On Thursday 19thth February, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) sought an emergency injunction on behalf of our client Nathan, a proud Gunaikurnai man, who was experiencing abhorrent conditions and treatment in police cells, which led to significant concern for his welfare. The emergency injunction sought an urgent transfer for Nathan to be moved from police custody and to a correctional facility. In the hours before the application was due to be heard in the Supreme Court on Friday, Victoria Police agreed to move him.
It should not take emergency legal action in the Supreme Court of Victoria for people in police custody to be treated with dignity and to transferred in a timely manner to corrections facilities.
Since the Allan Labor government began pursuing a suite of regressive bail reforms last year, VALS and others have been sounding the alarm about the treatment of Aboriginal people in police custody. These warnings have been ignored, and we are now in a situation where the state is incapable of meeting the most basic human rights of individuals in custody.
Nathan had been in police custody for 26 days. He is unsentenced and yet to be found guilty of the charges that he is in custody for. Nathan alleges that the police cells he has been held in are overcrowded, unsanitary, lacking in privacy and restricted his ability for phone calls with his family. He has experienced significant medical issues requiring five ambulance attendances and four hospitalisations. Nathan alleges he has been denied prescribed medication and a withdrawal pack to manage symptoms whilst in custody and reports being told he will only get access once he is transferred to a correctional facility. This is inhumane and breaches his human rights.
Nathan has been moved between police stations, 200km away from his family and community for no reason to a suburb he had never heard of. Because of this, his family has been unable to visit him, and he has been completely isolated from care and support. This approach has become a routine practice by Victoria Police as discriminatory bail laws push more people into prisons and Corrections are struggling with the overflow of people on remand. Victoria Police’s practice of moving people between police stations, which they inappropriately refer to as ‘decanting’, is being used to extend the length of time they can hold someone in police cells beyond the Gazetted 14-day limit. We have advocated strongly to Victoria Police to cease this harmful practice for some time.
For the duration of Nathan’s 26 days in police custody, VALS Custody Notification System (CNS) made over 200 calls to check on Nathan. VALS CNS was established following the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to ensure that Aboriginal people are safe, supported and heard when they are in police custody. Throughout his time in custody Victoria Police disrespected the role of our Custody Service Officers, making it known they did not see the value in this legislated requirement. On several occasions Nathan and VALS CNS were questioned and rushed through these critical welfare checks, and Nathan was made to feel unworthy of such care. Nathan alleges he has been ridiculed, disbelieved, taunted and called racial slur, as well as his medical needs denied by police officers. All these practices infringe on his protected human rights.
VALS holds grave concerns that without CNS conducting welfare checks on Nathan and attempting to follow up on the care that was being provided to him, Nathan’s calls for help could have gone unanswered and the outcome could have been very different for him.
VALS will continue to walk alongside Nathan and all community members in custody and advocate for their rights to be upheld.
Quotes Attributable to Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service:
“Our client was told by Victoria Police that if he didn’t like it, “he should talk to the Premier.” So Premier Allan, let me say very clearly, Nathan can’t pick up the phone to you so he has fought to have his voice heard through the legal system, it’s on you now to reflect and act on how your laws have driven the justice system to the brink and enabled the appalling and demeaning behaviour of this state’s law enforcement – is this an intended or unintended consequence?”
“Matters like this exemplify the importance of having Aboriginal Legal Services – we were able to support Nathan to advocate for his rights to be upheld in the face of horrific behaviour by Victoria Police. Sadly, his experience isn’t unique, this pattern of systemic abuse is known, established and protected.”
“VALS repeatedly warned the Victorian government of the human impact of rushing through regressive bail laws. Their tough on crime agenda is not keeping our community safe, instead it is causing significant harm. When you couple systemic racism in policing practices, alongside regressive laws, these impacts compound and put our lives at risk. Our rights are denied, our calls for help go unanswered for hours and days. Shame on this government, shame on Victoria Police.”
“It has been 35 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its findings. There have been 624 Aboriginal deaths in custody since. We are now experiencing historic rates of incarceration due to this States bail laws which seek to erase the presumption of innocence. Our lives matter and VALS will continue to support our communities to hold this government accountable.”
Quotes Attributable to Nathan, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service’s client:
“I have been moved away from my family and community, for no reason other than to deny my rights and inflict harm and trauma. I want it to stop, not just for me but for my people. I want to leave police custody…I shouldn’t be in police gaol. I should be in prison where I can get better medical care. I feel myself deteriorating every day in here.”
“I was so fearful that I was going to die in police custody, and I want to thank VALS for preventing that”.
Quotes Attributable to Raagini Vijaykumar, Principle Managing Lawyer, Wirraway Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service:
“Ensuring people in custody are treated with basic care, respect and humanity should not require urgent applications to the Supreme Court. Yet too often, it is only through determined advocacy backed by the full weight of our organisation, including the work of our Wirraway lawyers and Custody Notification Officers, that minimum standards are enforced. We will continue to act whenever the safety and dignity of our clients are at risk.”
“VALS’ Wirraway Practice was established to hold police and correctional authorities accountable and to protect the rights, safety and dignity of Aboriginal people in custody. Over the past year, VALS has raised serious concerns about the practice of transferring people between police stations before the 14-day limit expires, effectively extending time in police cells. Police cells are not designed or resourced to safely detain people for prolonged periods, particularly those with complex medical and mental health needs, and we continue to hear from community members who are not receiving appropriate medical care while in police custody.”
“We know from Royal Commissions through to the Yoorrook Justice Commission that Aboriginal communities continue to suffer profound harm within policing and custodial systems. There must be independent oversight of police in the form of a Police Ombudsman that is resourced to investigate complaints from Aboriginal people. History demands ongoing accountability and meaningful reform, and we will continue to advocate until those standards are met.”