Papali‘i Sia Figiel found dead in prison cell, Sāmoan media report

Sāmoan author Papali‘i Sia Figiel has been found dead in her cell at Tanumalala Prison in Sāmoa, according to local media reports.

The Sāmoa Global News reports that prison sources say Figiel was discovered unresponsive in her cell on Monday morning, 26 January. The cause of death has not been officially released.

The Sāmoan Observer also reports that playwright Sia Figiel was found dead inside her jail cell on Monday morning, and that she had been in custody since 2024 for the alleged murder of Professor Caroline Gabbard.

According to Sāmoa Global News, Acting Police Commissioner Leiataua Samuelu Afamasaga has been contacted for further details. Authorities have not yet publicly confirmed the circumstances of the reported death.

Figiel had been in custody since May 2024, when she was arrested and charged with the murder of Dr Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard, a 78-year-old American Sāmoan academic and poet who was described as a close friend and mentor. Police allege Dr Sinavaiana-Gabbard died at Figiel’s home and theatre space, the GaluMoana Theatre in Vaivase-uta.

Her trial began in August 2025. Court proceedings previously heard medical evidence from the defence, which said Figiel was suffering from a psychotic disorder, with her legal team focusing on her mental state at the time of the alleged offending.

Tanumalala Prison in Sāmoa when it was was dedicated in 2019. Photo/Govt of Sāmoa.

Papali‘i Sia Figiel was widely regarded as a pioneer of contemporary Pacific women’s writing, earning international recognition for work grounded in Sāmoan storytelling traditions.

Her novel Where We Once Belonged won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in the South-East Asia/South Pacific region in 1997.

Her other published works include The Girl in the Moon Circle and They Who Do Not Grieve.

Her poetry won the Polynesian Literary Competition in 1994, and she was also known as a performance poet who held residencies at universities and institutions across Europe and the South Pacific.

Watch the Pacific Days interview of Kimberlee Basford, director of Before the Moon Falls - a documentary about Sia Figiel