Inside a prison system in crisis | ABC TV’s 7.30 Report

They don’t tell you when you’re getting

out. They don’t tell you the reason that

you’re locked down.

Lockdowns sometimes happen due to

emergencies, riots, security concerns.

But from September, the Dame Phyllis

Frost inmates were locked alone in their

cells for days on end without

explanation. I suffered really bad with

my mental health with lockdowns. I

um I did self harm. I cut my wrists um

on on an occasion. Being locked down is

exactly the same as being in solitary

confinement.

As months went by, she says, prisoners,

family visits and phone calls were

cancelled, as were therapy and medical

appointments, even legal visits.

The highlighted days are the days that

we were locked down. So you’ll see

things like um lockdown all day, only 30

minutes out. Oh wow. So there’s a lot of

lockdowns on this day. 16 days this

month. As we get through to November,

you’ll see there’s still 13 days

disruption there. And then you’ll see

like little comments, no staff at all.

Then on March 13th at 11:45 a.m., Kelly

documented a suicide

attempt. The nurse um said that she’s

cut her throat and her wrists. Her

diaries document seven suicide attempts

by fellow prisoners in one month.

Lockdown 100% had everything to do with

that. This is what happens when you put

us in a space with no connection.

Earlier this month, more than a thousand

prison officers cast a no confidence

vote in the state’s corrections

commissioner, Lissa Strong. At issue,

soaring rates of violence with a string

of alleged assaults against staff across

the prison system and accompanying staff

shortages.

Both issues may get worse with tougher

bail laws taking effect in March,

expecting to push inmate numbers even

higher.

The prison system is in failure in

Victoria. They are potentially rolling

lockdowns. It’s just crazy the fact that

this government has allowed it to get

this bad.

Victoria’s shadow corrections minister

David Southwick says staff shortages

need to be addressed urgently.

The morning comes around and they

haven’t got the rosters right or a whole

lot of people calling sick or um or they

haven’t replaced a number of staff. So

the safest thing to do is just to keep

prisoners locked away. Now if it

happened once or twice then that would

be okay. But this has been happening for

months and months and months. He says

prison guards told him in text messages

that they feel unsafe and unsupported at

work. Four staff were injured yesterday

due to non-compliant prisoners. Two more

of my colleagues have been assaulted.

One sustained a punch to the face and

the other was spat on. A government

spokesperson told 7:30 that the

commissioner has heard staff’s concerns

and that her department is supporting

them.

Do you think that some of those prison

guards feel that they have no other

option than to not turn up to work

because they’re not feeling safe? Yeah.

To not turn up to work. I think that’s a

big thing. Or to leave altogether. So

there are a huge amount of prison staff

that are just leaving the system

altogether because they don’t feel safe.

And then that results with more

lockdowns. More staff shortages and more

lockdowns.

Corrections Victoria acknowledges an

increase in lockdowns here at Dame

Philly’s Frost Center since July last

year, but they say things like meals and

legal visits are still being provided as

usual. They deny an increase in self

harm incidents, but information obtained

by 7:30 tells a different story.

Confidential government correspondence

indicates that since July, there have

been at least 106 lockdowns at the

prison. 7:30 has also obtained a log of

legal and other support services showing

the extent of the

lockdowns. On November 8th and 11th, no

dinner is cataloged. On the 18th of

February, all prison, no access out of

cell, 43 hours

lockdown. On this day, you had no

dinner. No dinner. No. No dinner. Yeah.

So, there’s no staff at all. Contrary to

asurances from the Victorian government,

the log notes that prisoners were unable

to attend their legal appointments on at

least seven occasions.

what we’re seeing on the ground versus

what’s being told to us, it just they

don’t match

up. Adriana McKay runs Flat Out, a

service that helps female inmates find

homes outside

for a long-term get out and stay out of

prison. Housing is our first objective.

That also allows mothers to be reunified

with children. It allows people to

access counseling services that address

trauma um in a stable place. It’s

Adriana’s job to work out the catch 22

of prisoner housing. She says the parole

board won’t commit to a release date

without a home address. But new leases

can’t be secured without a release date

due to the lockdowns. Kelly was unable

to make most of her appointments. And

what did that mean for her release?

Kelly stayed in for months longer than

she was supposed to stay in or what her

earliest exit date should have been. A

separate log of activity obtained by

7:30 shows that since January, at least

28 housing related appointments were

cancelled due to lockdowns.

Victoria’s Minister for Corrections,

Envir Erdogan, was not available for an

interview. 7:30 sent a series of

questions about the length of the

lockdowns and their impact. None were

answered. In a statement, he said that

lockdowns are sometimes necessary for

safety and security, and he expects them

to be kept to a minimum.

Now out on parole, Kelly and other

former prisoners are speaking out for

those still inside. Some did not want to

reveal their identity.

They’re like locking you down sometimes

with no food in your cell and you’re

like hungry and depressed and anxious

and it just like on top of that it’s

like when am I going to put food in my

mouth next? I know too that like a lot

of the programs supported my sanity

because it you know it gave me something

to do during the day and being

restricted to that like sends anyone

crazy. Everyone is a broken soul in

there you know just trying to survive

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I’m not saying that I didn’t deserve to

be in prison because I definitely did.

Um, you know, my crime is

inexcusable. But that doesn’t mean that

I don’t have the right to be released

from my

cell. I want to heal. I want to be a

good

person. But you can’t lock me in a box

and say to me, “Now, you need to be a

good person.” Right?

And a note that if you need help now,

you can call Lifeline on 13 114.