Long Bay Prison HospitalI'm writing to you regarding xxxx, he has rung me a few times in the past weeks and has been drugged to the max, he rang today twice and could hardly speak to me, he said he was going to ring you and talk to you about it but he couldn't so I told him I would get in contact with you and see what you could do! He has told them he doesn't want the sedatives but they hold him down and give it to him anyway, they have drugged him 4 times in the last 2 days he said.
He also told me they don't have fans in the cell and no air conditioning either and it reaches over 40 degrees. at times. Is this right? I know he's done the crime so he does the time but do they have the right to drug him and deprive him of basic needs?
It just doesn't seem right sometimes.
Yours truly
Pauline.
Ps) Please contact me with any info you can give me about his basic rights.
Hi Pauline,
In response to your e-mail about xxxxx I can tell you I have had the same experience listening to xxxxx drugged up on the phone, knowing they are controlling him by drugs.
What has concerned me is that he is not a 'forensic patient' and was never given either 'diminished responsibility' or found not guilty by reason of 'mental illness' for his crime, yet the Department of Corrective Services and Justice Health continue to control him with drugs in a mental health facility at Long Bay Prison Hospital.
That's not how it starts though. What happens next is called 'Killing Rational'
What the Department of Corrective Services (DCS) does is make up some allegation about a prisoner's behaviour, usually nominating an internal offence.
The prisoner was in a gang, had a mobile phone, was trying to escape, etc. Then they send those 'selected prisoners' to the (HRMU) High Risk Management Unit at Goulburn Correctional Centre (A Supermax prison). And place him or her in solitary confinement (isolation) with no fresh air , sunlight or constructive lifestyle.
This person could even be a remand prisoner or worse someone already suffering a mental illness.
The prisoners are deprived of all basics and made to earn small things in order to survive. DCS do this until the prisoner's head caves in or self harms. Once the damage is done DCS send them to the Long Bay Mental Health Facility and put them on drugs to control them.
See: Where the Norm is Not the Norm: Goulburn Correctional Centre and the Harm-U
In the absence of public policy, this paper is an attempt to shine a light through the rhetoric and test for coherency in the policy and function of NSW's only supermax prison, the High Risk Management Unit. Its present use will be compared with the 'vision' flogged by the Premier and the Department of Corrective Services (the Department) at its inception in 2001.
Effectively the 'Department of Corrective Services' and 'Justice Health' (the new clean name given to the Corrections Health Service) are causing prisoners mental illness as a means of retribution and prisoner control. How daunting!
And here is some info about his basic rights. xxxx's file notes were included anonymously in these submissions below:
Indigenous Social Justice Association & Justice Action Mental Health Act Review Submission
Indigenous Social Justice Association & Justice Action Mental Health Act Privacy/Carers Submission
See: Review of the Mental Health Act 1990
1. We contend that the wording of the objects unnecessarily contrasts civil and other rights with effectiveness of treatment. It does not have to be a matter of balance, and in fact we suggest that real care is consistent with rights, dignity etc. The use of the word "control" (in this Section and throughout the whole Chapter) repeatedly with neither qualification nor mitigation leads to a strong impression that all people with psychiatric disabilities are always in need of 'policing' and restriction. We disagree totally and consider this to give rise to prejudicial attitudes and actions by the public and professionals related to perceptions and assumptions of dangerousness and lack of capacity.
See: Isolation, psychiatric treatment and prisoner' control
The 2003 NSW Corrections Health Service (now Justice Health) Report on Mental Illness Among NSW Prisoners states that the 12 month prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in prison is 74%, compared to 22% in the general community, and while this includes substance disorder the high rate cannot be attributed to that alone.
Incidentally "Justice Health" may seem more 'just' that's why they changed their name "common government ploy" because they were not "correct" and even worse than hospitals outside the prison- about 10 times worse.
If I were you I would contact the Department of Corrective Service and ask them what xxxx's Case Management Plan is? You may need his permission to do so if you're not related just get xxxxx to send you a Statutory Declaration he's good at that.
See: Crime and Punishment
Prisons, by their nature and the communities they house, suffer more acutely from the social exclusion that characterises the underprivileged parts of Australian society. Without the exacerbation of a custodial experience, these characteristics alone militate against the successful reintegration of prisoners back into the community.
Let me know how you get on (jA)
Justice Action
By Just Us 9 February 05
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The 2003 NSW Corrections Health Service (now Justice Health) Report on Mental Illness Among NSW Prisoners states that the 12 month prevalence of any psychiatric disorder in prison is 74%, compared to 22% in the general community, and while this includes substance disorder the high rate cannot be attributed to that alone.
Where the Norm is Not the Norm: HARM-U
In the absence of public policy, this paper is an attempt to shine a light through the rhetoric and test for coherency in the policy and function of NSW’s only supermax prison, the High Risk Management Unit. Its present use will be compared with the ‘vision’ flogged by the Premier and the Department of Corrective Services (the Department) at its inception in 2001.
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Prison guards test positive for drugs
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NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
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Carr Govt dramatic increases in the NSW prisoner pop...
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The ALP's fascist police states
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Doctor Ron Woodham I presume?
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Conditions in the HRMU
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A TOTAL ABUSE OF POWER
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On the treatment of prisoners at the NSW HRMU
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