On Sunday, around 150 people rallied at Long Bay Jail, Matraville, on Bidjigal Land, to protest against ongoing Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Since the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was handed down in 1991, at least 563 First Nations people have died in custody.
The rally was called by Paul Silva, nephew of Dunghutti man, David Dungay Jnr, who was killed in 2015, when several correctional officers stormed his cell at Long Bay Jail after he refused to stop eating a packet of biscuits. After being set upon by officers, he was forcibly injected with a sedative. His last words were, “I can’t breathe”. He was pronounced dead soon after, at the age of just 29.
Also present were the families of Mark Mason Snr and Aubrey Donahue, two Aboriginal men who were also killed while in police custody.
First Nations people in Australia are considered the most incarcerated people on Earth.
Judy Deacon, the mother of Jesse Deacon, a white man who was shot by NSW police during a mental health episode last year, also spoke.
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