Veronica Nelson treated inhumanely earlier than jail loss of life, prison officer concedes

CCTV exhibits Brown, nurse Atheana George and two different prison officers provide Nelson with paracetamol though a cell trap door about 1.30am. It was the final time employees noticed her alive.

Throughout Brown’s nightshift, the coroner heard Nelson went on to make 9 further calls for help over the prison intercom, including a last two conversations Lacy described as “haunting” and “chilling”. Nothing was heard from Nelson after 4am. Her body was found later that morning.

Attending paramedics believed she had been dead for a while.

Taking to the witness stand for the first time on Friday after a failed Supreme Court docket battle to suppress her id, Brown revealed she now believed she should’ve executed more to help Nelson throughout her last hours.

Brown accepted she had an obligation of care to Nelson and will have gone to verify on the 37-year-old after the inmate grew to become unresponsive throughout her closing intercom call. She additionally accepted Nelson was deprived of “adequate” medical care during her keep and never handled humanely.

The jail officer was additionally critical of the medical care supplied to inmates and the condition in which some arrived on the Yarra unit. She mentioned night nurses typically refused to walk the 200 metres from the medical unit to the Yarra unit to see patients in the course of the night time.

Prison officers should not permitted to call triple zero and extra senior staff would should be contacted to try this in any emergency, Brown said.

An post-mortem later discovered Nelson had the undiagnosed medical condition Wilkie’s syndrome, a uncommon but probably life-threatening gastrointestinal situation.

Rishi Nathwani, representing Nelson’s mother, was essential of Brown’s motion and pressed the jail officer on an internal overview that praised her actions.

Nathwani said in the evaluation, Dame Phyllis Frost general supervisor Tracey Jones mentioned she was “proud” of the way in which Nelson was treated in her remaining hours and that Brown “sensitively managed the intercom calls”.

Prison CCTV reveals Tracey Brown, far right, attending Nelson’s jail cell alongside nurse Atheana George about 1.30am the day of Nelson’s loss of life.

On the stand, Brown disagreed. Jones is because of give evidence subsequent week.

Photos and audio contained in this story have been released to the media with permission from the household. For twenty-four/7 crisis help run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).