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

CCTV reveals Brown, nurse Atheana George and two other jail officers provide Nelson with paracetamol though a cell lure door about 1.30am. It was the final time employees saw her alive.

During Brown’s nightshift, the coroner heard Nelson went on to make 9 further requires assist over the prison intercom, together with 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 dead for a while.

Taking to the witness stand for the primary time on Friday after a failed Supreme Court battle to suppress her identification, Brown revealed she now believed she ought to’ve finished more to assist Nelson throughout her last hours.

Brown accepted she had a duty of care to Nelson and may have gone to test on the 37-year-old after the inmate grew to become unresponsive throughout her closing intercom call. She additionally accepted Nelson was disadvantaged of “enough” medical care during her keep and never treated humanely.

The jail officer was additionally critical of the medical care provided to inmates and the situation in which some arrived at the Yarra unit. She mentioned night nurses often refused to walk the 200 metres from the medical unit to the Yarra unit to see sufferers through the night time.

Prison officers are usually not permitted to name triple zero and extra senior staff would need to be contacted to do that in any emergency, Brown mentioned.

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

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

Nathwani stated within the review, Dame Phyllis Frost general manager Tracey Jones mentioned she was “proud” of the way Nelson was handled in her remaining hours and that Brown “sensitively managed the intercom calls”.

Prison CCTV shows Tracey Brown, far proper, attending Nelson’s prison cell alongside nurse Atheana George about 1.30am the day of Nelson’s dying.

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

Photographs and audio contained in this story have been launched to the media with permission from the household. For twenty-four/7 disaster assist run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).