Prisoners with disabilities are dying in Western Australian jails due to a failure to properly diagnose and treat their conditions, according to a new report.
The report by Human Rights Watch found that between 2010 and 2020, 60 per cent of people who died in prisons in Western Australia had a disability.
“Of the 60 per cent , 58 per cent died as a result of lack of support provided by the prison, suicide, and violence—and half of these deaths were of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners with disabilities,” Ms Sharma says. “For someone that is distressed, that puts them over the edge. Services are so inadequate they are exacerbating the psychological distress for prisoners, and in some cases resulting in deaths in custody.”
“We have high levels of mental health distress in the Aboriginal community, as a result of trauma, colonisation and systemic discrimination,” United Nations’ Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues member Dr. Hannah McGlade said. “It's just something I can’t get my head around; they had a duty of care to him, he was a human, he was a human being.”
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