Tasmania PAR banned from Risdon

Risdon Prison Near Hobart

Prison Action & Reform (Tasmania)

PRISON ACTION AND REFORM REPRESENTATIVES, ALONG WITH LAWYER AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR GREG BARNS, WILL BE COMMENTING ON THE DECISION BY JUDY JACKSON TO BAN PAR FROM RISDON PRISON AT 3PM TODAY OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT HOUSE.

Vickie Douglas founded Prison Action and Reform after the gross failures of the system took the life of her young son after he was raped.

Since then, she and other PAR volunteers, have brought to the public's attention scandalous and inhumane events that have occurred in the prison - which Judy Jackson would have otherwise covered up.

Prison Action and Reform advocates on the behalf of prison officers and prisoners in the interests of a just justice system.

Today they have been banned from the jail.

This decision will have a devastating impact.

PAR and Greg Barns will be commenting on this decision at 3pm today outside Parliament House.

By Prisoners Action and Reform posted 18 May 05

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In a brief four month span from August 1999, five men died in Tasmania's Risdon prison. Their deaths have put the state's corrections system in the dock and led to the planned demolition of a jail which even the State's Attorney-General now calls an "appalling facility".

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Ex-Prisoner Locked Out of Prison

The NSW Department of Corrective Services (DCS) has revealed a policy which bans ex-prisoners from entering prisons.

The Justice Health Consumer and Community Council meets inside a prison for the first time ever on Tuesday, April 19th in the John Morony Correctional Centre, but the ex-prisoner representative will not be allowed to attend.

The ex-prisoner offered to be searched, including internal cavities, and only to speak when spoken to. Dr. Richard Matthews, CEO of Justice Health wrote to DCS on 23 March 2005, asking them to allow this "valuable member" to attend the meeting.

Although serving prisoners have been allowed out of prison to attend the Consumer Council, DCS will not allow an ex-prisoner to go inside, even in his role as an official consultant to a government department.

The group was established in August 2002 by NSW Health as a part of the "Partners in Health Plan", for the purpose of "Consulting and empowering consumers through seeking broad based feedback, as well as, providing an effective forum for consumer participation."

Contact: Stacy Scheff 9660-9111.

Justice Action 65 Bellevue St, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia P.O. Box 386, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia ja@justiceaction.org.au voice: 612-9660 9111 fax: 612-9660 9100

By Justice Action posted 20 April 05

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Justice Action: Access to our community

We have been battling for access to our community with our publications

NSW: Justice Action went to the NSW Supreme Court before the last Federal election on the constitutional right for prisoners to receive information for their vote. The government avoided the hearing by bringing prisoners' mobile polling booths forward. We pursued it after the election. This is the report.

NSW Prison Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr Ron Woodham has dropped his ban on Justice Action publications.

Kingsford Legal Centre corresponded with Mr Woodham's office following the Supreme Court action challenging the banning of The Australian Prisoners' Election Newspaper in NSW prisons.

We submitted a slightly altered version of the national newspaper for prisoners, to make it specific to NSW. The paper was submitted asserting the protection of the Constitutional right of Australian citizens to receive political information in order to cast an informed vote at elections.

The Department tried to stall, taking 3 months to respond to the submission of the draft newspaper. Only when Kingsford set a deadline, after which we would again take them to court, did Mr Woodham respond.

He said,

"I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments... While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper... It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one."

This is an important precedent, allowing even 'provocative and misleading' material.

We are now contacting prisoners to organise for internal distribution.

Below is the full text of Woodham's response, with his attached analysis of the newspaper.

Justice Action
65 Bellevue St, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia
P.O. Box 386, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia
ja@justiceaction.org.au
voice: 612-9660 9111 fax: 612-9660 9100

Please log into the Justice Action Web site, designed and sponsored by
Breakout Design & Print, exercising good corporate citizenship:

New South Wales Government
Department of Corrective Services

Ms Joanne Moffitt
Principal Solicitor
Kingsford Legal Centre
11 Rainbow Street
KINGSFORD NSW 2032

Dear Ms Moffitt,

I refer to your letters of 23 February 2005 10 March 2005 and previous correspondence on behalf of Justice Action in which yo have sought my permission for copies of the 'Australian Prisoners Election newspaper' to be distributed to inmates in NSW correctional centres. I understand that your client is now only seeking approval in relation to pages 1 to 4 of this newspaper.

I note that the editorial section of the submitted 'newspaper' contains a number of provocative and misleading comments and also invites inmates to submit "Écommentary, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic". This is inconsistent with the purported purpose of the paper which according to your correspondence is to "provide prisoners with political information relevant to their right to vote". I can only conclude that the real intention of this publication is to provide inmates with a vehicle for criticism of the Department of Corrective Services and to circumvent the ban that I have imposed on the distribution of 'Framed'.

While it is arguable that some of the material does not consist of communication about government or political matters, I have no objection to the content of the majority of the newspaper and have attached comments in relation to the individual sections. I am however not prepared to arrange for the distribution of this newspaper to all inmates in NSW correctional centres.

It is not my intention to place a ban on this newspaper but I insist that only those individuals who expressly indicate their interest in receiving a copy of the newspaper be sent one. I also reserve my decision in relation to any future issues of the newspaper and require your clients to submit these for consideration should your client wish them to be approved for distribution to, or otherwise made available to inmates in NSW correctional centres.

Yours Sincerely

(signature)

RON WOODHAM
Commissioner
23 March 2005

Encl.

1 Editorial....The editorial lies outside the scope of political discussion and parts of its content is provocative in its reference to:

* "I see no criminals, I see before me political prisoners" (paragraph 1)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains political prisoners

* Labor party banning distribution of this newspaper (paragraph4)
Comment: Any decision to allow distribution of this newspaper to inmates is departmental

* "(Labor-appointed) prison Commissioner decide that prisoners are better off without one specific human rightÉ "(paragraph5)
Comment: Statement incorrect and provocative

* ..."if you're freezing and starving alone in your cell in the High Risk Management Unit" (paragraph6)
Comment: The Department would not accept that it detains inmates without adequate clothing or food

* (the newspaper) "will include articles, commentary, poetry, personal accounts, short stories and letters to the editor on any topic "(paragraph9)
Comment: It is apparent that the newspaper intends to carry articles, which lie outside the scope of political discourse

* Reference to "The Prisoner's Paper"
Comment: It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department

Suggested Action: Justice Action be advised that in its current format the editorial is unacceptable

Every Vote Sacred? No issues of concern identified
Inmate voting cartoon No issues of concern identified

2 Greens Advertisement No issues of concern identified
Australian Democrats Advertisement There is no authorisation from the Australian Democrats to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Socialist Alliance Advertisement. There is no authorisation from the Socialist Alliance to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified
How to vote if you're a prisoner No issues of concern identified

3 Helping Communities Fight Crime. There is no authorisation from 'the Coalition' to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Labor's Plan to protect and strengthen human rights in Australia. There is no authorisation from Labor to validate its authenticity. However no issues of concern identified in relation to content

Have you been sentenced for a federal crime? No issues of concern identified

Q&A: Prisoners ask why? There is no authorisation from the political parties to validate the authenticity of answers provided however no issues of concern identified in relation to content

4 Q&A Continued. In response to the final question, the Socialist Alliance response makes reference to inmate work being "much like slave labour". The department would not agree with this

First Prisoners' Newspaper. It would appear that this publication is intended to replace "Framed" as a vehicle for criticism of the Department. Requests for suggestions for the name of the newspaper is at odds with the stated name, The Australian Prisoners' Newspaper

The History of the prisoners Vote. No issues of concern identified

By Justice Action 15 April 05

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Prisons:

MORE PRISONERS LOCKDOWNS HAVE OFFICERS ON EDGE
NSW POLICE Commissioner Ken Moroney has issued an ultimatum as well, to the lawless youths holding Sydney's streets to ransom?: Learn some respect or face jail?

Tough line on crime fills jails
The tough law-and-order policies of governments around the nation are behind an explosion in the prison population by almost 80 per cent in the past two decades.

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I am a prisoner in NSW and I am currently held in Parklea Prison. I am concerned about what is going on in NSW prisons and this is my story.

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The reason I am writing today is to address a difficult situation that my husband and my family are going through. My husband is currently serving a sentence at Lithgow Correctional Centre in NSW.

Prison boom will prove a social bust
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The prison system requires assiduous oversight
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Crime and Punishment
Mark Findlay argues that the present psychological approach to prison programs is increasing the likelihood of re-offending and the threat to community safety.

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NSW prison visitors banned from using the toilet
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UK bans SSRIs for kids

Modern antidepressant drugs which have made billions for the pharmaceutical industry will be banned from use in children today because of evidence, suppressed for years, that they can cause young patients to become suicidal.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told doctors last night not to prescribe all but one of the antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The exception is Prozac, which is licensed for use in depressed children in the US. But the MHRA will warn that, at best, it helps only one child in 10.

The decision has big implications for drug regulation.

The agency - which is the government's watchdog body on drug safety has reached this point only after intense pressure from patients and campaigners. They were concerned about patients - at first mainly adults - who appeared to have become suicidal on the drugs, and others who had got hooked and suffered distressing symptoms when they tried to stop taking them.

Public unease about these potential side-effects prompted the agency to investigate last year. It has looked at the details of clinical trials of depressed children that were in the hands of the drug companies in the late 1990s.

These studies revealed the problem of suicidal behaviour in children, but the companies did not draw it to the attention of the regulators in the US or the UK. It has become clear from the investigation that the regulators generally see only a summary of the data resulting from trials. It is prepared for them by the drug company only when it is seeking a licence.

The agency became aware of a problem with Seroxat in children this year only when the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, submitted data from trials which finished in 1996. Pressure for a change in the regulatory system will inevitably grow.

Two of the SSRI class of drugs have already been banned - or, technically, contra-indicated in children - by the agency. The first, in June, was Seroxat, which goes by the generic name paroxetine; the second, in September, was Efexor (venlafaxine); joining them now will be Lustral (sertraline), Cipramil (citalopram), Cipralex (escitalopram) and Faverin (fluvoxamine).

Trials on children have not been carried out in all the drugs, but the completed studies show a worrying increase in suicidal behaviour among those on SSRIs compared with those given a placebo (sugar pill). None of the drugs has a licence for use in children with depression in the UK, but GPs have prescribed more and more SSRIs for children.

It is estimated that as many as 50,000 children on antidepressants in Britain.

The agency will warn that patients should not stop their medication suddenly to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

The ban will cause problems for doctors because insufficient counsellors and psychotherapists are available to offer the alternative treatment of therapy, and the bill to the NHS for such treatment would be much higher than the cost of the drug prescriptions.

Drug companies began clinical trials on the safety and efficacy of the SSRIs in children only after prompting by the US food and drug administration in the early 90s. David Healy, the director of the North Wales department of psychological medicine, said: "It was standard practice for the FDA approving drugs like Seroxat (Paxil in the US) for adults in 1991 to write to the company and say this drug will also be used in children - it would be helpful if you could run trials in children so we can see what the safety profile is."

But trials that did not produce favourable results were neither published nor sent to the FDA or the MHRA.

The first major Seroxat trial in children was finished by 1996, but the results were not published until 2001. Data was also gathered in 1996 after a trial of Lustral, manufactured by Pfizer, showing that 9% of depressed children on the drug became suicidal.

Dr Healy, whose own researches led to the establishment of the SSRI review, said yesterday: "They should have known by 1996 that there was a problem. GSK and Pfizer were asked to do this by the regulators so that we knew what the safety issues were." The drug companies dispute that a problem exists.

Only a tiny minority of children taking the drug become suicidal and their depression could be the real cause, they claim. GSK says several trials, not just one, were needed to establish whether its drug caused problems.

The SSRI review group, which has advised the Committee on the Safety of Medicines of the agency to ban the drugs from use in children, will now look at the safety and efficacy of the drugs in adults.

Sarah Boseley, health editor Posted 11 December 03

THE DOG: Seems Britain has finally bitten the bullet and banned SSRI prescriptions for kids - with a similar review of their use by adults now underway. The exception is Prozac, which considering the strong evidence that it is no better than the other SSRIs seems to be more a reflection of the PR muscle of Eli Lilly than an evidence based medical decision.

The Aus psychiatric establishment is firmly in the pocket of these companies - a situation that only continues to get worse as they tighten their grip on the Royal Australian & NZ College of Psychiatry, Beyond Blue, individual practitioners and 'consumer groups' like the Schizophrenia. So don't expect to see a similar ban here until the bodies have piled up too high to be ignored.

Drugs for depressed children banned

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