Aboriginal man dies in Western Australian prison

An Aboriginal man has died five days after attempting suicide at Casaurina prison, 35 kilometres south of Perth, just two months after another Aboriginal man killed himself at the same prison.

He was found in his cell on October 28 and was taken to nearby Fiona Stanley Hospital, but died on November 2.

His is the fourth Aboriginal death provisionally put down to be suicide by hanging at the prison since 2013. The families of each of those men are still waiting for the coroner to set the date for their respective inquests.

Marc Newhouse (pictured) from the Death in Custody Watch Committee in WA said it was particularly concerning to see another case of hanging. Reducing the risk of death by hanging was one of the key recommendations of the 1991 report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
[This article first appeared in Green Left Weekly online 21 November 2015.]