By Lloyd Jones and AAP

It’s been 35 years since a landmark report on Aboriginal deaths in custody, yet Indigenous Australians remain among the world’s most incarcerated people.

A royal commission in 1991 set out 339 recommendations to address death-in-custody causes and over-representation of First Nations people in the criminal justice system.

It concluded Indigenous Australians had a higher chance of dying in custody simply because they had a higher chance of being put in custody to begin with.

Named for its founding commissioner, Justice James Muirhead QC, the inquiry identified systemic discrimination as the key driver of over-incarceration and recommended alternatives to imprisonment.

But since the release of its final report, more than 630 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in the custody of police or corrective services.

Official figures show 33 Indigenous deaths in custody across the nation in 2024/25, the highest number since 1979/80.

William Tilmouth, co-chair of Indigenous child advocacy group Children’s Ground, says it should be one of Australia’s greatest shames in terms of how it treats First Nations people.

“There’s nothing to celebrate even though it is the 35th anniversary,” he said.

“When they talk about empowerment of Aboriginal people and giving them agency in their lives, that was never achieved.”