Mr Ward

By 2011, some further responses were occurring, including the Department of Corrective Services pleading guilty to his death in May 2011.

Compensation for his family after his death was delayed, and involved a number of government authorities The delays caused significant loss of confidence in both the government and its capacity to have safe delivery of prison transport in isolated areas of Western Australia. In 2010 the family were compensated.

Ian Ward (1961 – 27 January 2008), commonly known as Mr Ward in media reports, was an Australian Aboriginal elder from Warburton, Western Australia who died after being transported in the back of a prison van in the Western Australian outback.

On 26 January 2008, Ward was arrested by Laverton police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He was then driven 570 kilometres (350 mi) to a courthouse, remanded in custody, and driven a further 352 kilometres (219 mi) to a prison. The van's air conditioning was not working and the temperature was 47 °C (117 °F) that day. Ward had a cut on his head from falling and third-degree burns to his stomach from lying on the metal floor after he fell. It was noticed by the Prison transport contractors G4S driving the vehicle that Ward was unconscious but they did not stop the van to check on him. He died shortly afterwards.

Ward was filmed as a child leading a traditional life with his family in the 1960s by film maker Ian Dunlop. He was a central community figure at Warburton and in the surrounding lands with a knowledge of culture, land, and art, and was known as a "culture man".