2 October 2005

Police Court Camera problems continue in attempted suicide

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times has a terrifying story of a man threatening suicide who was left alone in a cell under the Supreme Court and found with a broken neck.

after being locked alone in a cell below the courtrooms, he attempted suicide and broke his neck. The camera that monitored the cell wasn’t working.

Now there are huge issues in this case for our penal system and mental health services.

But in the wake of the Clea Rose camera shenanigans once again the police justice system does not have evidence which they should have.

Once may be misfortune, but twice?

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Here’s a solution, install webcams. Then users can tell you when they are faulty

Since they’re being put there for the public good, the public does have a right to see what they’re being protected from, so you’re killing two birds with one stone.

As a further extension to the idea, install a pay by visa extension which will turn on the sprinklers in the cell, you’d effectively turn the prison into a profitmaking asset within 3 months

Heres an idea. Don’t bash your Mum so you don’t end up in jail…

He couldn’t be that crazy if he had the common sense to ask the judge to place him in psychiatric care. It is common knowledge that the psych ward at the Canberra Hospital is a joke.

The easiest way to try and get out of jail is bung on a ‘mental illness’, for gods sake whatever happened to ‘do the crime, do the time?’

Why is it always someone elses fault?

If we’ve missed a story VG you were free to send it in.

Still free to do so for that matter.

How to deal with fuck ups is a fraught issue. right now I’m leaning to strike tags as an elegant solution of honesty and contrition.

But other opinions are always sought.

Calm down, vg – I don’t think JB knew who was responsible. (In fact, he said he didn’t and then went to the trouble of asking.)

Back to the point, though, I don’t think it’s fair to blame corrective services, either. They, like the cops, and the courts, and, to an extent, the hospitals, are forced on a daily basis to deal with the problem of mental illness only when things have reached the pointy end – because there’s stuff all in the way of community services. This ACT Government’s guilty; past ACT governments are guilty; every government in Australia is guilty.

1. Police haven’t run the Court cells since the mid to late 90s (I assume an apology for the inference will be offered)

2. The Police involvement in the Clea Rose tragedy was recently commented favourably upon recently in the ACT Magistrates Court (unreported here)

If you are going to throw rocks at a house make sure the address is correct, but then again the facts could ruin a good story

1. Police haven’t run the Court cells since the mid to late 90s (I assume an apology for the inference will be offered)

2. The Police involvement in the Clea Rose tragedy was recently commented favourably upon recently in the ACT Magistrates Court (unreported here)

If you are go to throw rocks at a house make sure the address is correct, but then again the facts could ruin a good story

Corrective Services.

Sorry, can we clarify who runs the cells concerned?

What’s with the title JB. Under the Supreme Court – Not the Police…

The sad thing is we don’t need the video evidence to know what happened. If the camera had been working it could have been prevented.

There has to be some accountability here.

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