Aboriginal Man Dies at Private Prison in New South Wales

A 21-year-old Aboriginal man has died at a prison in northern New South Wales, Australia. The prison, called Clarence Correctional Centre, is located near the city of Grafton. It is run by Serco, a large British company that manages prisons in several countries. Police and Serco are both investigating how the man died, and the case will also go to a coroner — an official whose job is to look into unexpected deaths.

Serco put out a short statement saying the man died on Wednesday. The company said it felt deep sympathy for 'the family, and the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.' Serco refused to give interviews and said it could not share more details while the investigation is still going on. No further information has been released about exactly what happened.

In Australia, every death inside a prison must be reviewed by the state coroner. This is a required public inquiry, which means the process is open and transparent. The Australian Institute of Criminology, a research group that tracks these events, says 74 people have died in custody so far this year. Of those, 20 were Indigenous — meaning they belonged to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities.

This is not the first time Clarence Correctional Centre has faced serious questions. Just last month, a coroner criticized medical staff at the same prison for not giving proper care to another prisoner who died. That prisoner, 29-year-old Dictor Dongrin, was left without supervision for 21 hours while he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal. He died in the prison's medical unit in June 2022. Serco told the inquiry that it has made several improvements since then.

A government inspection report, shared with the state parliament in April of this year, found many problems at the prison. The report said the prison frequently went into 'lockdown' — meaning prisoners were confined to their cells — because there were not enough staff. It also found that mental health services were understaffed and that drug and alcohol support teams were 'overwhelmed,' meaning they had far too much work and not enough help. These findings painted a troubling picture of life inside the facility.

The inspection report also raised serious concerns about the treatment of Aboriginal prisoners. It noted that there was no Aboriginal health worker at the prison during the inspection, even though Aboriginal people made up 37 percent of all prisoners there. It also said there were 'almost no opportunities for Aboriginal people to connect with and learn about their culture.' The inspector made 47 separate recommendations — suggestions for improvement — to help fix these problems. In response, Serco said there was 'always scope to strengthen welfare support' and that it remained 'committed to the wellbeing of all people in custody.'