By Arun Pradhan
Aboriginal people face highly disproportionate levels of imprisonment and are more vulnerable to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment within the justice system. These are just some of the criticisms raised in the recent report by Amnesty International.
Similar problems had been identified by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, whose report was released in May 1991. The commission saw the main problem as the disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in the prison system. At the time, Aboriginal people were in police custody 29 times more than the general population.
It put forward 339 recommendations, many of which were officially supported by both federal and state governments. But the Amnesty report, entitled "Australia: A justice system weighted against Aboriginal people", clearly shows how much more must be done.
The royal commission investigated 99 Aboriginal deaths in custody from 1980 to 1989. Yet from 1990 to June of 1992, one account puts the number of deaths at over 24. Of those deaths not "self-inflicted", many were caused by inadequate medical treatment of prisoners suffering from illnesses or injury.
Some commissioners suggested further investigation into the 99 cases to establish grounds for criminal proceedings or disciplinary action. Yet no legal action was taken against any prison official.
Poor conditions are also reflected in the reliance on police cells. These lockups are being used to supplement overburdened prison accommodation. That is, police cells are being used to hold people for long periods of time, despite having inadequate facilities to do so.
This problem also exists in prisons. One such is in Alice Springs. It is overcrowded to the point that prisoners are confined to dormitories for 16 hours a day. Wire cages act as the only division, giving the prisoners little hope of privacy, even when using the toilet. Eighty per cent of the inmates of this prison were Aboriginal.
Prison administrators, while agreeing that this accommodation was unacceptable for white Australians, claimed it suited Aboriginal people who, they said, preferred to sleep communally!
Such racist attitudes also play a role in achieving the high
representation of Aboriginal people in the prison system, which often stems from over-policing. Wilcannia, a small town in NSW which has a high proportion of Aboriginal people, has a ratio of 1 police officer for every 73 people. The figure for the state as a whole is 1 to 459. Rather than preventing crime, this concentration of force increases tension and is often provocative.
There are also more systematic methods of discrimination used to detain or arrest Aboriginal people. The NSW Summary Offences Act makes "offensive conduct" and "offensive language" a criminal act, although it makes no attempt to contextualise or define these terms. It can even be applied against swearing and can involve up to three months in prison.
Similarly, a by-law in Alice Springs makes it illegal to drink in a public space within two kilometres of a liquor outlet. Aboriginal people who would also face discrimination if they attempted to go into a hotel or pub are obviously the focus and victims of such a law.
The vicious circle of provocation, arbitrary arrest and crime is also playing a greater role in the lives of Aboriginal youths. Concern is growing at the practice of placing young offenders in institutions, which often results in their further criminalisation. The number of juveniles in the NSW Children's court rose 255% over five years from 1985.
While welcoming initial steps made by the Australian government in addressing some of these problems, the report by Amnesty calls for much more action.
The substandard facilities in lockups and prisons must be improved. This might include surveillance facilities for drunken or ill prisoners, alarm bells and in some cases such as Alice Springs simply raising the level of accommodation above something that is degrading and inhuman.
The fact that the rate of arrest for Aboriginal people has actually increased since the royal commission began its work also must be addressed. Reasons for this include racist attitudes of the police and general community. But it also involves more systematic reasons such as discriminatory laws and a level of over-policing that in some cases might constitute harassment.