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Rights, Freedoms and Repression
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Aborigine cooked to death in Australian prison van. international |
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 Sunday June 14, 2009 17:20 by waltzin matilda
 Western Australia's Attorney General is looking at whether the government can and should terminate a prison transport company's contract in the wake of a scathing coroner's report. The State Coroner Alastair Hope examined the death of an Aboriginal elder in the back of a prison van. Mr Ward was transported across Western Australia from the city of Laverton to Kalgoorlie, a mostly desert region know as Goldfields. Temperatures were recorded at 47º on the day. Although there was no airconditioning he was given 600ml of water to ease his suffering and ensure a comfortable 250 mile or 400 km journey.  Elder Ward's family will sue - while the government consider criminal charges and dropping the contract next year. This alas is not the only recent case of appalling prisoner abuse, which despite the attempts by the Rudd regime in Australia to put brutal disregard for human rights and aboriginals behind, are still clearly present & most worryingly abuse of a racist nature is connected to the subcontracted firm in question. |
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Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7This case clearly shows the unintended consequences of privatization.They have to cut corners to maximize profit. Thus, drivers did not have adequate training for the job.The van and the air conditioning system were defective. The man could have been alive today if the Government had their own transportation.
"Who Killed Mr. Ward"
broadcast on ABC TV
June 15th.
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20090615/ward/
A single accidental death does not tell us much about the evils of a "system".
Such deaths are most often due to carelessness or stupidity.
In America for instance,one child has,on average, been killed every 10 days for the last eleven years by being roasted alive by the sun in a car.
423 children died like that in the US between 1988 and 2009.
Up to the minute statistics here:
http://ggweather.com/heat/
Just some of the individual tragic reality "behind" the statistics:
http://www.momlogic.com/2008/08/2_more_kids_die_in_hot_...s.php
.
"A single accidental death does not tell us much about the evils of a "system"."
Dear Mathemetician,
If you are at all disturbed by this death of an aboriginal elder, (White Australia usually loses any sleep over such incidents), I suggest you follow the links in the original article to discover the pattern of aboriginal deaths in custody and view the ABC 4 Corners program link on this particular case.
You will conclude this is far from an isolated incident and observe the gross negligence and predictability of this man's killing in custody. You will all so observe the lack of accountability of those charged with a duty of care in this incident.
Neither of the privatised guards faced internal disciplinary procedures following the incident. The senior driver had been (previous to this incident) demoted within the company for racist abuse of indigeneous prisons (must have been bad as such activity rarely registers on the radar in my experience of Australian prisons).
Last year celebrated actor Peter Postlewaithe ("In the Name of the Father" "Romeo & Juliet" etc etc) did a free screening in Temple Bar's Butter Factory of his film Liyarn Ngarin dealing with aboriginal deaths in custody in Westermn Australia and systematic Australian racism to a very small turnout in a town with abundant with Australian backpackers and expats
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/88142#comment231604
The overcrowding at Mountjoy continues with little observation by the Irish left, NGO's and others...which all may indicate that people care very little about aborigines or prisoners in general. Outta sight outta mind.............so don't confuse your cynicsm for wisdom
The incident took place in the West Australian remote desert community of Warburton after police approached a house where the man and others were sniffing petrol, intending to arrest them. It is unclear how the 36-year-old man, named by local media as Ronald Marshall, was set alight, but family members told the Australian newspaper that his body burst into flames after the Taser hit him on the bridge of his nose. He was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital by the flying doctor service where he is being treated for burns to 20 per cent of his body. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported he had suffered third degree burns to his face, arms and chest. Morinda West, Mr Marshall's sister, told the Australian he was sniffing petrol in his mother's house at the Goldfields Aboriginal community when police banged on the door and asked him to come out. He went to the front of the house with a lighter and a two-litre orange juice container full of petrol, she said. "He must have put petrol on his face, then the policeman shot him with the Taser, that's when the flames happened," she said. A police spokesman said a male police officer fired the Taser when Mr Mitchell ran at police with the petrol container and refused to stop when officers repeatedly told him to. She said Mr Mitchell then caught alight and the police officer immediately went to his aid, smothering the flames with his arms. She said at the same time the male officer was hit in the head with rocks thrown by an 18-year-old woman. A police investigation into the incident is underway.
______________________
A police investigation generally is accompanied by a statement defending brutality and sheer bloody-minded ignorance by a senior cop.
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Western Australia's Police Commissioner has defended the use of a Taser on a man at the remote Warburton Aboriginal community. It Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says using the Taser was justified."This person is known to have a history of violence," he said. "This person came out with a lighter in one hand and a container of fuel in the other hand. "The police officers were extremely concerned for their safety and deployed a Taser. Just remember that two years ago, their only option would have been to deploy a firearm." so there you have it - lucky Mr Marshall might have just had warning shots????
Mr O'Callaghan, says the officers had few options. "There's no specific prohibitions given but police are advised that they should, where possible, avoid using them in circumstances where there's flammable liquid," he said. "I think you have to understand the situation here WA that the police officers were confronted with."
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you can listen to an MP3 of Ozzie cop or "harold" as they're known in WA speaking English here :-
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/news-audio/20090...v.mp3
$Aus3.2 million compensation in Ward death in custody announced
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/7669035/w...tion/
If you follow that link through the 'national' tab you'll find a report of the deportation of Aboriginal 'vagrants' from the tourist area of Broome back to their 'places of origin'(i.e. back under the carpet on the mission station reservations in the badlands).It also refers to the 'alcohol problems' of these vagrants.As though their drinking had no connection to conditions they have been subjected to for centuries and were some weather effect or moral failure to take their displacement with stoic acceptance.Same bigotry our Travellers face, particularly from the descendants of our planter visitors.Keep the reminders of legalised theft well out of sight.