Protest over Qld death in custody

11 Mar 2010, 9:49 am   -   Source: AAP
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An 18-year old has died while in custody in a Queensland Correctional Centre (AAP)

An 18-year old has died while in custody in a Queensland Correctional Centre (AAP)

Indigenous leaders will march on Queensland Parliament over claims a young Aboriginal man died after being denied medical care in jail.

Indigenous leaders will march on Queensland Parliament over claims a young Aboriginal man died after being denied medical care in jail.

The 18-year-old was on remand in Brisbane's Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre when he was repeatedly denied requests for medical help, indigenous activist Sam Watson says.

He became progressively worse, Mr Watson says, and eventually was taken to hospital on February 16. He was put on life support but died four days later.

Mr Watson says the man repeatedly asked to see a doctor while he was in jail but his plea was ignored.

"He was just given panadol and sent back to his cell," Mr Watson said.

"But he was that ill that prison mates had to hold him up so he could walk."

Prison chaplain Reverend Alex Gater, who works closely with Aborigines in custody, told ABC Radio the man had spent five weeks on remand for minor offences before falling ill.

She said he should never have been placed in prison because he had a pre-existing medical condition.

"He was ill for six days. The first time he had gone to the medical centre he was given panadol," she said.

"Other times he had gone back he was told there was nothing wrong with him.

"Towards the end, the Murray boys in his unit had to carry him because he could hardly walk.

"... They yelled out to the officer to get him to the hospital because something was wrong but one of the officers said: Well if he can go to the toilet there is nothing wrong with him."

She said he was rushed to hospital and put on life support but died on February 20.

Anger over the death comes at a sensitive time for Queensland's Aboriginal community.

A third inquest is currently underway in north Queensland into the death in custody of Palm Island man Cameron Doomadgee.

Mr Watson says the latest death has sparked a wave of new concern about the treatment of indigenous people in the state's jails.

A rally will be held outside Parliament House in Brisbane at 11am (AEST) on Thursday.

"We have grave concerns about what's happened here," Mr Watson says.

"The family has not received the autopsy results.

"Why was he not taken to hospital earlier? This is not acceptable."

 

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Your Comments

stop black deaths in custody NOW

nina law - from kingston, 2 years ago

It's sad that the police and other people in their uniforms think they can kill our race in this way. I feel for the Family's who have to lose a loved one because their are alot of police murderers out there trying to lock our kids up so they can punish them the way they want to. Truly I beleive they want to kill our race. But we gotta keep fighting for JUSTICE before they get one of our own, they don't care who you are your BLACK.

deaths in custody?

enoughsenough - from land of the kulin nations, 2 years ago

calling the passing of people such as Sheldon Currie a 'death in custody' is surely just a little bit misleading. Sheldon and many others like him (i.e. other Aboriginal deaths-in-custody) do not simply 'die' , people have actually contributed to their demise. REAL JUSTICE won't occur until we see REAL investigations - not the FAKE ones we currently see of police investigating police and coronial inquests with restrictive parameters that fail to call ALL witnesses and examine ALL evidence.

deaths in custody

oncewas - from bribie island, 2 years ago

If this account is true then sadly nothing has changed in queensland and nothing ever will. It is almost as if the successive governments of queensland have embraced a policy to eradicate our native people. Shame.

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