The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has sought a meeting with corrections minister Steve Herbert to formalise notification arrangements for Indigenous deaths in custody after authorities took five days to inform them of a death at a Gippsland prison.
The chief executive, Wayne Muir, said he had not been able to find any record of prison management contacting VALS following the death of a 41-year-old Indigenous man at Fulham correctional centre, a medium-security prison about 200km east of Melbourne, despite the corrections department’s assurances that it had sent a communique to Victoria’s peak Indigenous justice organisation, the Koori Caucus.
The man died on 3 September and Corrections Victoria says it notified the Koori Caucus about five days later, after police had been able to find his next of kin. Muir said he would ask Herbert to enshrine in policy the “historic practice” of specifically notifying VALS following a death.
“Our concern is that the family needs some independent support and not just the support that’s provided by Corrections Victoria,” Muir told Guardian Australia.
He said the failure to notify VALS, coming two months after police in New South Wales failed to notify the Aboriginal legal service in that state of the death in custody of Indigenous woman Rebecca Maher, was a focus of a national meeting of Indigenous legal organisations in Alice Springs this week.
However, a spokesman for Herbert said in a statement to Guardian Australia that VALS was notified of the death in custody and that the minister’s office had asked to meet with VALS senior representatives “to discuss their concerns.”
The meeting, convened by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATILS), also raised the need for a dedicated youth justice court in central Australia, saying the Northern Territory was remanding children in breach of its own laws because of a lack of appropriate resources.
It comes as two Indigenous teenage boys, who were arrested on Monday, were told they would have to remain in custody until Friday, when they are listed to appear before the adult’s magistrates court in Alice Springs.
Muir, who is also co-chair of the NATSILS, said such delays were common occurrence in Alice Springs and breached the Territory’s Youth Justice Act. Section 27 of the act requires youths remanded in custody be brought before a court “as soon as practicable” and not more than seven days after their arrest.
He said it was “unclear” why the youths have not been listed to appear until Friday, given the court in Alice Springs sits five days a week, and that a dedicated youth justice court, like the one that operates in Darwin, would prevent such delays from occurring.
“We are unsure why the administration of justice is different in Alice Springs to it is in Darwin,” he said.
A Northern Territory government spokesman said upgraded court facilities in Alice Springs would have a separate courtroom for youth matters.
“Whilst at this stage the Department of the Attorney General and Justice does not plan to construct a separate youth justice court at Alice Springs there are plans to improve the way in which youth are managed in the current building when the supreme court relocates to its new building in early 2017,” a Department of Attorney General and Justice spokesman said.
He said the two Indigenous boys, aged 15 and 16, were being held at Alice Springs youth detention centre and earlier reports they were being held in a police lockup used by adults were false.
