Inquest into death of Indigenous inmate hears guard watched television on shift

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An inquest into the death of an Indigenous inmate has heard a guard was watching a soccer game as the prisoner was attempting to take his own life. Tian Jarrah Denniss died at Silverwater prison in 2023. Indigenous viewers are advised this story contains images of a person who has died.

Transcript

00:00The family of Tian Jarrah Dennis wears the pain of his loss on their hearts.

00:08He was a family man. Yeah, he was very outgoing.

00:12The proud Wiradjuri man once aspired to be a police liaison officer,

00:17but at 33 he died by suicide inside Silverwater Prison in August 2023.

00:24Dennis was originally remanded in Canberra

00:26before requesting a transfer to New South Wales in 2021.

00:31The inquest heard Dennis moved to prison 17 times in the two years before his death.

00:37Just seven minutes before he was found unconscious, he had threatened to hang himself.

00:41It would be another 90 seconds before guards called for help.

00:46A corrective services officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons,

00:50conceded he was watching a soccer game in the moments leading up to his death.

00:53It was the guards' first day working in that unit.

00:57Counsel assisting the coroner, Kirsten Edwards, SC, repeatedly grilled the officer over his actions.

01:03He admitted in court that it wasn't appropriate to be watching TV while on shift.

01:08No, we haven't received an apology yet. No, we haven't.

01:11But we're hoping, hopefully, they can see the wrong in what they've done.

01:15Dennis is one of 608 Indigenous people to have died in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission.

01:22While he was in custody in the ACT, he was told he was being mocked by prison staff

01:28who were drawing him as the subject of a hangman game.

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