Ward Campaign for Justice

“A question which is raised by the case is how a society, which would like to think of itself as being civilised, could allow a human being to be transported in such circumstances” —Alistair Hope, Coroner (WA)

The Ward Campaign for Justice

The Ward Campaign for Justice which ran for 2 years from 2008 - 2010, was a multi faceted campaign coordinated by the Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc around the tragic circumstances leading to the death in custody of Aboriginal Elder Mr Ward. The aims of the campaign were to raise awareness to the story of Mr Ward and to bring about lasting change to the Western Australian Justice System and Custodial Services.

The campaigns aim was also to ensure that this never happens again!

The Story leading to the campaign...

Death of Aboriginal Elder

"On Australia Day 2008 a man was arrested for allegedly drink-driving. He was charged with one count of drink-driving and taken to the local lockup. He was then driven 570 kilometres to a courthouse, remanded in custody and driven a further 352 kilometres to a prison. As they approached the prison it was noted that he was unconscious. He died shortly after. He was Aboriginal. His death can be added to the eight black deaths in custody in 25 days in the Northern Territory already this year. If eight white teenagers died in custody in Victoria in 25 days there would be uproar."

"When wealthy white businessmen and sporting personalities are picked up for drink-driving, they are charged and then allowed to go home. We know that some of them have been abusive and non-compliant but they are still not locked up. Why was this man transported nearly 1000 kilometres in over 40-degree heat for a similar charge? It will likely be more than a year before a coronial inquiry. An apology is long overdue as is equality and justice for Indigenous Australians."

(The Age, Feb. 2 2008, Letters: "Justice long overdue", Pamela Curr, and Brunswick)

More,

* Mr Ward, aged 46, from Warburton, who was a well respected hard working member of the community, father of five and community elder who had a very strong knowledge of traditional law and culture, died from heat stroke after being transported from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in January 2008. The journey lasted four hours and outside temperatures were in the mid 40s.

* The air-conditioning in the rear of the van was not working.

* The air temperature in the back of his prison van could have been more than 50 degrees Celsius.

* A senior chemist who assisted in a re-enactment of the incident in similar conditions told the inquiry the air temperature in the back of the van reached 50.4C. He also told the court the surface temperature of the metal floor in the back peaked at 56.6C during the re-enactment.

* Mr Ward, 46, suffered third-degree burns when his skin came into contact with a hot metal surface in the back of the van.

* Mr Ward had a body temperature of 41.7 degrees Celsius, despite attempts by staff at Kalgoorlie Hospital to cool him with ice and water for 20 minutes on arrival, they failed to revive him.

Global Solutions Limited now G4S

* GSL staff had concerns about the condition of a prison van, used to transport Mr Ward.

* Transport guards failed to obey instructions to provide water and routine checks.

* A supervisor from the transport company GSL testified the guards Graham Kenneth Powell and his colleague Nina Mary Stokoe should have done a routine stop to check on Mr Ward.

* One of the guards, Mr Powell who transported Mr Ward, had previously been stood down by GSL for breaching procedure. Mr Powell told the inquest he was stood down by GSL for six months, a year before the incident because he had breached a number of company procedures.

* Nina Stokoe said they also should have provided him with water. She told the court those breaches could have contributed to Mr Ward's death.

* Leanne Jenkins, a supervisor from transport company GSL, told the court the two officers, Nina Mary Stokoe and Graham Powell, blatantly disregarded her instructions.

* GSL, ignored advice not to use the vehicle for long trips.

* GSL staff had expressed concerns about the van's condition.

* The vehicle used to transport Mr Ward had no first aid kit or spare tyre and that the security camera in the back was faulty.

* The Kalgoorlie-based supervisor for GSL, Leanne Jenkins, warned her superiors just four months before Ward's death that someone would "eventually die" if the company's outdated and poorly maintained vans were not replaced. Ms Jenkins said the only response she received was that any vehicles in need of repairs should not be driven. She said the two vans based at Kalgoorlie always had problems and were not suitable for long trips.

* GSL had raised concerns with the State Government about the poor state of the vans. GSL’s site supervisor in Kalgoorlie-Boulder Leanne Jenkins told the hearing she had warned management an incident would occur unless the vehicles were replaced. “Someone will eventually die,” Ms Jenkins said. “It was a danger to staff as well. Someone was going to get hurt eventually.”

* In the days following Mr Ward's death, two separate internal reports by GSL management, given to the state government, concluded the prisoner had died of a heart attack and stroke. This was before any official cause of death had been released.

* Under the terms of GSL's contract with the WA Department of Corrective Services, the company can be fined $100,000 if found by the Coroner to have failed in its duty of care.

State Government & G4S

* GSL is contracted by the WA government to provide prisoner transport services and by the federal government to run immigration detention camps and transport immigration detainees and prisoners.

* GSL took over the State's prison management contract in 2007 after a series of incidents involving previous contractor Australian Integrated Management Service (AIM).

* GSL was controversially awarded the $70 million prisoner transport, court custody and security services contract last year when the company bought out the previous contractor Australian Integrated Management Service.

* Letters obtained under Freedom of Information laws revealed the Inspector for Custodial Services, Richard Harding, told Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk in April that the plan for GSL to take over the contract was unwise and risky.

* Despite his advice, Cabinet not only approved the takeover of the AIMS contract by GSL last July, but days later it extended the deal by three years without any public tender process.

* WA Custodial Services Inspector Richard Harding wrote to GSL in 2007 outlining six concerns, including "GSL's capacity to cope with the logistical challenge of running a transport service across such huge distances as are involved with Western Australia".

* A 2005 federal government inquiry found GSL failed to provide medical assessments and treatments for injured detainees who were being transferred to the Baxter detention centre in South Australia from Maribyrnong in 2004. The probe found the van used to transport detainees was "unsafe and inhumane" with air-conditioning design faults.

* The five were sent an apology and compensated by the immigration department.

* Western Australia's custodial services watchdog has revealed it wrote to the government's prisoner transport contractor, GSL, in 2007 raising concerns about its ability to transport prisoners safely. "I stressed I wasn't happy that the Department had adequately briefed them on how bad the vehicle fleet was, how much it was in need of replacement, and I warned them that they should get an undertaking from the department to replace the fleet," he said.

* Inspector for Custodial Services Richard Harding said the man's death was an unnecessary result of continual neglect of Aboriginal prisoners in WA. "What this case highlights is the conditions under which we imprison and transport Aboriginals in regional areas is simply not acceptable," Mr Harding said.

____________________________

"I would like my children and my people to maintain their cultural values: the law, the connection to the land. They know they are a part of Australia, but the most important thing for them is their cultural values. There should be recognition on the part of Australia at large of that value. We have two worlds that people here live in: the traditional way and the Australian citizen way. I want my children also to live in those two worlds." - Mr Ward, interview The Australian Newspaper, 2006

_____________________________

The campaigned achieved huge public support and one of the largest rallies seen in Perth took place significantly raising the profile of the issues around prisoner transport. The result was significant changes to the transport of prisoners now from road to air, at great cost to the Department of Corrective Services and the State Government of Western Australia.

Although there is still a long way to go to improve a multitude of other issues facing our over stretched prison service, we have started the jouney of ensuring someone is watching and there will be someone who can speak for the voiceless at all times. We will hold those responsible to account.

The Government of Western Australia was held to account and we must thank the people of Australia who joined or supported the campaign in some way, we couldn't have done it without you!

The Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA) Inc.