Indigenous prisoner performed surgery on his own toe due to lack of medical care in Victorian jails

One woman at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre told the ombudsman how she had fallen sick with a contagious and life-threatening illness she believed she contracted at the prison. A friend recalled there were at least six requests for help before anyone attended her cell, and that the woman was “so hot she smelt like a burnt cheeseburger”.

“I’m meant to get follow-ups and I haven’t had any – nothing,” the woman who was sick said.

Another prisoner, at the Melbourne Assessment Prison, told the Ombudsman he was prescribed Panadol and Ibuprofen even though he was in so much pain that he could not sit down properly or get off the bed.

“Staff don’t listen to us and medical don’t listen,” the man said. “No one listens to us.”

Prison healthcare providers and the Department of Justice and Community Safety were unable to confirm the facts of each case, according to the investigation, given prisoner comments were anonymised. But each organisation told the ombudsman that the experiences described “did not align with their standard ways of operating”.

Healthcare is the issue most often raised with the ombudsman by people in prison and their advocates, according to Wednesday’s report. And yet, Glass found that: “Victoria does not collect good quality prison health data.”

The Victorian government and state opposition were contacted for comment.

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