Thread by @lauramoates

This is a powerful episode & is part of the update to the Guardian's Deaths Inside database by Lorena @callapilla & @NickEvershed . Every person in this country should read the below article, but I'll thread some key facts below theguardian.com/australia-news…

https://twitter.com/lauramoates/status/1380287435540586497

According to our analysis, Indigenous people who died in custody were more likely to not have been charged with any crime ( with 54% of deaths occuring while on remand, in protective custody, or while being arrested or pursued)

For both Indigenous & non-Indigenous people, the most common cause of death was medical issues, followed by self-harm. However, Indigenous people who died in custody were 3 times as likely to not receive all required medical care, when compared to non-Indigenous people.

Indigenous women were less likely to have received all appropriate medical care prior to their death (54%) compared with men (36%)

Agencies such as police watch-houses, prisons and hospitals failed to follow all of their own procedures in 43% of cases where Indigenous people died, compared with 19% of cases for non-Indigenous people

The use of force in deaths in custody was similar between both Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths, however for the 21 Indigenous deaths in custody where force was used, agencies failed to follow all of their own procedures in 62% of cases, compared with 39% for others

As Lorena says on the podcast "the elephant in the room is systemic racism. I think there's this assumption that we belong behind bars, that we are an inherently criminal people... whereas time and time again... people are dying because of systemic neglect."