Anglican Social Responsibilities Commission (WA)
MEDIA RELEASE
20 June 2000
Prison Deaths: Its Time for an audit of our preventative measures
The Social Responsibilities Commission today called for an audit of the
Western Australian Government's efforts to prevent deaths in custody.
"A decade ago the Australian community spent $35 million investigating
deaths in custody and working out ways to prevent them, and yet there have
been seven deaths in this State over the last six weeks," Executive Officer
Theo Mackaay said.
"The community has a reasonable expectation that the recommendations of the
Royal Commission would be put into effect and that the number of deaths
would be significantly reduced. Instead, we find that the numbers of lives
lost continue at an alarming rate."
"Since the Royal Commission began its work in 1989, there have been 112
deaths in custody in Western Australia - an average of ten per year, which
is almost identical to the rate which caused such an uproar that the
Commission was set in motion."
"The Federal Government committed an enormous sum of money to enable the
states to implement the 339 recommendations of the Royal Commission. The
foundation of the Commission's recommendations was that prison should be
the last resort, and yet the incarceration rate in Western Australia
continues to climb at an alarming rate," Mr Mackaay said. "We currently
imprison men in Wa at a rate of 220 per 100,000 of the adult male
population, which is more than double the rate in Victoria, and women at a
rate of 35 per 100,000. This is not the practice of a system committed to
keeping people out of prison."
"The State Government produced reports annually for a number of years on
its efforts to implement the recommendations. That process seems to have
come to an end. It is time now for the Auditor General to conduct an
INDEPENDENT audit of these efforts to be tabled in parliament. This would
be a valuable document to stand alongside the report on custodial deaths
which the Ombudsman began in early 1998 - for which we are still waiting."
"As the financial year ends, and the Government tallies up the fiscal
totals, it needs to also calculate the human costs of it justice policies."
Mr Mackaay concluded.
Contact: Theo Mackaay (08) 9321-7033 or 0407-082-607
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