Wayne Morrison

Indigenous man Wayne Fella Morrison, 29, died in custody on September 26, 2016.

The coronial inquest into the death of Wayne Fella Morrison heard he assaulted three officers at a prison before he was restrained with handcuffs, ankle flexi-cuffs and a spit hood, and put face down in the rear of a prison van in September 2016. He was pulled unresponsive from that van and died in a hospital three days later.

Mr. Morrison’s family heard from a third party he had been taken to hospital and was not advised by the department that he was in the intensive care unit. While Mr. Morrison was admitted to the hospital under his own name, the department subsequently changed that name to ‘Ben Waters’, on the basis that hospital staff had received calls seeking his location.

In May 2021, the coronial inquest heard that the CCTV video recorded that day had been obscured by the head of prison officer Trent Hall.

In July 2021, a coroner’s investigation revealed a number of attempts by prison guards to prevent the clarification of the circumstances of the death of 29-year-old Wayne Morrison. Employees of the correctional institution deliberately destroyed physical evidence, trying to hide the fact of exceeding their powers.