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ABC News
ABC News
National

Family grieve Josh Kerr, Aboriginal man who died in Port Phillip Prison, as coronial inquest begins

Donna Kerr is grieving her son, who died five weeks ago in Port Phillip Prison in Melbourne's west.

Josh Kerr's family has given permission for the ABC to use his photo and name.

"I just want justice for my son. It shouldn't have happened. He was still a baby and he had his whole life ahead of him," she said.

She called for more action to stop Aboriginal deaths in custody.

"And all the rest in the prisons throughout Australia, we need to stand and be strong and end this and end it once and for all," she said.

"Our kids are getting taken and enough's enough. It needs to stop."

The Victorian Coroners Court was told 32-year-old Josh Kerr set fire to his mattress on the morning of August 10.

He had been in isolation for seven days after he had left the prison to attend a funeral.

Mr Kerr was taken to St Vincent's Hospital to treat burns on his hands, and possible smoke inhalation.

He reportedly refused treatment and was returned to the prison and put in a cell in the prison's medical unit.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Sam Brown, told the court that Mr Kerr was behaving erratically and was heavily under the influence of methamphetamines.

She said he had taken all his clothes off and was lying on the floor flailing his limbs around and later splashed water in the toilet bowl.

He was observed by a prison officer, who said he saw Mr Kerr's chest rise and fall as he breathed.

The officer later became concerned when the movement significantly decreased, so he called a code black at 8:12pm.

It was 8:20pm when emergency services began to treat him. He was declared dead at 8:32pm.

Mr Kerr was one of two Indigenous men who died in a Victorian prison in the past five weeks.

Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man Clinton Austin died in Lodden prison in Castlemaine last Sunday.

Josh Kerr's aunt, Nova Kerr, said governments must address the ongoing problem of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

"How many more families have got to go through this?" she asked.

"How many more deaths in custody do we have to go through before it stops?"

Coroner David Ryan will be examining the response to the fire in Mr Kerr's cell, his apparent refusal of medical treatment, his mental health management and the response to him being motionless in his cell.

He has asked for CCTV from St Vincent's Hospital and Port Phillip Prison, and footage from body cams worn by staff who interacted with him on August 10.

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