Three years after Indigenous man’s death, Corrective Services NSW boss admits only a few staff have recently begun training

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Almost three years after Indigenous man David Dungay Jr died in custody, most New South Wales prison staff have still not received physical training on the dangers of positional asphyxia.

Dungay died after a struggle with guards in his Long Bay prison cell in December 2015. He was restrained facedown by at least five officers in the “prone” position.

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He screamed “I can’t breath”, before becoming limp and vomiting. The 26-year-old couldn’t be resuscitated, a coronial inquest into his death heard earlier this year.

Play Video 4:12 'I can't breathe': footage shows David Dungay's death in custody – video

At a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday, the Corrective Services NSW commissioner, Peter Severin, admitted just a few staff had recently begun physical training regarding the dangers of positional asphyxia.



“The physical training, where we actually take the staff through the physical aspects of the application of those techniques, has not commenced until very recently,” Severin told the legal affairs hearing.

Further quizzed on how many officers had received physical training, Severin took the question on notice.

He said relevant officers had received some written advice concerning positional asphyxia “pretty much straight away” following Dungay’s death.

The Greens MP and committee member David Shoebridge said the delay in providing adequate training suggested a “systematic failure” in the NSW prisons system.

“It’s a matter of life and death and it hasn’t been addressed,” Shoebridge said. “It is very disturbing there has been such a delay and that has exposed thousands of prisoners to dangerous restraint.”

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But a Corrective Services spokeswoman later said a 2016 investigation into Dungay’s death had prompted many changes in policy and training procedures.

“Extensive consultation occurred between Custodial Corrections, Security and Intelligence and Justice Health in relation to policies and procedures relating to the use of force on inmates,” the spokeswoman said.

“We have also developed a new training course for all officers involved in the use of force on inmates. It ... includes training on how to avoid the risk of positional asphyxia.”

The spokeswoman said the course was currently being rolled out to immediate action teams. IAT officers were involved in Dungay’s death.