Death of a prisoner in Australia following officer violence
Australian media reported that a prisoner suffering a seizure was handcuffed by guards, hooded, and left alone in a cell, despite being in a critical medical condition. The man died two days later.
During the investigation into the death of Wayne Hunt at Darwin Correctional Centre, the Northern Territory Department of Corrections apologized to his family for the way he was treated and told Coroner Elizabeth Armitage that procedural changes would be made.
Hunt had been serving only a few days of his sentence for dangerous driving causing death when the incident occurred. He had just turned 56 and had been deemed medically fit to serve his term.
Mary Chalmers, a lawyer assisting the coroner, said the prison’s health staff’s handling of the case was being reviewed.
Chalmers testified that two nurses and a correctional officer were present when Hunt suffered the seizure. However, his post-seizure distress was misinterpreted by prison staff as disobedience and resistance.
Instead of being taken to the prison’s medical facility for examination, Hunt was handcuffed, hooded, stripped naked, and left on the floor of his cell.
Rather than being monitored by medical personnel, he was watched by prison officers overnight under suicide-prevention protocols. The following morning, Hunt was found unconscious on the cell floor, never regained consciousness, and was taken off life support two days later.
Chalmers emphasized that the family and the public deserve to know how a relatively healthy 56-year-old man, who had entered custody with his prescribed medication, could die within just three days.
Australia’s prison death crisis
The issue of deaths in custody has been a sensitive and ongoing problem in Australia since the 1990s, monitored by the National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP) under the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC).
Established in 1991 in response to rising deaths in custody, the program tracks fatalities in prisons, police custody, and youth detention centers.
Data shows a gradual increase in deaths, largely due to an aging inmate population and mental health challenges. However, Indigenous Australians continue to die in custody at disproportionately higher rates compared to non-Indigenous people.
According to official figures:
- 2020–2021: at least 82 deaths
- 2021–2022: at least 106 deaths
- 2022–2023: at least 110 deaths
- 2023–2024: at least 104 deaths
This equates to a death rate of 0.17 per 100 prisoners in the 2023–2024 period.
Since 1980, over 3,000 deaths in custody have been recorded across Australia — with around 70% occurring in prisons.