Inmate support ‘failure’
Advocate says escapes are rare
A KEY prisoner advocate says it is exceedingly rare for inmates and people in custody to escape while being treated in Tasmanian hospitals, and “there’s no need for panic”.
But Greg Barns SC said this week’s escape from the Royal Hobart Hospital, which ended in tragedy for prisoner Nathan Aaron Scott, was also a sign that the system was failing.
The chair of the Tasmanian Prisoners Legal Service said prisoners would be taken to hospital or medical appointments on an almost daily basis,
without incident.
“There also are hundreds of prisoners on work release programs reintegrating back into the community, so there’s no need for panic,” he said.
But Mr Barns said prisoners might attempt to escape if they became “desperate” or had started to “unravel”.
“Either they’ve got serious mental health issues that have not been addressed, or they’ve simply been ground down by the system and feel like they’ve got nothing to lose,” he said.
“None of them think they won’t get caught, none of them think they’ll get away with it, living on an island.
“We need to work out the warning signs.”
Mr Barns said the Prisoners Legal Service constantly heard stories of prisoners who had been subjected to extensive lockdowns or not getting their medications.
On one occasion, he met with an escaped inmate and drove him back to Risdon Prison.
“What he was really on about was the lack of therapeutic support,” he said.
Mr Barns questioned what supports were in place for atrisk prisoners, who were either “completely desensitised or institutionalised”, or alternatively “young people who are just unable to cope with the system”.
Two Supreme Court of Tasmania judges had described Scott’s “very unfortunate childhood and adolescence” in the years before his death at Granton this week.
Justice Stephen Estcourt said in 2021 that Scott had a significant methylamphetamine addiction, had been made a ward of the state at 12, and was exposed to drugs from a “very young” age.
Justice Estcourt said Scott lived in group homes from about the age of 13 and had been influenced by others.
He said he was led into stealing and shoplifting, before his crimes escalated.
A 20-year-old man has been charged with Scott’s murder, and is expected to appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court later this month.