In 1998, 93 people died in police or prison custody—a fall of 10 from the record year of 1997 (Dalton 1998a). That year, 1997, saw a significant in-crease in the number of prison deaths of non-Indigenous people—a 44 per cent increase over the previous calendar year period. Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody the number of deaths of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in prison had more than doubled (from 33 in 1990 to 75 in 1997) (Dalton 1998b). The longer-term trend revealed that since 1980 the prison population had increased by 76 per cent while the number of prison deaths had increased by 150 per cent.
Compared with 1997, 1998 saw an increase (from 6 to 10) in deaths in institutional police custody and a decrease (from 22 to 14) in deaths in other custody-related police operations.
Sixteen Indigenous people died in custody in 1998 compared with 15 in 1997.
This report updates information on 1997 deaths and longer-term custodial death trends, highlighting some noticeable changes that have occurred during 1998. A number of reports examining jurisdictional and custodial patterns and changes in the causes of custodial deaths are in progress and will be available towards the end of the year.