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| Coroner warns of deaths in custody in packed jails |
| By theage.com- Mark Russell and Nick Toscano |
| Published: 01/24/2014 |
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A coroner has weighed into Victoria's prison overcrowding crisis, warning inmates are increasingly at risk of harm. Coroner Peter White linked ''avoidable'' deaths in custody to staff shortages at remand centres, prisons and police cells, while delivering his findings on the death of a mentally ill prisoner who hanged himself in 2010. He warned that the system of dealing with mentally ill inmates at Melbourne Assessment Prison was stretched and more funding was needed to minimise the threat of self-harm or suicide. The prison's overworked nurses were reviewing inmates' mental health without adequate levels of training and support from busy senior clinicians, he said. Mr White spoke after a veteran criminal lawyer warned that riots and deaths in custody were more likely while the ailing prison system struggled with cell shortages. Former Law Institute of Victoria criminal law chairman Rob Melasecca said it was ''a matter of time before riots eventuate and there are potential deaths in custody''. Armed robber Adam Omerovic was found dead in his cell at the Melbourne Assessment Prison in 2010. Read More. |
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