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

There were 66 deaths in custody and police operations in 2025 – 18 more than the previous year

• Warning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have died

There were a record number of New South Wales deaths in custody and police operations last year, with almost a quarter of prisoner deaths recorded as self-harm, a coroner’s court report states.

Of those who killed themselves, most were by hanging, despite millions being invested to remove ligature points.