LAW1LIM Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Hm Prison Barwon, Solitary Confinement, Miscarriage
LIM Lecture 9 – Imprisoned People
1. Context
Imprisonment and Remand in Victoria
6,788 people in full-time custody in Victorian prisons in December 2016
• 2,090 unsentenced/on remand = 30%
• 4,686 sentenced/convicted = 70%
• 461 women = 6.7%
2. Prison Conditions
1. Acacia unit – high security – solitary confinement
• one of the two highest security custodial facilities in the Victorian prison system. It was purpose built as a high security
facility for sentenced prisoners, not prisoners on remand.
2. Strip searched and restrained before leaving each morning. There were 12 accused, so this entire process took an hour
for the entire group.
3. Transported to Melbourne in a secure transport van: 65 – 80min drive each way
• 26th March 2007, Air-conditioning malfunctioned, Temperature reached 50 degrees in the van, Security procedures would
not allow them to be transferred to another van. People have died in Australia when prison transport air-conditioning has
failed
4. Strip searched again upon their return
5. Long days – wake up at 6am, return to the prison 6-7pm. Locked in their cell from 9pm
3. Impact of conditions
Impact of the Accused
1. Occupational physician [50]-[51]
• No time for exercise could lead to ’back ache, neck ache, aches and pains in other joints’
• Psychological effects: ‘depressed, irritable and anxious’
• Impaired memory and concentration
2. Forensic psychiatrist [57]-[62]
• Conditions in Acacia: ‘the ordinary person could reasonably be expected to experience a very significant degree of
psychological and emotional distress’
• Strip searching: ‘making the person feel degraded and humiliated’
• Also referred to anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, feelings of hopelessness
Impact on the Trial
• ‘The right of an accused to receive a fair trial according to law is a fundamental element of our criminal justice system…
the accused right to a fair trial is more accurately expressed in negative terms as a right not to be tried unfairly or as an
immunity against conviction otherwise than after a fair trial...however, it is convenient, and not unduly misleading, to refer
to an accused’s positive right to a fair trial’
1. Length of imprisonment/ delayed trials
• ‘All of the accused have been in custody now for two years or more. That of itself is unsatisfactory’
• ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’: William Gladstone, Prime Minister of England, late 1800’s.
• Courts may stay the proceedings (interim/permanent) or direct the jury about the impact of the delay
2. Presumption of innocence for people remanded in custody
• ‘There is a stigma attached to the prisoner’s dock that may adversely affect a juror’s objectivity. For some defendants,
sitting in the prisoner’s dock may be a humiliating and degrading experience’: R v Smith [2007]
• Benbrika: screens removed and the number of prison officers in the court restricted.
3. Prepare and participate in own defence
• ‘a basic minimum right of an accused in a criminal trial as the right to have adequate time and facilities for the
preparation of his or her defence’
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
6,788 people in full-time custody in victorian prisons in: 2,090 unsentenced/on remand = 30, 4,686 sentenced/convicted = 70, 461 women = 6. 7% 2: acacia unit high security solitary confinement, one of the two highest security custodial facilities in the victorian prison system. It was purpose built as a high security facility for sentenced prisoners, not prisoners on remand: strip searched and restrained before leaving each morning. People have died in australia when prison transport air-conditioning has failed: strip searched again upon their return, long days wake up at 6am, return to the prison 6-7pm. [france] wrote that the law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread . Standing committee on aboriginal and torres strait islander affairs: our land our languages report: there are too many cases of indigenous people going before the courts and not having access to a professional interpreting service.
