Despite a 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, there appears to be a lack of political will to tackle the issue - as the increasing indigenous death toll demonstrates.

The commission investigated 99 deaths in custody and delivered 339
recommendations. The statistics, however, indicate that these have been largely ignored by Australian prison and police authorities.

Australian Institute of Criminology director Dr Adam Graycar reported last year: "In the decade before the royal commission, 12.1 per cent of deaths in prison were Aboriginal people. In the decade since, that has risen to 17.2 per cent."

While the number of deaths in prison had fallen from 68 in 1998 to 55 in 1999, the number of Aboriginal deaths increased from nine to 13 - with six more dying in police custody or during police operations in 1999.

Of total deaths in custody last year, Aboriginal people made up about 28.9 per cent - that's nearly one in three - a shocking statistic for a minority group that comprises only 2.1 per cent of the Australian population.

Other trends revealed by the institute show that the number of indigenous
prisoners had more than doubled, rising by 107 per cent between 1988 and 1998.

A report by the NSW Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council recently found in 1998 that Aborigines constituted a fifth of all those prosecuted for trivial offences such as offensive language and conduct charges.

Analysis of Aboriginal deaths in custody showed that hanging was the most frequent cause of death.

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