To monitor and work to ensure the effective implementation of the
recommendations of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In
Custody
media
release
DEATHS IN CUSTODY WATCH COMMITTEE (WA) Inc.
119 Mathieson Rd
Ascot WA 6104
Tel: 61 (0)8 9277 1533
Fax: 61 (0)8 9478 4204
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
URL: http://www.omen.net.au/~dicwc
Wednesday, 24 February 1999
Prisoners at Breaking Point: Lockdown regime must end.
It is two months since the Christmas Day riot at Casuarina Prison,
when a 23-hour lockdown was imposed on prisoners. Dozens of
prisoners at Casuarina Prison and 16 prisoners, who were moved to
Canningvale Prison on Christmas night, have been held in isolation
cells for 61 days on a 23-hour lockdown. To date no prisoner has
been charged with any offence relating to the incident on Christmas
Day and the Police Taskforce, investigating the riot, has not
interviewed a single prisoner.
These prisoners are being held under the most stringent conditions
imaginable, with no access to phone; only one hour non-contact visit
per week; no furniture in the cell apart from a mattress on the floor. It
is only in the last two weeks that some have been allowed a
clock/radio or TV and access to their photographs and letters.
"It is a denial of natural justice for any prisoner to be held in such a
regime without the opportunity to defend any allegation of wrong-
doing. There is no presumption of innocence here because the
punishment has already commenced." Said Kath Mallott, Executive
Officer of the Watch Committee.
"It is inhuman and degrading for a prisoner to sit on the floor in a
bare cell to eat meals and for the only contact with a fellow human-
being to be limited to, his being observed through a one- way flap in
the cell door."
"Prisoners have been given no indication of how long they will endure
these conditions. It is having an appalling effect, with many at
breaking point. There has been numerous incidents of self-harm, in
an attempt to gain some brief relief from the isolation cells."
The AMA's Position Statement, "Health Care of Prisoners and
Detainees" Clause 6.1 states:
"Solitary confinement, defined as a correctional facility regime in
which a prisoner or detainee is confined separately from other
prisoners or detainees as a means of punishment, is inhumane.
Solitary confinement is medically harmful as it may lead to a number
of physical and/or mental disorders."
The UN Convention's "Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners": Rule 30(2) states
"No prisoner shall be punished unless he has been informed of the
offence alleged against him and given a proper opportunity of
presenting his defence."
"Many prisoners have denied involvement in the riot and claim to have
been trying to escape the mayhem after being locked out of their
Units on Christmas Day. Some prisoners claim to have been
assaulted by prison officers, both during and after the riot." Said Ms
Mallott.
"We renew our call for a Judicial Inquiry into the WA Prison System.
The terms of reference should include investigation of prisoners'
claims of brutality by individual officers, and investigation and
assessment of the inhuman and degrading regimes imposed upon
prisoners as a contributing factor to the Christmas Day incident."
Media contact: Kath Mallott, (08) 9277 1533 (work) or
0419930375 (mobile)
|\/\/\/| ****** Jim Duffield GMT+08 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ********
| o o|
C _) "In Germany, they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up
| ,____| because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and
| / I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then, they came for
| | the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a
trade unionist, then they came for the Protestants and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a Protestant. Then they came for me,
and by that time, there was no one left to speak up."
Pastor Martin Niemoller,when arrested by the Nazi Gestapo in the late 1930s:
******* http://www.omen.net.au/~staffy/ **************
* 12 Hurrey Place BEECHBORO WA 6063 AUSTRALIA *
* Ph: 61 8 9377-7871 Fax:61 8 9377-7871 (Pls ring first) *
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