Veronica Nelson's death in Melbourne's Dame Phyllis Frost jail led to callous ... trends now
A prison boss told staff not to take the death of an Indigenous inmate 'personally' and said her family were looking for 'someone to blame', according to a leaked email.
The email from Dame Phyllis Frost prison manager Tracy Jones was sent in April, 2020 following the release of harrowing footage and audio revealing Veronica Nelson's agonised pleas for help while suffering heroin withdrawal.
Despite her repeated cries of anguish in the early hours of January 1, 2020, including a heart-wrenching wail of 'Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy', Nelson was given only one visit through the night by a nurse and was found dead in her cell at 8am.
Veronica Nelson (pictured) died in her cell at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in January, 2020 after making more than a dozen calls for help over the intercom system
In the email sent by Ms Jones, she tells staff of the Melbourne jail that the footage was part of 'a very negative picture' being 'painted by media', which had 'sensationalised' the interactions Nelson had with staff on the night she died.
Ms Jones notes the 'disturbing and distressing' footage shows Nelson 'vomiting and screaming in her cell and it's pretty horrendous!'
She informs staff that the prison lost a legal challenge to blur the faces of prison employees interacting with Nelson and this was 'very unfortunate for staff and their families'.
In releasing his findings the Coroner said Nelson's treatment had been 'cruel and degrading' and her death had been preventable.
Harrowing footage and audio shows Nelson, who weighed only 33kg when she died, pleading for help
After a night of vomiting Nelson was found to weigh only 33kg when she died.
She was on remand after being denied bail on charges of shoplifting and other outstanding warrants, offences that the Coroner said would have been unlikely to see her jailed when the case went to court.
In evidence given to the Coroner some weeks after the leaked email was sent, Ms Jones agreed that staff had lacked compassion for Nelson.
'The fact that she died in our care means we failed her,' Ms Jones told the inquest.
Lawyers representing Nelson's mother, Aunty Donna Nelson, said the leaked email betrayed the callousness of the jail.
Despite her desperate begging for help and anguished cry of 'Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy', staff only attended Nelson's cell once through the night where a nurse passed medicine through the door
'Coroner McGregor commenced his landmark finding wondering how Veronica's heart-wrenching pleas were ignored,' Robinson Gill lawyer Ali Besiroglu told.
