PORT PHILLIP PRISON: ELEVEN DEAD - WHY? Port Phillip Prison, the victorian Government's flagship private prison has claimed eleven lives in the 20 months since its grand opening in August 1997. This is the equivalent of one death in custody every seven and a half weeks. Only six weeks after the Prison's opening. George Drinken, a 28 year old man on remand, was found hanging from one of the numerous obvious hanging points which were built into the vast majority of cells. three more men died by hanging before the State Government and the private operator, Group 4 Correction Services Pty Ltd, finally agreed, after protracted negotiations, to remove these hanging points. The families and friends of the men who have died at the Port Phillip Prison have so far been denied access to the facts and reasons as to why their sons, partners and fathers have died. Each's families grief is overwhelming and they are forced to relive their tragic experiences after each subsequent death at the Prison. Instread of acting quickly to end the mounting death toll at the Prison, the Corrections Minister, Bill McGrath, the Department of Justice and Group 4 have all sought to normalise, trivilise and hide this ongoing, profoundly shameful and negligent situation. After five deaths at the prison, numerous attempted suicides, overdoses, fires and a major riot; Group 4 was only fined the equivalent of 2% of its annual contract payments for substandard performance (Victorian Auditor-General, 1999). What price human life? 20 months after the first fatality; the Coronial Inquests into the first five "unnatural deaths" at the Prison are due to commence on 7 JUNE 1999. These inquests will be held consecutively and will run for four weeks. Group 4, a multi-national corporation with annual revenues of $1.2billion and the State Government have deployed unlimited financial and legal resources to aggressively defend their actions and inactions a the Inquests. The Victorian Deaths in Custody Watch Committee requests that all concerned Victorians attend the Inquests in support and solidarity with the families of the men who have died at Port Phillip Prison. PRISON DEATHS IN VICTORIA HAVE REACHED A TEN YEAR HIGH. THE COMMUNITY DESERVES TO KNOW WHY? CORONIAL INQUESTS BEGIN ON MONDAY 7 JUNE 1999 AT: 10AM MELBOURNE MAGISTRATES COURT (CNR. WILLIAM AND LONSDALE STS) Victorian Deaths in Custody Watch Committee P. O. Box 1467, Collingwood 3066 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
