Veronica Nelson handled inhumanely before jail dying, prison officer concedes

CCTV reveals Brown, nurse Atheana George and two other jail 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 additional requires help over the jail intercom, including a remaining two conversations Lacy described as “haunting” and “chilling”. Nothing was heard from Nelson after 4am. Her physique was discovered later that morning.

Attending paramedics believed she had been useless for a while.

Taking to the witness stand for the primary time on Friday after a failed Supreme Courtroom fight to suppress her identification, Brown revealed she now believed she should’ve finished extra to help Nelson throughout her closing hours.

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

The jail officer was also critical of the medical care supplied to inmates and the situation wherein some arrived at the Yarra unit. She said night time nurses usually refused to walk the 200 metres from the medical unit to the Yarra unit to see sufferers during the night time.

Jail officers should not permitted to name triple zero and more senior employees would must be contacted to do that in any emergency, Brown stated.

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

Rishi Nathwani, representing Nelson’s mother, was vital of Brown’s action and pressed the prison officer on an inside evaluation that praised her actions.

Nathwani said in the review, Dame Phyllis Frost common supervisor Tracey Jones stated she was “proud” of the way Nelson was handled in her last hours and that Brown “sensitively managed the intercom calls”.

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

On the stand, Brown disagreed. Jones is due to give evidence next week.

Photographs and audio contained on this story were released to the media with permission from the family. For twenty-four/7 crisis help run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).