Victoria’s bail laws are a “complete, unmitigated disaster” according to a coroner who has handed down findings into the death of Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson.
Veronica Nelson was a 37-year-old Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman, who was suffering from an undiagnosed medical condition when she was arrested on shoplifting-related charges and refused bail.
She was found dead in her cell at Dame Phyllis Frost Correctional Centre on January 2, 2020, after her repeated calls for help using the intercom were knocked back by prison staff. She had used the intercom more than 40 times to alert staff as she suffered from two days of severe opioid withdrawal on a medical ward.
On Monday, Coroner Simon McGregor handed down his findings, recommending an overhaul of bail laws in Victoria and that the government implements all recommendations from the 1991 royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. McGregor was brought to tears during the four hours he took to read his findings relating to the mistreatment that led to Nelson’s death in custody.
McGregor concluded that the failures of private prison healthcare contractor Correct Care, and Corrections Victoria, had contributed to Nelson’s death. He referred Correct Care to prosecutors to consider criminal charges.
“I have found that Correct Care lacked a number of clear policies or processes for the safe medical management of their patients, many of whom were regularly presenting to them afflicted by various recognised medical risks,” he said on Monday.
McGregor said Nelson’s treatment was “cruel” and “degrading” and this treatment caused her death, which had been preventable. He also found her treatment by corrections staff had breached Section 10 of Victoria’s human rights charter.
The coronor also said the prison staff’s treatment of Nelson was also impacted by stigma around drug use and withdrawal.
“The assumption that it is normal for patients withdrawing at Dame Phyllis to experience a level of suffering normalises such suffering and results in the desensitisation of both corrections and Correct Care staff to this type of presentation,” McGregor said.
“As a result of this normalisation, corrections and current care staff were not responsive to the obvious signs of Veronica’s clinical deterioration, and thereby continually fail to recognise that she was in need of urgent medical care.”
The inquest heard that in the 12 hours before she died, no member of staff had opened her cell door to check on Nelson, including a nurse who spent her shift watching a movie.
McGregor noted Victoria’s bail laws had a discriminatory impact on Indigenous people, and said decision-makers in Victoria Police had failed to take into account Nelson’s vulnerability and had violated her human rights. He called for urgent reform to bail laws which were tightened after the Bourke Street murders in 2017.
“I find that the Bail Act has a discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates of [First Nations people] remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander women,” he said.
Nelson’s mother Aunty Donna said the justice system was broken, and also urged for reform to bail laws.
“You were supposed to change bail laws to stop a white male monster from killing people, but instead you filled our prisons with non-violent Aboriginal women like my daughter Veronica,” she said.
“Our bail laws need to change now.”
Feature Image: Aunty Donna Nelson.
For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).