LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The Northern Territory Coroner has handed down a damning report on the death of an Aboriginal man in custody in Alice Springs this year.

27-year-old Kwementyaye Briscoe died of asphyxiation and acute intoxication after a catalogue of errors and mismanagement by police.

The Coroner also called the chronic levels of alcohol abuse in Central Australia a national disgrace.

Mike Sexton was in the Alice Springs court.

MIKE SEXTON, REPORTER: Close to midnight on January 4th this year, police dragged Kwementyaye Briscoe into cell nine of the Alice Springs watch house. His blood-alcohol reading was more than 0.3 and he had a head wound. Although police were required to visit him every 15 minutes, almost two hours passed before officers checked on the 27-year-old. When they did, he was dead.

GREG CAVANAGH, NT CORONER: I find that the care, supervision and treatment of the deceased while being held in custody by the Northern Territory Police was completely inadequate and unsatisfactory and not sufficient to meet his medical needs. This lack of care resulted in his death.

MIKE SEXTON: This morning, Northern Territory Coroner Greg Kavanagh placed the blame squarely with police at all levels.

GREG CAVANAGH: In my view, the catalogue of errors is so extensive and involved so many police officers of various rank as to suggest mismanagement for a period of time by police command at a level higher than just "local".

WOMAN: They took somebody's life!

WOMAN II: Young lives! They murdered my f***ing nephew.

MIKE SEXTON: Outside the court, the family of Kwementyaye Briscoe were angry no charges were recommended against police. There were also tears from the pain of losing a loved young man.

WOMAN II: Young man. Took his life - he didn't even have a family!

PATRICIA MORTON-THOMAS, AUNT: My nephew was really a very rare type of man. He was the type of man who didn't really have to ask for assistance; he would just do it. If he saw that you were tired and your house was a mess, then there would be no excuses from him; he would just do it, regardless, you know?

MIKE SEXTON: Kwementyaye Briscoe was the third generation of his family to die in altercations with authorities. A great uncle was shot by police at Ti Tree in 1980, while an uncle committed suicide in a Darwin prison. As an infant, he lost his mother to illness.

PATRICIA MORTON-THOMAS: And he lost so many people that the only way to go is to find something to relieve that kind of pain and hurt. You're constantly hurting. For him, his choice was alcohol. It's an unfortunate choice, but that's the choice that he made to dull that pain and sorrow.

MIKE SEXTON: Being in police custody was not a new experience for Kwementyaye Briscoe. He'd been picked up 31 times, the first time as a 16-year-old. On the fatal night, he was taken into protective custody, which is a common way of saying he was so drunk he couldn't care for himself.

Coroner Greg Kavanagh described police actions as heavy-handed and unnecessary and was dismayed at the continued practice of dragging prisoners by their limbs. Evidence given to the Coroner was that while officers should've been checking on Kwementyaye Briscoe, they were distracted by the internet, iPod and iPhone, ignoring the pleas for help from other prisoners.

GREG CAVANAGH: They were singing out to him, "Take him to the hospital and get him checked out. Ya know, he's pissing out blood."

MIKE SEXTON: It's estimated by the time the cell was checked, Kwementyaye Briscoe may have already been dead for two hours.

JOHN MCROBERTS, NT POLICE COMMISSIONER: Shortly thereafter I met with members of his family to express our condolences on behalf of the Northern Territory Police Force.

MIKE SEXTON: All sides agree the case has drawn into sharp focus the tension alcohol creates in Central Australia.

Earlier in year, Police Commissioner John McRoberts came face-to-face with the violence when he joined an Alice Springs night patrol. During the inquest the Territory Police Association described the work conditions for officers in the watch house as "mind-numbing" and "desensitising", making their work "heroic".

VINCE KELLY, NT POLICE ASSOCIATION: You have a large number of people taken into custody on a daily basis. They're extremely intoxicated or affected by other drugs. They're at the lowest - their health is usually very, very poor. They're usually dirty. They're usually covered in either vomit or faeces. So it's a difficult environment to work in.

MIKE SEXTON: This is the second death in the Alice Springs watch house. In 2009 the Coroner found about 33-year-old Cedric Trigger died of a head injury. Greg Kavanagh expressed frustration that many of his recommendations today mirrored those of the previous case and little had changed.

JOHN MCROBERTS: That is something that will not occur again. Since then, we have examined our procedures in a most thorough way, and to give the Coroner confidence that everything that he recommends we do or everything that we say we will do, we will report against every six months.

MIKE SEXTON: Tonight the Alice Springs watch house will again be busy. If the Coroner's recommendations are adopted, then the legacy of the tragic events of January 4th may be that it's a safer place for people in custody.

LEIGH SALES: Mike Sexton reporting from Alice Springs.