Deaths inside

At least 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since the end of the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody in 1991.

The royal commission emphasised the importance of monitoring and maintaining accurate data about deaths in custody. Despite public reporting and tracking through the national program of the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), detailed, up-to-date information is hard to find.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the release of its findings on 15 April, 2021, we have updated “Deaths inside”, which tracks every known Indigenous death in custody in every jurisdiction from 2008 - to 2021.

We began this project in 2018, collecting and analysing all available coronial data and other sources to build this searchable database.

We have updated it every year since then.

Each square in this database represents a person who is mourned and missed.

The figure of 474 deaths since the royal commission is based on Guardian Australia's figures for deaths since June 2019 combined with the AIC’s most recent figures, which cover 1991-92 to 2018-19.

We want to thank all the families who agreed to participate in this project.

We respectfully advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that this site contains images of and references to deceased persons.

It contains descriptions of self-harm, and we understand some viewers may find the information, images and stories contained within to be distressing.

If the content of this site raises issues for you, we have included a list of helpful resources and links to contact.