Eric Whittaker spent the final hours of his life lying unconscious shackled to his hospital bed with leg cuffs.

The 35-year-old Indigenous man was an inmate at Parklea Correctional Centre in NSW for alleged parole breaches but had been transferred to hospital having had what turned out to be a ruptured cerebral artery.

The State Coroner said that the sight of him shackled as he lay dying shocked his loved ones.

“Any family would be distressed by that sight, but it is likely more damaging for Aboriginal families, given the historical context in this country.