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A mother denied the right to attend her son’s funeral
by Joyce Capewell 10 January 2014
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lose your eyes and picture, if you’re a mother, how you would feel if you were denied, by force, the opportunity to attend the funeral of your teenage son who received fatal injuries after accidentally falling from a roof? I’m a mother and I don’t know if I would be able to, or know of too many other mothers who would be able to live with themselves if placed in the same position as a mother in my hometown of Geraldton. Who wants to bury their child? And even worse, who wants to miss the burial of their child should that unfortunate circumstance arise? Now to add an even heinous aspect to this dreadful circumstance – try thinking how you would feel if you were absent from the funeral of your son whilst locked in a small cell inside a notorious prison. This happened to a mother who was denied the right to say a final goodbye, because of the government system that has proven time and time again, it fails the very people they are assigned to rehabilitate. The ongoing generational racist incarceration of Aboriginal people by the West Australian Department of Corrective Services system speaks volumes of its standing in our community. This impoverished mother was incarcerated due to unfortunate circumstances in life, which is a probable occurrence for many Aboriginal people, during their lifetime. Incarceration for many Aboriginal people is likely due to the ongoing result of the appalling
hand dealt to them during their life and of which is linked to the oppression of our people through the history of white settlement. Aboriginals struggle and deal with directed racism practices from governments and society generally on a daily basis. Why is it that Aboriginal people who make up only 3% of this country’s total population, yet are grossly overrepresented in prisons throughout the nation? The practice of imprisonment as a solution for dealing with Aboriginal people has been around since invasion days and is the preferred option today for judges at the behest of governments. We Aboriginals often feel despair and hopelessness, perceiving it is too hard to fix our appalling overrepresentation in the justice system. The Government certainly do not mind as it keeps the Aboriginals out of mind and out of sight, and under the thumb, so to speak. The poor racism operations within the Western Australian
Government DCS system continue to go from bad to worse for Aboriginals. This demonstrated by the unbelievable 45% incarceration rates of Aboriginals in WA and in some prisons in the north, as much as total representation of all those locked up inside. And so back to the mother in question at the beginning of this article; she was refused the right to attend her 13-year-old son’s funeral last Monday morning because of the government and government officials being embarrassed by two Aboriginal prisoners escaping from custody. She has basic human rights just like anyone else. One would imagine the process of attending the funeral of their precious child would be a universal human right for anyone, irrespective of whether they’re in or out of prison. This distraught mother was denied that very right because of a government system that continues to destroy the hearts and souls of the very people they falsely claim to be rehabilitating. The DCS system of
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WA not only fails its prisoners, but also their families. The DCS system fails Aboriginal people because of the racism evident in the chaos operations throughout their system. As a result of two prisoners escaping from a transport van on the way to the airport in Geraldton three days prior, this mother paid a price that can never ever be paid back. I understand approval was initially granted for her to attend her son’s funeral but that all changed to her detriment and that of her community with nervous prison official’s cowering response to the national media coverage. It wasn’t the mother’s problem that those two prisoners escaped from the van they were being transported in. That blame lay squarely at the incompetent feet of those in charge of the transfer system. The government official response was that she was not allowed to leave the Greenough Regional Prison to attend her son’s funeral, on the basis of transferring risks resulting from public escape of two transported prisoners. Many Yamaji people said they would’ve paid the additional money required to employ extra security to guard the mother at the funeral if she was allowed out on the day. We’ve all been to funerals where prisoners are escorted and shackled. What would be the chances of a frail, distraught mother who would be grieving the loss of her son, be able to escape into thin air when all the eyes of the community and the contingent of security were upon her? I say ‘that’s a lame excuse’ by the WA government and prison officials to condone the rejection of the mother’s release to attend her son’s funeral. The mother wasn’t a high security risk in the first instant, so how could she be a higher security risk shackled and heartbroken at the funeral of her son. How ridiculous, evil and inhumane to deny a mother the
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Yamaji people are tired of going to funerals - this one of a loved member killed in a hitand-run accident recently - but upset a Yamaji mother couldn’t be released from prison to attend a funeral of her 13 year-old son buried last Monday. File image
right to say her final farewell to a child she will never see or hold in her arms again. How will this mother feel locked in the horror that is familiar within GRP? The GRP does not provide a culturally appropriate counselling service for Aboriginal inmates and is without an Aboriginal Visitors Scheme (for the past 2 years). This mother and the rest of the prisoners with her will be feeling despair and profound hopelessness, and none of our mob is there to stand beside them! This is when they need support from our own, not white fellas and all foreign counsellors – many of which are recent arrivals from South Africa - who fail to offer culturally safe support to them! I know full well the sadness and hopelessness the mother and the other prisoners will be experiencing, at this stressful time for them all. In our culture it is severely frowned upon if you do not attend the funeral of a close family member or even those who are not. The tribal punishment
and facing family can be dire consequences. What is this mother going to tell people when she is eventually released and have to face the community? How will she explain to her two younger sons that she could not be at the funeral to comfort and hold them in her arms, as their grief stricken hearts were breaking and crying for their handsome brother they loved and will never see again, on this earth? Yamaji People, including myself, are fed up with the WA government DCS system and all the horror that goes on within the Greenough Regional Prison (on Yamaji land), that is causing unrelenting grief, stress and misery for our people; those inside and outside the prison. The Yamaji Geraldton community is at breaking point, and we ask those in Government, the DCS Head Office and the horrid GRP to “wake up” and fix their hideous racism mad mess, and stop causing unrelenting and unnecessary anxiety and grief for our imprisoned people and our community!