Following the recent deaths of three Aboriginal detainees within a six-month period, independent MLA Thomas Emerson will bring a motion to the ACT Legislative Assembly backing community calls for the ACT government to launch a Board of Inquiry into the treatment of Aboriginal people in the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC).
Emerson said systemic action was needed to address the escalating rate of Aboriginal people dying in custody.
“It’s time for a targeted examination of why Aboriginal people continue to die in our prison,” he said.
“We need a Board of Inquiry to unearth and lay bare the harsh reality of what’s really happening in the AMC.
“We’re failing some of our city’s most marginalised people. Worse than that, they’re dying in a place that’s supposed to rehabilitate them.
“We hear a lot about the government’s commitment to providing culturally safe services, but clearly that commitment isn’t reaching the AMC.
“It’s morally reprehensible to continue ignoring calls from affected families for accountability and action. A prison sentence should not be a death sentence.”
Full article here: https://citynews.com.au/2025/emerson-presses-government-for-prison-inquiry/