Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Deaths in Custody Day

Deaths in Custody Watch[WA] will mark the annual Deaths in Custody Memorial Day 2005 with a ceremony of rememberance to be held at Fremantle Prison on Friday September 23, at 11am.

On this the 22nd anniversary of the death of an indigenous person** which prompted a Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody, implementation of the recommendations of that Royal Commission are yet to be seen in Western Australia.

Deaths in Custody WA attributes ongoing deaths in custody to a flawed justice system which remains unaltered despite the extensive reforms recommended at the Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody, and said that the places of deaths have shifted from predominantly police custody, to prison cells and hospital beds.

So bring a bring a friend or plenty of friends, pay your respects and let your presence bring attention to these ongoing and long-term human rights violations which occur silently, right here, in the suburbs of Perth.


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Ed's note:

In 1978 the Australian Press Council recommended that the media facilitate transparency in the justice and prisons system, after journalist and prisoner human rights campaigner, Bernie Matthews, interviewed 'Jockey Smith' speaking about his experiences being verballed by the NSW CIB, who were later exposed as corrupt in the Wood Royal Commission.

Prisoners currently have no right to vote and no right to defend themselves in a court of law against media frame-ups; no recourse in the face of corruption such as verballings and bashings and as such, the present system does little to prevent cases of wrongful imprisonment as in the case of the Mickelburg brothers and countless faceless, voiceless others.

It is hardly surprising that in a country founded by a toiling criminal colony, that free speech and the human rights of prisoners has never become a priority for the government.

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