Erin Patterson is being held in near-constant isolation at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Victoria, prompting a prisoner rights group to seek counselling and warn that her mental health may deteriorate.
Justice Action is advocating for the convicted triple murderer to receive support from a trained peer mentor, at no cost to the state. The group has described her prison conditions as tantamount to torture.
Patterson is confined to her cell for at least 22 hours a day and is permitted limited yard time with only one other prisoner, separated by wire mesh, according to the advocacy group.
Justice Action has cited United Nations rules named after Nelson Mandela, which state that prisoners should not spend more than 15 consecutive days in solitary confinement. The group has not been allowed to speak to Patterson directly, but says reports from other prisoners in the same unit indicate she is in a poor mental state.
“She’s a frightened woman, understandably so,” Justice Action co-ordinator Brett Collins, a former inmate, told AAP.
“She’s actually been now isolated for such a long time, and she’s already had those disorders before she was convicted, so now we’ve heard she’s unused to people being around her.
“That’s the sort of behaviour that causes permanent damages. It’s torture, actually.”
The group says Patterson should be treated like any other prisoner and given the opportunity to serve her sentence constructively. It has offered to provide a trained peer support mentor to help address what it says are the psychiatric risks associated with her isolation.
The 51-year-old was convicted of murdering three former extended relatives after serving them beef Wellingtons containing death cap mushrooms at a lunch in July 2023.
When sentencing Patterson, Justice Christopher Beale made her eligible for parole after 33 years in prison. He cited, in part, the extended period she was expected to spend in solitary confinement because of the risks she faced from other prisoners.
Mr Collins said the circumstances of the murders could make Patterson particularly unpopular with other female inmates, saying there was an expectation among women that the victims had trusted her and that the trust had been breached.
A spokesperson for Victoria’s Department of Justice and Community Safety said it did not comment on individual prisoners or their placements, but that all inmates had regular contact with prison staff, health professionals, lawyers and chaplains.
