This week on Let’s Talk – Black Power, Ruby & special guest co-host Kevin Yow Yeh catch up with Gungarri organiser and campaigner Maggie Munn to learn about the recent success of the Ban Spit Hoods Coalition in NSW, and the work still ahead to ban spit hoods in every jurisdiction.
In February this year, the NSW Parliament voted unanimously to pass the Detention Legislation Amendment (Prohibition on Spit Hoods) Bill 2023, which legislates a ban on spit hoods being used in prisons and watchhouses in NSW. This recent amendment makes NSW the second state, after South Australia, to legislate a blanket ban on the use of these devices. While spit hoods have not been routinely used in NSW, this ban aims to make it more difficult to introduce them in the future.
Through the work of the Ban Spit Hoods Coalition, it is now widely understood that spit hoods are extremely dangerous devices that pose a grave threat to the wellbeing and dignity of the person being restrained. Across the continent, spit hoods have been implicated in numerous deaths in custody, and are recognised internationally as devices of torture that contravene the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Convention against Torture; the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; and the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty. Despite the widespread understanding of the risk they pose to people being restrained, spit hoods are routinely used in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Queensland.
In this week’s episode, Ruby & Kevin reflect with Maggie on the slow work of addressing police violence, building accountability, and reducing harm for people currently incarcerated; and the critical importance of staying focused on the struggle for a world without police, prisons, surveillance, and coercion.
To get involved in the campaign to ban spit hoods, head to the coalition’s website: Ban Spit Hoods Coalition
To follow the work of Change the Record: Change the Record
To follow the work of Sisters Inside: Home – Sisters Inside Inc
To follow the work of the Institute for Collaborative Race Research: Institute for Collaborative Race Research (icrr.com.au)
