Thirty years after the 1991 Royal Commission into Indigenous deaths in custody, many of its recommendations have yet to be implemented. Not only have we now reached the sad milestone of 500 Indigenous people dying in custody since its release, not a single person has been held accountable for any of these deaths. On this episode of Broken Chains we talk to Donna Meehan, an author and survivor of the stolen generation, about issues including Indigenous deaths in custody,  the Australian Black Lives Matter movement and her involvement in Kairos Prison Ministries.

Links:

• Learn more about Donna's memoir  "It Is No Secret. The story of a Stolen Child" at Penguin books.
• Learn more about the Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families  "Bringing Them Home Report (1997) 
• Find out more about the IPROWD program.
• Listen to stories about Christmas in prison on ABC Radio National's program 'Who's going to make the gravy.'
• Dodson, Pat (17 April 2021). "Thirty years on, I sense the same storm brewing around Aboriginal deaths in custody". The Guardian.
• Kirkwood, Ian (7 June 2020). "5000 turn out for Black Lives Matter rally the biggest in Newcastle for years". The Newcastle Herald.
• Valentish, Jenny (12 April 2021). "'I had not one friend in the job to debrief with': life as an Indigenous police officer". The Guardian.
• There have been 500 Indigenous deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991 nobody has been held accountable for these deaths. Indigenous people are six times more likely to die in custody than non-Indigenous people.
• Allam, Lorena (6 December 2021). "'Beyond heartbreaking': 500 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991 royal commission". The Guardian. 
• Learn more about the Kairos Prison Ministries  program.   

Views expressed disclaimer:

The views, thoughts, opinions expressed throughout this series are solely attributed to the host and guests of the program and do not reflect those of the City of Newcastle.