Australia: The Secret ShameThe Eddie Murray StoryTen years ago, a royal commission found that Aborigines were dying in custody at the rate of two a week. Today, the situation is worse.
A damning report by Amnesty International found that deaths of Aborigines in prison have reached new record levels. They are dying at almost twice the rate of other prisoners.
The death of Eddie Murray is the Stephen Lawrence case of Australia. Eddie was 21 and a star Rugby League player when he was found hanging in a police cell in the New South Wales town of Wee Waa in 1981.
The coroner delivered an open verdict, but Eddie's parents, Leila and Arthur Murray, have never stopped campaigning for justice.
In 1997, the Murrays' won an important victory. Eddie's body was exhumed and another autopsy carried out. This time, it was found that his sternum had been smashed.
However, no-one has yet to say officially that he was murdered and noone from the police force has been implicated.

Says Leila: "We want the State Government to look at this and see if we can get some answers. We've suffered a lot over the years, and I don't think I can take any more. We can't get justice."

Whereas Eddie Murray may not have committed suicide, the figures for Aborigines taking their own lives out of custody are spiralling out of control.
Without hope of a decent present or future, children as young as nine are ending their short lives.

www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=23[/url]

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Hi Peanut ~ the link didnt work for me so Im wondering if you could just tell me when this was written? I spend my working life with Aboriginal inmates, communities and youth and I dont think this is true at all.

Not about Eddie Murray but about the numbers of deaths in custody on the increase? I just wonder where the figures come from, what state, and from what period of time?

Thanks!

dreamer

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"The power of the voice instead of the hand ~ the power of the voice makes him a man"

~Koori prison song~

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The National deaths in custody program (NDCIP) has been responsible for monitoring the extent and nature of deaths in police, prison and juvenile custody since 1980. The 2003 NDCIP annual report shows there were 68 deaths in custody in 2003, a decline from 85 in 2002. The number of deaths in police custody decreased from 33 in 2002 to 29 in 2003, and the number of deaths in prison custody also declined from 50 deaths in 2002 to 39 deaths in 2003. The rate of Indigenous deaths in prison custody in 2003 was 2.1 per 1,000 Indigenous prisoners, while the rate of non-Indigenous deaths in prison custody was 1.6 per 1,000 non-Indigenous prisoners. The figure below shows that the rates of Indigenous deaths in prison custody peaked in 1995 and that rates of prison deaths have been declining since. The leading cause of death in prison custody was death due to natural causes, accounting for 44 per cent of all prison deaths. Furthermore, this is the first time since the NDCIP's inception that there have been no accident-related deaths in prison.



Sorry to say that this February Warburton Aboriginal elder Ian Ward collapsed in the back of a Global Solutions Limited van on Sunday after a four-hour trip from Laverton to Kalgoorlie and died a short time later at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital, Western Australia.

The 46-year-old, who was being transferred to face a charge of drink driving, was found unconscious in the back of the van in the middle of the afternoon when temperatures outside exceeded 40 degrees.

It is understood the van’s air-conditioning broke down the previous week and had to be replaced. The van is part of a fleet owned by the State Government but managed by the private prison management company.

This is a tragic story and has had much attention from all sides of the fence as you can imagine. Very sad for all those involved, it was not due to anyone's intentional actions or knowledge, but more of a tragic event of circumstances as far as i understand.

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When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

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Oh my God ~ what a terrible way to die, I cant even begin to imagine the agony he went thru. That is so sad.

Thanks for the info smiley, I am relieved to know that the number are going down, we are bloody working so hard for them to keep going down.

Cheers mate!
dreamer

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"The power of the voice instead of the hand ~ the power of the voice makes him a man"

~Koori prison song~

This is quite horrible. I also found this site. It details this case and many others.

ITV - John Pilger - Australia is the only developed country whose government has been condemned as racist by the United Nations

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

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* In addition, there are countries I have visited that I thought would have been at the top of the list, but I guess stranger things have happened.

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