Communist Party of Australia

Security staff have told a Kalgoorlie coronial inquest into the death in custody last year of a Wongai Elder, of errors in prisoner transport procedure that may have contributed to the tragedy. Warburton man Mr Ward, 46, died soon after arriving at Kalgoorlie hospital on January 27, 2008.

He’d been suffering from heat stroke and burns following a four-hour trip in a prison transport van in 42-degree heat.

Aboriginal people are over-represented in custodial processes throughout the country, and in Kalgoorlie last week community leaders were left questioning why Mr Ward needed to be transported between Laverton and Kalgoorlie after being arrested and charged with a minor alcohol-related offence.

Last month, concerned members of Perth’s Aboriginal community met to discuss issues raised by Mr Ward’s death and information coming out of the ongoing inquest.

WA Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (DICWC) member and Noongar Elder Ben Taylor said the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody should be made into law to obligate government departments and contractors to ensure proper safety measures are observed when transporting Aboriginal people.

“I am going to go to Kalgoorlie to listen to the proceedings in relation to the death of Mr Ward, a Wongai man from Warburton country who should have been still alive today,” he said. “The way they treated that man you wouldn’t treat a dog – you wouldn’t do that to a dog.

“That private company that transports my people – mainly they transport blackfellas – they don’t seem to care. It’s just not on that we’ve got to see something like this happen.”

Mr Taylor questioned why a respected Elder like Mr Ward did not have a minor charge heard before a circuit judge, or a magistrate in his own region, or get transported by more appropriate means such as flying.

He also questioned the privatisation of prison transport services, suggesting it could skew the focus of services provided, from best practice in relation to the care of people in custody, to revenue.

A supervisor from custodial transport contractor Global Solutions Ltd the hearing that recommended procedures including regular stops during long journeys had not been observed, preventing the guards from realising that air conditioning in the rear pod of the transport vehicle had failed.

DICWC (WA) chair Marc Newhouse said privatisation was a growing concern in relation to the conditions in which prisoners were transported and detained.

He said the evidence emerging from the inquest was that Mr Ward’s death was “completely preventable and unnecessary” and that he died in conditions that were “akin to torture” and a “gross breach of human rights”.

“Everyone at this public meeting is appalled and outraged by it,” Mr Newhouse said. “From the community meeting we have a delegation going to the inquest to meet with the family, and get their directions about what they would like us to do.”

Mr Newhouse said the committee supported financial compensation for the family and wanted an immediate end to government privatising police and prison services. He said all transport of regional prisoners and detainees “should be done humanely and by air”.

He said 98 percent of transported prisoners were Indigenous and the provision of inadequate services amounted to systemic racism. Over the past six years there had been repeated incidents due to poor vehicles.

Mr Newhouse said a review conducted by former Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk after Mr Ward’s death identified problems with inadequate vehicles, poor maintenance, and that procedures and contractual arrangements needed to be updated, with regard to humane treatment.

The fleet of prison transport vehicles has long been the subject of heavy criticism and recommended changes from the Office of the Custodial Inspector as far back as 2001. Then-Inspector Richard Harding checked the vehicles in view of unique transport needs stemming from the harsh WA climate.

The fleet was also subject to a raft of recommendations by the Custodial Inspectorate in May 2007, with the need for humane and safe transport for people in custody in remote and regional areas identified for urgent attention from the Departments of Corrective Services and Attorney General, and the WA Police Service. In 2007, Professor Richard Harding stressed the need for regular stops on long trips, adequate food and water and communication facilities between the pod and the cab of vehicles to monitor prisoners’ conditions.

The inquest is continuing.

The Koori Mail

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