The Guardian 5 March, 2008
WA death in custody
Ken Boase
The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (DICWC) in Western Australia has called an urgent public meeting in Perth to discuss the tragic death in the back of a prison van of Warburton Elder Ian Ward in January.
The WA government has also announced a review of prisoner transport procedures, but the circumstances leading to Mr Ward’s death will not be a part of the review which will be conducted over the next few weeks.
Details have emerged about the events leading up to Mr Ward’s death, and his family has engaged a lawyer to assist in the investigation and the DICWC has demanded a full explanation from the Government and a coronial inquiry.
Media reports say that Mr Ward was stopped by police and failed a breathalyser test in the Northern Goldfields town of Warburton late on January 26, after which he was taken into custody and spent the night in the Laverton lock-up.
He was refused bail at a court hearing in Laverton the following morning and it was decided to transfer him to Kalgoorlie Regional Prison, a distance of about 350 kilometres, to await a further hearing date.
Temperatures in the region rose to above 40 degrees that day (January 27) and Mr Ward was placed in the back of a prison van operated under government contract by Global Solutions, which is the main prisoner transfer company in WA.
The two prison guards reportedly discovered Mr Ward unconscious in the back of the van as they approached Kalgoorlie and they decided to take him to the local hospital where one witness claims Emergency Department staff were slow to react to the situation.
Mr Ward was given emergency medical treatment but doctors could not revive him.
One of the prison guards is reported as saying the back of the van was stifling when they discovered that Mr Ward had collapsed.
DICWC chairman Marc Newhouse said there were many questions that needed to be answered about Mr Ward’s death, including how he was treated in Laverton before the van’s departure and whether the two prison officers ensured his safety during the long journey.
"Did the police actually get him properly medically examined before they handed him over for transportation, and did they try and assess whether this person was fit to travel in those conditions?" Mr Newhouse said.
"There’s a whole range of factors; how are people who are being transported monitored; are there comfort breaks; are there regular breaks; how much water are they given?
"Really, this death was preventable and it simply shouldn’t have happened."
Mr Newhouse said there also were questions over why a person on drink-driving charges was held in custody and then refused bail.
"My understanding is that there are facilities in Laverton to deal with someone on drink-driving charges," he said.
"Why did he need to be transported in the first place? What was the hurry, and the other key question that arises out of that was why did they have to go to this extent for someone who’s been arrested on drink-driving charges?
"If it was a capital offence, well you could understand it. But it wasn’t."
Mr Newhouse also said that the van was not fitted with air-conditioning, and that the condition of the Global Solutions fleet had been raised previously with the government.
"The government has been warned previously about the condition of that fleet by the Inspector of Custodial Services," he said. "And basically we’re calling for the immediate replacement of the whole fleet and put in its place vehicles that can do the job safely."
The Coroner is expected to release a report into Mr Ward’s death by the middle of the month.
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