Sydney, Australia (EFE).- A record number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales so far in 2025, state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan reported Wednesday, calling the event a “profoundly distressing milestone.”
In a letter released Wednesday, O’Sullivan said that 12 deaths have already been recorded this year, an unprecedented number with more than two months left in 2025.
“These are not mere statistics. Each of these deaths represents a person whose life mattered and whose loss is felt deeply by families, loved ones and communities across the state,” the coroner said. “They are individuals whose deaths demand independent and careful scrutiny, respect and accountability.”
O’Sullivan also warned that the increase in the prison population “underscores the scale of the issue,” revealing that over the past five years, the number of Indigenous people in prison has grown by 18.9 percent, while the non-Indigenous prison population has decreased by 12.5 percent.
Nearly half of First Nations adults in custody (45.6 percent) were on remand or refused bail awaiting a court outcome, and the number of Indigenous people on remand has increased by 63 percent over the same period, according to official figures.
The data, the coroner added, reflects the entrenched overrepresentation of First Nations peoples in the criminal justice system, a structural problem that compounds the risks and vulnerabilities leading to the rising number of deaths in custody.
Between July 2023 and June 2024, 104 deaths in custody were recorded across Australia — 24 were Indigenous and 80 were non-Indigenous, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.
Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established in 1991, approximately 556 to 580 deaths of Indigenous people in custody have been recorded, according to various recent reports and estimates.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples represent approximately 3.4 percent of Australia’s total population and about 3.2 percent in the state of New South Wales, according to the latest national census. EFE
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