_From 1987 to 1991 Australia held a Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC). The Commission studied and reported on the high level of deaths of Aboriginal people
whilst in custody after being arrested or convicted of committing
crimes. This included suicide, natural causes, medical conditions and
injuries caused by police.
One major finding of this Royal Commission was that the actions of police officers were not the direct cause of these deaths.
_Terrance Daniel Briscoe died shortly after being arrested by police on Thursday, 5th January. On the same day, his uncle, Daniel Taylor, wrote this letter to Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson this letter demanding an explanation.
Terrance Daniel Briscoe.
_
Date: Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 10:53 PM
Subject: An Easy Death in Protective Custody - Terrance Daniel Briscoe,
5/1/2012
To: Chief.Minister
Hon Paul Raymond Henderson MLA
Dear Chief Minister,
Re: The death in protective custody in Alice Springs of Terrance Daniel Briscoe,
5/1/2012
It was not an easy death for Terrance Daniel Briscoe, aged 28, early this
morning Thursday 5th January 2012 in protective custody at the Alice Springs
police lockup.
But for the people of Alice Springs, Terry's death is as unremarkable as so
much of road kill on the Stuart Highway, which cuts through town on it's way
from Adelaide to Darwin. All the respectable folk in town could get pissed to
their hearts content at the local pub, and perhaps catch a taxi home,
blissfully unaware of the events in the lockup down the road. For Aboriginal
people, and for Mr Briscoe in particular it's the usual story of a casual drink
with friends, then being taken into protective custody by police, conflicting
reports of a bashing or a fall in custody, no medical care, and a one way trip
to the cemetery.
The police say Terry injured his head by falling while in custody and later
died of cardiac arrest. He was only 28. Terry's friends who were arrested with
him say they saw five officers bash him.
Wonder we all do how Terry was healthy when arrested, and zipped into a body
bag when released.
How and why? How Terry died will no doubt be the matter of much dispute. Will
the police be able to collaborate on their stories? Or if the investigation is
to be worth it's salt are they to be separated and put off duty while the
investigation proceeds.
Why didn't Terry receive any medical attention for his injuries?
And why was Terry arrested at all. Is the Northern Territory zero tolerance
policy on public drinking, just a policy for locking up Aboriginal people? If
the intervention is forcing Aboriginal people to migrate off their homelands
and come to Alice Springs, that's not a reason to lock them up in protective
custody. And how protective is protective custody? Since the Northern Territory
Intervention did away with the Community Development Employment Program, it has
reduced the capacity of local Aboriginal communities to support their members
in all of their situations and difficulties, including support and help for
those who are drunk.
Most of us have been drunk at some stage in our lives, but for Terry it meant
being taken into protective custody. I've met many indigenous people who
literally don't touch a drop over the last several decades. The indigenous
community has the highest rate of non-drinkers of all the community groups in
Australia. Many leave drinking later in life and there is no reason Terry could
not have done the same.
If the information that Terry Briscoe was subjected to a bashing is proven,
then there is every reason to believe that it has something to do with his
subsequent death.
If Terry had been alive 50 years ago men like him would have been the backbone
of the Northern Territory economy, and one hundred years ago men like him would
have been warriors of their tribes, knowledgable, fit and capable men.
Now Terry has been reduced to another death in protective custody. Australia is
diminished for it.
I ask that your government ensure that Terry's death is not in vain. A thorough
and impartial investigation must be carried out to ensure that the whole truth
of the circumstances of his death are investigated and the truth achieved. Any
death in custody, especially given the circumstances here, is to be treated as
a homicide unless it is shown to be otherwise. That means that the investigation
must proceed with serious intent to get to the truth at all costs.
Terrance was my nephew by marriage.
Daniel Taylor
DEATH IN CUSTODY Man dead in police cell after arrest
_In 2004, Palm Island resident Cameron Doomadgee was arrested for public drunken- ness and died in police custody a few hours later. In January 2010, a 34 year old Aboriginal man died while in custody in Darwin. While
the deaths in custody of Aboriginal people are alarming to say the
least, few of us outside the immediate community of those who have
suffered, are aware it is even happening. The CPA Brisbane Branch looks at who else has died in custody among the Aboriginal community since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody between 1987 and 1991.
_The family of an Aboriginal man who died while in police custody in Alice
Springs, Northern Territory say officers beat him shortly before his death.At 2am on January 5, 2012, Terrance Daniel
Briscoe, 28, was found unconscious in his cell in the Alice Springs
police watch house. By dawn he was dead.
The
Northern Territory's Chief Minister said on ABC radio several days
after Briscoe's death that he was "confidant" there will be a proper
investigation. But Briscoe's family is calling for an independent
investigation and the Northern Territory Police Association is claiming
there is no evidence of police brutality. Briscoe's family have said two other men in the lock up saw Mr Briscoe being assaulted by five police officers. Police
say they are investigating what happened in the four-and-a-half hours
after Mr Briscoe was taken into protective custody at 9.30 on Wednesday
night. On the same day he died, his distraught family wrote a letter to the chief minister demanding an explanation.