Federal court judge admits error when jailing man in routine property dispute theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fatigued prison officers have been working 18-hour shifts and sleeping in their cars to keep up with a soaring inmate population nearing 10,000 criminals in Queensland. Ballooning by 1053 prisoners since June last year, the state s jails now house 9614 people in 7484 cells. Bunk beds have been rolled out to jails but inmates at some centres are sleeping on mattresses on floors in doubled up cells. At Brisbane Correctional Centre there was 939 inmates late last month - 379 above the built cell number and 170 above bed numbers - with prisoners sleeping on the ground on mattresses and jail units overcrowded. Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wacol is overcapacity with more than 900 inmates last month.
SITTING at the funeral of a young man lost to suicide, Cherie Thompson feared she would be next in line to grieve a child.
Ms Thompsonâs adult son, Shaun âSonnyâ Greer, is an inmate at Wacolâs Brisbane Correctional Centre.
She claimed he has been denied basic medical care despite suffering from crippling anxiety, depression and physical pain due to multiple slipped discs in his back.
Multiple requests for support â submitted by herself, Mr Greer and his partner Marlina Sendon â have allegedly fallen on deaf ears.
âHe hasnât gotten anywhere at all; they just keep telling him to put the paperwork in, in this blue envelope. Heâs done that several times,â Ms Thompson said.
Last modified on Fri 15 Jan 2021 14.02 EST
Trapped in a prison van, terrified and confused, Mr Stradford began to hyperventilate.
The claustrophobia and anxiety was overwhelming him, according to court documents.
He says he started banging on the van’s door, begging to be let out.
The only response to his distress was from the two detainees being transported with him, he says.
One allegedly put his handcuffs around Stradford’s neck and tried to strangle him from behind.
“Shut the dog up,” the man uttered.
It had been about four days since Stradford stood in the federal circuit court before judge Salvatore Vasta, where, self-represented and without any legal experience, he was arguing a routine property settlement dispute with his ex-wife.