Alcohol use and incarceration in a police lockup among Aboriginals in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Data from a general population survey ofa stratified random sample of 516 Aboriginal men and women over the age of15 years in the Kimberley region of Western Australia were used to estimate patterns of incarceration in police lockups and their relationship to self-reported alcohol consumption. Participants in the survey were asked about their lifetime experience of incarceration in police cells, and about their frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption. Estimates of the population risk of incarceration indicated that 81 % of Kimberley Aboriginal men, and 37 % of Kimberley Aboriginal women have been locked up in police cells. Alcohol use was strongly related to the risk ofbeing locked up in police cells, and the risk was higher among current drinkers who were offull rather than mixed Aboriginal descent. Urgent action is required to reduce rates of incarceration in police cells among Kimberley Aboriginals. In addition to the decriminalisation of public drunkenness, action needs to be taken to reduce the prevalence of heavy alcohol use, and to improve the social and economic conditions in which Kimberley Aboriginals live. Acknowledgements Special thanks are due to the Kimberley Aboriginals who participated in this study, and to the many community members who helped in its development. The study evolved from the cardiovascular and dietary sUlVey which was designed by Dr Richard Smith of the CSIRO Division of Human Nutrition in Adelaide. Thanks are extended to him and to the Health Department of Western Australia for providing access to the Community Health Register from which the random sample was obtained by CSIRO. The field work was supported in part by grants from the New Sout