Charged but never convicted: Inside the lives of forensic patients | Four Corners

this program contains strong course language and graphic content that may disturb some viewers around the country people with disabilities are being detained indefinitely I see the forensic system as a beast do you have any trust in the system not at all not at all nothing no trust at all caged and deemed too dangerous to be released their needs too complex to treat they're facing a hopeless future which I think amounts to a form of torture some have committed horrendous acts of violence he can be dangerous yes he can be I'm not going to gloss over it this man has some issues people with an intellectual disability or serious mental illness are being locked away out of sight get me the out of get yes please in a system that's failing them and their families it was an attack on a mentally impaired man purely out to destroy him and it did that's what happened we have to balance the risk of the person to themselves and to others the last thing anybody wants is reoffending the most violent offender is entitled to be regarded as a human being in this episode of Four Corners forensic patients tell their stories for the first time we'll expose how the system designed to rehabilitate people has made patients sicker and in some cases more dangerous has uh taken my soul my spirit you're like a piece of steak in [Music] barbecue it's December 2022 a man known as Adrien steps out of a locked unit into a caged Courtyard this is the first time the public has seen how Adrien lives as someone who cares for people it is a confronting thing you know if you asked a 5-year-old what that is they would say that is a cage he's had a terrible life quality of life has been non-existent he's a number in a building and it's a building that's out of sight in his mid-30s Adrien lives with an intellectual disability and a chromosomal disorder for the past 11 years he's rarely left the forensic disability service in brisbane's West Adrien has never been convicted of a crime the overwhelming majority of people who are put on Forensic orders are put on those orders when the evidence has not been tested in a court of law and they haven't been formally found guilty of the offenses in 2012 Adrian was charged with serious criminal offenses and rather than facing trial he was placed on a forensic order by a specialist mental health court now considered to not be fit to be tried and to lack uh capacity to take criminal responsibility in Queensland you can't identify forensic patients or report on their alleged crimes what we can say is that Adrien was left unsupervised during a community Excursion when a serious incident happened he ended up in the forensic disability service well he's contained he's secluded can't get out can't hurt anybody he's not a bad person he doesn't go out of his way to to do the things he's done there are an estimated 700 people detained on Forensic orders around Australia and roughly a thousand in the community in Queensland those with an intellectual disability can be detained here where Adrian is held the forensic disability service was initially spooked as a short-term accommodation option for people on um these forensic orders so unfortunately our experience it hasn't lived up to that goal and for people like Adrian it's become a nightmare last Christmas when this footage was taken Adrien had little to celebrate his case shows the difficult balance between Community safety and human rights and what happens when we get it [Music] wrong well I hadn't seen anything like this before Mary bur's previous job was to protect the rights of people with disabilities she's the former public advocate in Queensland an independent government appointed role basically we are warehousing these people and that's that's a breach of their human rights we're doing nothing to improve uh the the threat that they pose and so they they're left in a limbo they're very closed institutions and Community has no idea what goes on I don't think that that the authorities would be comfortable with the community having a real look at what's happening [Music] there the forensic disability service wouldn't let us in to interview Adrian so for now the only way for him to tell his story is through this audio recording T3 T my whole family want me back home any c Ines meant to only be here for only matter me 5 Years truthly be more happier being in pris what we really like getting out of here and be gone from it yet being here I feel like I might be here right my life be dead here and we may die here get me the out yes please we want to find out more about Adrian's past to understand why he's been mostly confined to his locked unit for more than a decade we're going to meet a former Cara who spent a lot of time with him when he was a young man Ian McAn has worked as a government employed support worker and advocate for people with intellectual disabilities good to see you he's blowing the whistle because of Adrian's treatment at the forensic disability service Adrienne's predicament at the moment is far worse than what a prisoner experiences I'm compassionate about Adrian I feel that in my roles in working with him nothing's changed we've tried desperately to get him movement for him he is still where he was exactly on day one as a child Adrien was physically and sexually abused his childhood was extremely traumatic on a scale from 1 to 10 I know that a few of those incidences were tens there was a number of things that have happened to him as a child that um have molded who he is he doesn't see the those things that happen to him are [Music] wrong his disability was diagnosed in early childhood he has limited ability to read write or understand he gets frustrated and of course frustration leads to behaviors where he can't get his point across and he will have a serious Outburst is it something that he can control once he starts to behave you know it goes to full with he doesn't let on can he be dangerous he can be dangerous yes he can be I'm not going to gloss over it this this man has some issues but if you know how to speak to him properly and look at triggers you're able to navigate way your way around this particular gentleman and and come out the other side as a teenager Adrien burnt his house down and was placed in an institution Ian was one of his carers he he and his team had a different approach to working with Adrien when we first started working with Adrien we did a number of activities we purchased a custom bicycle for him and we were able to ride on the bike tracks floating into brism way that was without incident and we did it on a regular basis we took him fishing and spent a day fishing in the community he was able to go into the shop and buy fishing gear the normality was there he loved walking M flenders we would take him out to mount flenders and he would walk to the very top staff couldn't get there but he did he was proud of that that he had done something and achieved something he felt an accomplishment it was it was good for him yeah he says Adrien was calmer after these excursions Adrian can live a different life but it has to be with people that would support him if those people are all on the same page yes they can re achieve outcomes they started working together again when Adrien was in his late 20s this time at the fds he could see Adrien was deteriorating so what do you have here Ann I've got a number of letters in regards to how he's viewing his containment and seclusion there's a lot of them there's a lot of them and and they're quite graphic and the language that he's used adrianne's letters show the depths of his desperation how did it make you feel when you received these and read them it makes me feel quite upset and and um and frustrates you further he's displaying here the the final straw he's got no other options he draws that's the only he can do he's now at a point where I've got nothing more to say except for this word help me get me out of here I was aware that there was a person in the forensic disability service who had been been there for some time he seemed childlike and have simple views but to be incredibly frustrated by his circumstances and to have a a sense of hopelessness about his [Music] situation the former public advocate in Queensland Mary burges has big concerns about what's happening inside the forensic disability service it was a shock to me to think that we were treating people with this level of disability in this way I began raising concerns about uh what I considered was a breach of his rights solitary confinement is meant to only be for emergency s of imminent threat kinds of situations it's become the default regime for this person which is was never the intention and should never be the intention and when her complaints to the Queensland government weren't acted on she went to the state's Ombudsman which delivered a damning report in 2019 the Ombudsman found in relation to Adrian that the approach to secluding Adrian had been contrary to law unreasonable oppressive and improperly discriminatory and what does that mean he was treated unlawfully yeah he's still there under the same regime yes nothing's changed for this man adrianne's treatment is still unlawful the Ombudsman has described it as systemic abuse this man and many of the people held on Forensic orders who have disability they're facing this same future which is a future uh holding nothing for them a hopeless future and that's cruel it I think amounts to a form of torture so you think Adrien is essentially being tortured by the state I wouldn't be suggesting anyone commenced with that intention but the treatment that he's receiving amounts to that and um where are the Camas four years after the Queensland ombudsman's report another carer says he can't stay silent any longer in my time working at the fds I spent more time with Adrien than I spent with any member of my family you have to come to terms yourself forensic officer Isaac womsley is also blowing the whistle about what he's seen at the forensic disability service Adrien has communicated to us he is worried he's going to die there is that something that he's said to you it's it's something that is present every day that you work with Adrian it is certainly the fear of of everyone who supports him so how do you communicate with with Adrien so we communicate through a server window there's a wall that separates us and looks a bit like that and you know I would sit at the end of a table that comes out from the servery and Adrian sits on the other side in his chair it's sort of about eye level but that is the only window through which you know we communicate and what is it like having such limited human contact with someone that you're caring for it's certainly like a very alien experience it doesn't feel natural imagine every birthday party that you've ever had uh every Christmas morning you have experienced through a hole in the wall size of a pizza box there's no argument to be made for this to be somebody's world for you know as long as they live queensland's Ombudsman reported that Adrien was charged five times with assaulting staff at the fds all the charges were dropped due to his intellectual disability disturbingly it also found Adrian now prefers to be in seclusion it's something Isaac's witnessed too he wants the door locked because he doesn't want to hurt you and the fact that he's conditioned has been institutionalized for that to be his belief that is a really really really confronting and damaging thing to to believe Isaac womsley is afraid he'll be punished for speaking out and has engaged the human rights Law Center the Queensland Minister for disability services and the admin ad ministrator of the fds both declined to be interviewed in a statement the service said its highest priorities were the safety and Welfare of the community its clients and staff ultimately the state's mental health review tribunal will decide when Adrian is ready to leave the [Music] fds forensic patients are also being detained in jails across Australia this can make people sicker and more dangerous because they're not always getting the proper care they need gigle man Michael Heatley and his sister Christine were exposed to the criminal underworld from a young age we grew up in a family that had uh strong connections and ties to organized crime here in Australia their father and uncles were some of the most notorious armed robbers on the east coast and finally from Port sorl in Tasmania we have Christine Heatley and her Uncle Earl where would you find hemoglobin's Earl in the blood in the blood is correct Five Points it's fair to say that we're very very familiar with most of the visiting rooms in New South Wales prisons my father was in custody and I was abandoned by my mother when I was 5 years old so I was raised by my grandparents in Tasmania with my two sisters and my younger brother it's just how it was yeah I accepted it and just grew [Music] up I committed that M and I found myself a job I didn't have any money I needed money the quickest way to get money was to run in a rubber bank so that's what I chose to do I the place at gunpoint and um I left he terrified and threatened customers and employees of the commonweal bank and stole $18,700 to be threatened with a weapon and told that they were going to be shot if they didn't obey his commands would have been a most terrifying experience by the age of 23 Michael Heatley had committed two armed robberies and been acquitted of murder to try and reduce his jail time he says he initially faked symptoms of schizophrenia in 1999 he was diagnosed by a psychiatrist in Sydney's Long Bay prison hospital he's been caught in the forensic Labyrinth for more than two decades spending most of that time in jail Michael's journey in the forensic system and his indefinite detention the medication regime it has been catastrophic for Michael's life course he has gone through just the most horrendous conditions my brother like a lot of others is just in that machine stuck stuck [Music] yeah it's almost impossible for a journalist to interview someone like Michael Heatley it's taken months to gain this unprecedented access to the Sydney forensic hospital where he's now detained we're going to go in and speak to Michael katley it's the first time that any patient here has ever done a media interview and told their [Music] story hello Michael hello how are you good GL to meet you thank you for meeting me okay and sharing your story okay how has your experience in prison as a forensic patient affected how you see the forensic system I see the forensic system as a beast that chews you up and spits you out that's how that's how I see the forensic system that's how I describe it that's been my experience before he was admitted here in 2019 Michael Heatley says one of his worst experiences was the 3 months he spent in what's known as a dry cell in neighboring long bay jail the dry cell was like a 10 square meter cell it had two cameras there was no water there was no toilet it had a mattress and to urinate I had to urinate in bottles there were days it was during summer there were days that there was up to half a dozen urine bottles in this cell and I i' would continually get headaches they refuse to give me panad doll and like I was in there virtually like at least 23 hours a day every day you also received forced injections in prison can you describe how they do that and the impact it has on you and what they do is they come down and they they approach they approach your cell and they'll say to you we're here to assist with Force medication are you going to comply if you say no they get their shoes they put on their helmets they put in their padding they open the door they run onion on you they use whatever force is appropriate to hold you down and then the nurse sticks it in your backside of yeah your medic and why did you not want the medication cuz the medic is awful it's horrible it's like a torture you're in a constant state of agitation and restlessness Michael basically had to be carried and he wasn't in good shape at all Michael's sister Christine remembers visiting her brother after he received one of these injections he had saliva coming out of his mouth his eyes were rolling and it was a very short visit because Michael could not stay in that room it was a form of chemical restraint and that to me is it's shocking for Michael there was worse to come as a forensic patient he spent 2 years in one of Australia's toughest prisons Goldin supermax it was like being on another planet the only people you really see are the screws they they come to your door three times a day to feed you there's a lot of lockdowns spend 24 hours in your cell and is that environment the supermax environment the segregation prison environment is that conducive to getting better no it was it was it was horrible was a it wasn't good at all it was it was good in no way at all these years in jail came after a major incident in 2004 at that time who was being treated with a particular antis psychotic medication in the Long Bay prison hospital it started giving me suicidal radiation homicidal radiation I told the treating psychiatrist what it was doing to me he laughed in my face and said it can't do that it's an anti psychotic eventually the medication was ceased and the suicidal radiation and the homicidal radiation got worse as Michael Heatley waited for a mental health bed in the Long Bay prison hospital guards were discussing whether he should share a cell with another inmate the events that followed how catastrophic the outcome can be when a dangerously unwell forensic patient is mismanaged I voiced my concerns to the psychologist this is what's going on with my mind and this is why I'm speaking to you she prepared a report and gave it to corrective Services outlining the fact that she believed me to be a true boost to other patients and staff the psychologist told prison officials to keep Michael Heatley alone in his cell Michael says he warned the guards that he might kill someone and I told them when they're putting him in myself C listen I'm homicidal I shouldn't be with anybody they told me I was full of on the day of the incident corrective Services officers decided to take a young person and put him in the cell with Heatley and within hours Heatley had kicked him to death how catastrophic was that decision by the prison guards to put that man in your cell it cost him his life and what impact did that have on you as well that decision it ruin my life has uh taken my soul my spirit I I lost my I lost my fiance I'm separated from my son like it's like I didn't get any favors from it Michael hitle said he was unable to control his homicidal urges after coming off medication in the leadup to killing the inmate what are your views of this from a a clinical perspective one would think that if he was on medication he may have had better control of his urges maybe if he'd had an opportunity to be assessed in a hospital environment the outcome may have may have been quite different you due to his mental illness Michael Heatley was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder and remained as a iic patient Anthony wheelie was the Supreme Court Judge who sentenced Michael this is the part of the sentencing decision that I gave and it says were however this offender simply to disappear into the Grim Moore of the hospital psychiatric prison system with little hope of rescue with little hope of proper treatment and reform simply because he is a difficult person this would be a very sad condemnation of our prison [Music] system Dr Rosalie Wilcox was the psychiatrist who first diagnosed Michael in Long Bay in 1999 I felt that he definitely had some form of mental illness he's experienced quite horrific Behavior punitive behavior and so that's going to influence his ability to be reintegrated into society do you think that prison is an appropriate environment for a forensic patient no it's definitely not an appropriate environment and that's very much driven by resources we have a lack of beds and as a consequence people are in jail who shouldn't be in jail New South Wales corrective Services taught us it's increased the number of mental health beds in the state's prisons after the death of his cellmate Michael Heatley spent the the next 15 years in prison in 2019 he was finally transferred to the Sydney forensic hospital where he remains detained indefinitely you've committed violent crimes in the past do you have any insight now into why you did those things not really if you are released is there any reason why people should feel like you're a risk to community all not at all no not at all not at all I'm I'm a person you had uncontrollable homicidal urges in the past do you think that that could happen again not at all not at all I believe it was a medication how does it feel not knowing when you're going to get out it's been it's been over 21 years now every day is virtually the same you wake up you you eat some food you do some exercise you go to sleep it's just another day of your life gone down the drain Michael heatley's Sister Christine believes her brother has spent too long in custody when I came she's been his Fierce advocate for decades and the psychiatrist just blew it off and said that it was a staffing issue and they can't do anything about that he's now served his full sentence for the manslaughter of his cmate than Ste thanks for your advice bye Patrick bye what's happening today is the mental health review tribunal so they've pushed it back an hour in New South Wales the mental health review tribunal decides when forensic patients are ready to reenter the community Michael Heatley has to appear every 6 months after more than 40 tribunal hearings Christine is pushing for him to have short supervised trips outside the forensic Hospital hopefully they're not going to be so arrogant that they're still just going to say blatantly therapeutically can't be on the table therapeutic leave would not be we can't record the hearing but it clearly hasn't gone well for the heat Le what's wrong with these these are University graduated people his supervised leave wasn't approved it was absolutely alarming to me to hear that the trading team thought that my brother having therapeutic leave would not have any good effect on him so I found that bizarre oh it's outrageous makes no sense no one could give an indication as to how much more time I'll spend in this place yeah it's like um and every 6 months between tribunals it's just another 6 months one year two years that like are just being thrown away from your life exactly that's right do you have any trust in the doctors here in the system not at all not at all nothing no trust at all and why is that because of what's happened to me in the past and what's currently happened to me for somebody to have no trust in the system um is is definitely challenging um but it's something that we've got to deal with every day um Wendy Hoy is the chief executive of Justice Health it provides the majority of health services including forensic mental health in the New South Wales justice system and we've been working really hard over the last two to three years to reduce the number of forensic patients that are in our prisons um quite successfully I don't think forensic patients should be in the prison system I think they should be in a health environment and doing our very best to change that I think it's also really important to remember that the majority of forensic patients are actually living in the community they're not in any of those forensic High secure hospitals or medium secure hospitals low secure but they're leading safe and productive lives within the community does that indefinite nature of detention is it sometimes counterproductive to what you're trying to do here it can be so if you put if you put the reason that people are there in the first place which is generally a um long and enduring mental health issues such as schizophrenia where you do have a lack of insight they've often faced a lot of trauma in their in their background and whether it be in the community or whether it be coming through prison um so the outcome for us to manage is is quite a complex issue and um I think it is difficult but you can't put a time frame on it that wouldn't be fair either but is it not punitive and arbitrary to be holding someone indefinitely well I don't think we do hold anybody indefinitely I think people have can progress through the they don't have a releas system no they don't have a released date nobody's saying it's easy but we have to work in the best interest of the patient and the best interest of the community I mean the last thing anybody wants is reoffending and that's what we're trying to avoid Michael hitle is facing another possible obstacle to his release he's been looked at in a New South Wales Commission of inquiry into gay hate crimes a murder that Michael Heatley was acquitted of in the mid90s is being reexamined by the special Commission of inquiry into lgbtqi hate crimes do you think that this should change our perception of Michael Heatley and his ability to potentially re-enter the community no I don't think it's relevant to uh the question of his mental state now or his level of dangerousness towards himself or the community that would be evaluated according to his state of mind and state of being now it would not be impacted by something that he may or may not have done in the mid90s and the most violent offender is entitled to be regarded as a human being it's human nature to deplore them to criticize them to be afraid of them but nevertheless they are human beings and we have to treat them as such and hope for their Rehabilitation and return to society [Music] [Music] Australia's indefinite Detention of people with a disability has been condemned on the international stage all the way from Brisbane to the United Nations New York a group of Australian lawyers and Advocates is at the United Nations calling for change there couldn't be a more important lawyer Matilda Alexander represents Queensland forensic patients including Adrien they can't tell their story she's fighting for an end to their indefinite detention the UN tried to come to Queensland to see the mental health War to see the forensic disability services in October 2022 and they weren't allowed in so we'll take the stories from those places and present them today only two countries in the world that the United Nations has canell yeah to us and Rwanda us and Rwanda yeah we are concerned that persons with psychosocial disabilities continue to be subject to widespread and multiple forms of discrimination we remain concerned about insufficient protections Against torture abuse and neglect of institutionalized people with disability we cannot remain silent on the indefinite Detention of people with disabilities institutionalization is a discriminatory act of violence I don't know whether the government will listen to our call I don't know whether the government will really understand the importance of ending indefinite detention immediately for people with disability um I hope that they will hear I hope that they will listen and I hope that they will change back home pressure is building too the disability roal commission made recommendations to end indefinite detention and make prison a place of Last Resort for forensic patients for these people getting out of prison doesn't necessarily solve their problems too often the damage is already done and moving back into the community can be difficult so Mike how's Chris going today uh I'm fortunately he's not good today well he's been to the hospital but he didn't wait and apparently according to the support worker he ran off so we're just going to go down there and check on him and make sure he's okay and what did the support workers say about what happened today uh well they're not sure whether it was a psychotic episode or not but um he has been shouting okay which is not a good sign Mike porcher's son Chris was released from prison last year he has an intellectual disability a history of substance abuse and has been charged with dozens of offenses over three decades our life has been the police courts prison yeah that'll be the next day all up Chris has spent more than 20 years of his life in prison he now lives in the Perth suburbs on an ndis package Mike believes there still isn't enough support to help Chris transition into the community it takes you over consumes you yeah not not a nice way to live right he lives just down here now right all they want to say hello you know and all that we just wanted to how you going today yeah not bad just wanted to have a chat to you if it's okay Chris about some of the things that you've been through oh yeah um as young parents we never dreamed that we would have a mentally impaired child world this happens to someone else you know someone else's family not ours Chris was born with the umbilical cord around his neck we found out that this damaged the frontal loes as he grew he got older it was quite evident then he's impulsive poor memory poor decision making easily LED lots and lots of things like this got to the age of about 13 in that photograph there and that's when the nightmare started when did he start to kind of get in trouble with the yes um well basically from the age of about 14 15 it was different things petty theft as the years went by he got deeper into the drugs the crime escalated and then I think he got to about 18 and that was the first time then he was incarcerated how would you sum up Chris's experience in the criminal justice system he's been destroyed really I don't know how he coped to be truthful but Chris is a survivor he's 50 years old I'm amazed he's still alive in 2017 he was charged with dozens of offenses including threats to kill and theft after 2 years in custody Chris porch was placed on the west Australian equivalent of a forensic order he ended up here at perth's disability Justice Center it's meant to provide state-of-the-art care for 10 patients with an intellectual disability but has never housed more than three people the decision was made to place Chris into the disability Justice Center we thought it last know that Chris would receive the treatments that he needed jeez were we wrong it was clear to his parents that Chris wasn't being properly supervised he stopped taking his antis psychotic medication and became increasingly distressed he just cracked simple as [Music] that he broke through the glass doors into the foyer entry with a foyer extinguisher he sat down on the floor Chris waited for the police to arrive they arrested [Music] him despite two psychiatrists saying Chris should return to the disability Justice Center the former wa Disability Services Minister Steven Dawson refused to approve the request this left the board that oversees forensic patients with little option but to send Chris back to prison was Chris particularly vulnerable in prison I he's very vulnerable in prison um that's one of the problems for people with mental health problems and cognitive impairment is that they a high risk of being victimized um from other prisoners in their prison environment psychiatrist Adam Brett assessed Chris in AAA prison Chris spent time in isolation and was tormented by other prisoners when you saw him in prison how was he he was clearly struggling he had a poor understanding of why he was in prison he blamed others for his situation does the Western Australian government have a responsibility to protect people with a disability from things that happen like what happened to Chris I I think they do there are things a foot to try and address the problems in West Australia which is good so we we're moving forward at the moment um but I suppose that hasn't help Chris where does Chris belong well I think Chris belongs in the community the wa justice department says prisoners with a cognitive disability are usually held in a separate unit in AAA prison a state government spokeswoman said if a resident at the djc threatens violence or damages property then prison could be a better option for them new laws will come into effect next year to end indefinite detention in wa and the minister will no longer have the power to refuse patients access to the djc Mike porch feels the burden on families like his is too great and more support is desperately needed you can't walk away from this unscathed it would break a lot of marriages you know having a child like this it takes its tll but broken nearly but not quite they won't break me that's for sure we're doing a story about the experiences of of people in the prison system and in the disability Justice Center yeah would it be okay for me to ask you some questions about that uh hold a minute and and that's it what what was it like in the disability Justice Center for you oh it wasn't nice it wasn't nice what was not nice about it Chris oh nothing they stopped you tobacco didn't they was it hard being in there oh yeah it was and after you minute he I enough all thank you thanks chis see you there I might look in tomorrow how you going Mike's relieved that his son is okay for now today he meets two of Chris's neighbors for the first time as long as he's not causing you any trouble and he's he always comes past when he walks past he says hello so he's gorgeous he's lovely yeah and often says hi and we chat how often do you see him oh probably once I probably see him every day almost yeah he seems lonely sometimes he is he's very lonely that that's another problem and I don't know people can be scared of approaching or something I'm not worri needs a hug that's fantastic how often is he getting a hug he had a hug with you that's well I always do when I see him balance in community safety and the human rights of forensic patients is a real dilemma those trapped in the system have been kept out of sight for so long now they're finally being [Music] heard what kind of Life do you want outside of here outside of the hospital I want to return and have a life I'd like to go to work pay my taxes live an honest and peaceful life but we really want I want to be out on the nice ocean near the beach M go walking on the beach I love to be there [Applause]

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 478,369

Keywords: abc news, australian news, abc news indepth, documentaries, long-form journalism, crime, prison, forensic, disability, jail, detention, hidden, system, danger, violence, mentalillness, intellectualdisability, risk, rehabilitation, trapped, murder

Id: 976Hz3hUfIM

Length: 45min 59sec (2759 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 16 2023