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Death by Neglect

Reported Andrew Fowler

11 November 2002 - A decade after a royal commission to stop Aboriginal deaths in custody, Edward Russell's story is proof not enough has changed.

Edward Russell lies in a grave without a headstone. A rough wooden cross and framed photograph suggest an unremarkable life and death.

But Edward Russell’s story is a compelling indictment of Australia’s failure to care for its most vulnerable citizens. For most of his 25 years, he found only the gaps in the safety net.

The coroner who investigated his death concluded: "...He was not a victim of the system because there was no system there to accommodate someone with Eddie’s problems."

Eight years after the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody delivered its 339 recommendations, Edward John Russell committed suicide while alone in a prison cell. His case alone casts doubt on how far Australia has progressed since the Royal Commission reported in 1991.

The royal commission hoped to stop Aborigines like Russell dying in custody. It urged far-reaching reform - not only of prison and police cells but also of the machinery that jailed Aborigines at a disproportionate rate.

Instead Russell became one of 115 Aborigines who died in custody in the decade after it reported. In the previous decade the royal commission investigated 110 deaths.

"(Russell’s death) plants us in the worst category of states, the worst category of communities, of not sufficiently caring for our own," says a barrister who appeared at the royal commission and despairs of the continuing deaths.

The manner of Russell’s death provokes questions about whether authorities have ignored many of the commission’s recommendations.

As Andrew Fowler reports, the story of Russell’s life – his intellectual handicap, his bashing by police, his account of being sexually abused, his violent sex crimes and prison merry-go-round – is one of broken trust.

Source: ABC TV: Four Corners

Transcript	Read the full story
		“Between the gaps in the cars as he walked down, I saw this...police on the right-hand side just punching into him like... had hold of him like this and just punching him as hard as he could in the side and in the stomach as he was taking him down. Sort of didn't let up with him much. He just kept pounding him. And then they just rammed his head into the back of the van and then they let him go”

related links :

• Recommendations - Death in Custody Edward John Russell
• Inquest into the Death of Edward John Russell
• Gallery of Documents
• Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC)
  .. I believe if you want a policeman to make any admissions you've got to be fully armed with everything you can get. And bear in mind they had a solicitor there sitting on their shoulder while you were talking to them and if you think that you are going to get anything out of these officers, you are entirely wrong.
• Individual death in custody reports
• The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee (Western Australia)

Further information: human rights issues page - includes news index and external links

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