Faith in action
National Reconciliation Week 2024
Join us as together we pursue ‘Reconciliation Through the Cross’ by humbling ourselves, laying down our defences, and daring to take up our cross as we imitate Christ’s sacrificial love.
Read moreLearn the facts about incarceration rates
'Change The Record' is an initiative of the National Justice Coalition, a coalition that is overseen by a Steering Committee, made up of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, human rights and community organisations. It provides statistics about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in incarceration, plus proposes solutions at all levels in its Blueprint For Change.
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) (1987–1991) was a Royal Commission appointed by the Australian Government in October 1987 to study and report upon the underlying social, cultural and legal issues behind the deaths in custody of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, in the light of the high level of such deaths.
Read the 339 Recommendations from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody.
Please read these recommendations and this review of the implementation of these recommendations, commissioned by Amnesty International Australia and drafted by Clayton Utz, are essential reading, especially as another Royal Commission is conducted.
Read Brooke Prentis's Reflection on the need for Real Change.
More info:
- Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody – Fact sheet 112
- Join the Change the Record campaign
- Creative Spirits articles on the Royal Commission
Recent Guardian Reporting
More than 400 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since the end of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991.
The royal commission emphasised the importance of monitoring and maintaining accurate data about deaths in custody. Despite public reporting and tracking through the Australian Institute of Criminology’s national program, detailed, up-to-date information is hard to find.
Guardian Australia’s reporting team has spent months collecting and analysing all available coronial data and other sources to build this searchable database. “Deaths inside” tracks every known Indigenous death in custody in every jurisdiction from 2008 - 2019. See their database here.
Other Resources
Read our Reconciliation Week 2019 blog on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Take Action by writing a letter or email to the Minister for Corrections and Minister for Police in your state, encouraging them to take action to stop Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. We’ve created a template letter and provided ministers contact details here.
Pray with us: We’ve compiled powerful prayers for Stolen Lives.
In 2018, to mark the 2nd anniversary of Wayne Fella Morrison's death in custody, we held Prayer Vigils across Australia. View the resources from these Prayer Vigils here.
