The mother of an Aboriginal man who died after being restrained by prison staff at an Adelaide jail has told a coronial inquest her family was treated "appallingly" and like "criminals" when they arrived at hospital to see her son.

Key points: Caroline Andersen says her family was treated "appallingly" by corrections officers

Caroline Andersen says her family was treated "appallingly" by corrections officers Her son Wayne Fella Morrison died days after being restrained by prison officers

Her son Wayne Fella Morrison died days after being restrained by prison officers An inquest into his death also heard emotional evidence from his sister

Wayne Fella Morrison, 29, died in September 2016, three days after being restrained by a group of prison officers and placed face down in a van at Yatala Labour Prison because he had assaulted staff.

His mother Caroline Andersen told the inquest her son was given a fake name at Royal Adelaide Hospital, and her family was left waiting in the hospital car park for hours before being spoken to.

She told the court she was not contacted by the Department of Correctional Services about her son's hospitalisation, and only found out through inquiries to the Aboriginal Legal Rights service after her son did not appear via video link for a scheduled court hearing.

"From the start we were treated like we were criminals, we had to be escorted within ICU every single time we went to visit him," Ms Andersen said.

"The officers didn't make it easy for us to visit Wayne. We were always watched and were never left by ourselves, we couldn't be ourselves around him as much as we wanted to … they were always taking notes."

Mr Morrison with his sister Latoya Rule. ( Facebook: Latoya Rule )

Ms Andersen said one female prison officer in particular was "quite forceful" in restricting the number of family members by her son's hospital bed.

"Wayne was dying at this time he's taking his last breaths and she's standing there using her body to push my kids around, trying to get a reaction out of them," she said.

The inquest on Monday heard Mr Morrison was carried out of the van "blue and unresponsive", but it was not known what happened during the few short minutes he was inside the van because most of the officers with him had refused to give statements.

Ms Andersen told the inquest her family was kept in the dark from the beginning.

"One of my biggest disappointments would be that in Wayne's last moments, when he's placed in the back of the van, the people that were in the back of the van have blatantly refused to come forward and give any evidence or tell us what actually happened," Ms Andersen said.

"I'm disappointed in that because, as a mother, to go through this is an incredible pain."

'I just wish I was there,' sister tells inquest

Mr Morrison's sister Latoya Rule became emotional when she described how she felt when she watched security vision in court of the prison staff restraining her brother and not administering first aid for three minutes after he was pulled from the van unresponsive.

"I've advocated for people in custody over the last five years … it's really hard when it becomes your own story and not your clients and not somebody else in the community, and it's our fight," Ms Rule told the court.

"Seeing him not being resuscitated immediately, I just wish I was there to respond, I wish I could've been there … it took three minutes to start resuscitation, it's just so long.

"If I saw a person on the street I would start immediately first aid, and seeing him not getting that kind of care, it's just very hard."

Ms Andersen described her son as a likeable, loving man, and an artist who "loved to paint … loved to draw".

"Wayne to me was a strong, independent son. He was very likeable, lots of people liked him, people always wanted to spend time with him," Ms Andersen said.

"He loved fishing, he fished nearly every day he would take his daughter out fishing with him as well."

The inquest heard Mr Morrison's mental state deteriorated during the six days he was in custody, but he was not given psychological assistance or support from an Aboriginal liaison officer and began behaving irrationally and talking to himself.

The court was told staff had laughed off his requests for help.