Custodial health and safety

This theme focuses on ensuring the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of Aboriginal people held in custody. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) identified widespread systemic failures across services required to uphold a legal duty of care. RCIADIC recommended comprehensive reforms to custodial intake practices and custodial health and safety standards. It was recognised that staff were ill-equipped to respond to critical incidents in custody. Key recommendations addressed custodial staff training and record keeping, with a focus on the responsibilities of individual officers, proper accountability mechanisms, risk assessment procedures, health screening, access to culturally safe medical care, and prevention of harm—including suicide and self-harm.

Since RCIADIC, Victoria has introduced a wide range of policies and legislative changes, including the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic) and the Victoria Police Manual. Youth Justice introduced trauma-informed frameworks in the Youth Justice Bill 2024 (Vic), and Corrections Victoria developed the Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Plan to improve care in prisons. Aboriginal Cultural Awareness training has become mandatory across Victoria Police, and Police Custody Officers (PCOs) now undertake scenario-based training. Despite improvements in policy and training, the AJC determined there has is insufficient evidence of cultural change, legal accountability, or improved health outcomes for Aboriginal people.

The recent coronial inquests of Veronica Nelson and Tanya Day highlight persistent failures in custodial care, particularly the failure to act on warning signs, poor coordination between custodial and clinical systems, and inadequate healthcare access. Aboriginal community organisations including Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), and the AJC have called for stronger accountability, independent healthcare oversight in prisons, and greater use of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to deliver culturally safe services. The AJC continues to highlight the disconnect between documented policies and the lived experience of Aboriginal people in custody.