal with."

The Phillips family believe that because he was so regularly arrested, his poor health should also have been well known to police, and rather than being kept in the lock-up, he should have been bailed or been given a medical assessment.

Unequal treatment

The family are also angry because they believe Mr Phillips received unequal treatment from police. It has emerged that Mr Phillips was wrongfully arrested several months before his death and spent a night in the Kalgoorlie police lock-up.

Police arrested him for breaching bail conditions, however when he was seen by a lawyer the next morning, it was discovered that Mr Phillips did not have any bail conditions and he was released without charge.

On the day of Mr Phillips funeral a video was released to the media. It was filmed on a mobile phone about six weeks before Mr Phillips died.

It shows Mr Phillips in the main square of Kalgoorlie boxing with a teenager. The teenager punches Mr Phillips several times; Mr Phillips falls backwards onto the ground. The teenager jumps over Mr Phillips and kicks him in the head.

Police subsequently investigated and the teenager responsible received a juvenile caution.

Watch committee chair Marianne McKay says she wants to know if there was any possible link between the assault and Mr Phillips' death.

"We just can't understand why Mr Phillips had no justice for this assault on camera and also when it comes to police complaints we don't have enough confidence within the police force for them to investigate themselves," she said.

Member for Eyre Dr Graham Jacobs has assured the family that the inquiry into what happened when Mr Phillips died in the police lock-up will be transparent.

"I promise this will be an open, accountable process," he said.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner. A date for the inquest has not been set.

Two decades on

At the public meeting Mr Phillips' sister Adele broke down when she spoke about her brother.

"I wonder if those young boys and the police would treat their father, or brother, or grandfather in the way they treated my brother. I know the justice system isn't fair for Aboriginal people."

At the end of the meeting an open session was held for the attendees to express their views. Most just expressed outrage, and feeling that as Aboriginal people, they are not treated equally. Marc Newhouse called for practical suggestions for change, but most people felt the changes needed had already been clear for 20 years, in the Royal Commission report.

Marc Newhouse says the Royal Commission initially generated great hope that things would be transformed.

"The number of deaths has dropped [since 1991] but incarceration and the social issues are still there," Mr Newhouse says.

"Departments like Corrective services and police just say they can't address the social and economic causes of Aboriginal disadvantage."

"Locking people up is not the solution."

WA Attorney General Christian Porter was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.