Indigenous deaths in custody reach 22 in 11 months as advocates say numbers ‘met with indifference’

Justice campaigners say 580 Aboriginal deaths since 1991 royal commission point to ongoing ‘gross overrepresentation’ in system

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Twenty-two Indigenous people have died in custody in just 11 months, according to national data collated by the Australian Institute of Criminology, with justice advocates saying deaths that should spark a “national outcry” are being met with silence.

That means at least 580 Aboriginal people have died in police or prison custody since 1991 – when the royal commission into the matter handed down its final report – according to the AIC’s National Deaths in Custody database, which tracks Indigenous deaths in prison, police custody and youth detention.

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