‘Profoundly distressing’: record number of deaths in custody and police operations in NSW

The Guardian reports that New South Wales recorded 66 deaths in custody and police operations in 2025—18 more than 2024—according to the state coroner's annual report released Thursday. Of 39 deaths in custody, 12 were First Nations people (a record high), and 9 were recorded as intentional self-harm, predominantly by hanging despite a $16 million government program to remove ligature points from cells. The reporting is substantive and well-sourced, drawing directly from the coroner's official statement and government responses, with specific figures on Indigenous deaths, remand populations (up 63% in five years), and police operation-related deaths (27 of the 66). The independent search results primarily cover unrelated detention deaths in the US and road fatalities in other countries, providing no direct corroboration of the NSW figures, though the Guardian's reliance on the official coroner's report and named state officials (State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan, Attorney General Michael Daley, Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant) reflects rigorous journalistic sourcing. Watch for upcoming coroner inquests into the deaths of unknown cause (5 cases, nearly 13% of custody deaths) and the state's response to the coroner's call for safeguards on police pursuit procedures, which she flagged as an increasing trend contributing to deaths.