The committee also determined that the Bail Act should be reformed to include an express consideration of Aboriginality as a provision to ensure people were not left on remand.
Aboriginal defendants are 20.4% more likely to be refused bail by police than non-Aboriginal defendants in similar cases, according to a recent NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Bocsar) study of more than 500,000 bail decisions made in NSW between 2015 and 2019.
Guardian Australiaâs Deaths Inside project found that, nationally, more than half (54%) of all Aboriginal people who died in custody between 2008 and 2021 were on remand.
The NSW committee recommended the urgent removal of hanging points in prison cells and urged the government to commit to a deadline for doing so. It cited the case of Tane Chatfield, who died in hospital two days after he was found hanging in his cell at the Tamworth correctional centre in September 2017.
Families, politicians say not enough has changed 30 years on from Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Nioka Chatfield says authorities were obligated to keep her son safe.
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Key points:
Labor senator Pat Dodson has called for national leadership to prevent more deaths
The Indigenous prison population has doubled in the past 30 years
But this year on April 1, Nioka and Colin Chatfield bundled their family into their white mini-van, picked up a cake from the local bakery and drove to their son s graveside at the Armidale Cemetery to mark what would have been his 26th birthday.
Interest in Saskatchewan Aurora Hunters group spikes during pandemic
Monday, March 8th 2021, 12:29 pm - The Facebook group s membership has doubled to more than 10,000 in recent months.
The Saskatchewan Aurora Hunters Facebook page started out as a place where Colin Chatfield and his photographer friends could co-ordinate how best to capture one of the greatest light shows on Earth: the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
They d discuss strategy, techniques, locations and the gear required to capture the stunning natural phenomenon that sparks brilliant greens, pinks and yellows across Saskatchewan s prairie sky. But over the years, the page has changed.
It s grown from a local gathering place for a group of friends to a community of more than 10,000 people eager to share their own images of the night sky including newcomers ready to learn the basics of how to take the best shot of something so present, yet evasive to an untrained lens.
Posted: Mar 08, 2021 6:00 AM CT | Last Updated: March 8
This photo of the aurora borealis was taken in 2017 near 8th Street in Saskatoon by the founder of the Saskatchewan Aurora Hunters Facebook page, Colin Chatfield. The group has more than 10,000 members.(Supplied by Colin Chatfield.)