2025-11-19
First Nations peak bodies, University Law Schools and legal experts have been critical of the Minister for Corrections Anoulack Chanthivong for progressing laws that will worsen the risks of deaths in custody following the NSW State Coroner’s rare statement criticizing the worst year for First Nations deaths in custody on record.
In an open letter,First Nations peak bodies, and law experts warned that “Incarcerated people subjected to discipline proceedings, who are locked in solitary confinement, fined, and deprived of basic privileges like phone calls and visits with loved ones, are at increased risk of acute and ongoing mental and physical harm, and even dying in custody, if these laws pass.”
The reforms in question, which are set to pass the NSW Legislative Council today, change the standard of proof for correctional centre offences so findings of guilt can be made on the lesser standard of “the balance of probabilities” rather than “beyond reasonable doubt”. They follow a damning NSW Ombudsman investigation that exposed a shocking culture of lawlessness within Corrective Services.
Greens MP, spokesperson for Justice and solicitor Sue Higginson said:
“First Nations peak bodies and legal experts are incredibly concerned at the Minns Government’s attempt to let our prison system off the hook after the Ombudsman exposed serious maladministration and law-breaking in the inmate discipline system to the detriment of at risk vulnerable inmates,”
“We know the inmate discipline system is used, often unlawfully, to place inmates in solitary confinement, to impose some of the harshest removals of privileges in the developed world, and to fine inmates,”
“The only person the Corrections Minister has consulted with on this Bill, other than the Premier it would seem, is the leadership of the prison guard’s union, he has clearly snubbed legal experts and First Nations peak bodies even though these laws fly in the face of the advice of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody,”
“It’s shocking that the Minns Labor Government introduced a Bill that will increase the risk of First Nations deaths in custody during the same week the Coroner released a statement saying we were in the worst year for First Nations deaths in custody on record,”
“The Minns Labor Government is ignoring the Ombudsman, who explicitly warned against watering down these standards. The Parliament’s own Legislative Review Committee has warned these laws may contravene international law, by increasing the likelihood of solitary confinement and by denying incarcerated people the presumption of innocence,”
“NSW Labor needs to take the deaths in custody crisis seriously, and that means sitting down with First Nations people and experts to hold our prison system accountable for lawlessness and harm. This Bill does the exact opposite, it endorses more punishment against at risk vulnerable First Nations people in law,” Ms Higginson said.