Review of all jail releases

Stabbing case prompts inquiry

THE health and justice departments have been asked to urgently examine prisoner psychiatric assessments and prisoner discharge processes.

In a joint statement, Corrections Minister Elise Archer and Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the work would involve clinical experts as required.

The announcement came one day after Daryl Royston Wayne Cook, 36, was found not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios.

Cook, who later told police he was waging war against heathens, stabbed Mrs Delios 22 times on July 23, 2016. He had been released from jail the day before and the court heard he had been psychotic in the lead-up to his release.

Ms Archer and Mr Ferguson said while there would be a coronial investigation, it was appropriate that further work was done as an “urgent priority to ensure that psychiatric care assessments and prisoner discharge processes are as rigorous as they can be”.

Prisoners Legal Service chairman Greg Barns said Mrs Delios’s murder was “an extreme example of an ongoing problem”. He said the Government had “refused to put supports around prisoners when they are released”.

Mr Barns said a full-scale inquiry into how the prison system worked was needed.

“We need to completely revamp the way in which we treat prisoners so that the focus is not on punishment but the focus is on mental health and physical health, and ensure that people who are released from prison are provided with ongoing services and support, not only for their own well being and safety but for the community’s well being and safety,” he said.

Cook was released three months early from prison after being granted remission. Ms Archer and Mr Ferguson said the Government was committed to abolishing remissions.

“Tasmania is the only state or territory … that still lets prisoners out of prison early under remission,” they said.

Mr Barns said he was “appalled and disgusted” to see the Government playing politics with Mrs Delios’s death.

“It wouldn’t have mattered when that person was released,” he said, the issue was inadequate mental health care.

Opposition spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne called for “a full review of what’s going on at the Risdon Prison in relation to mental health support”.

Justice Gregory Geason this week ordered Cook be held at a secure mental health facility indefinitely.