Canberra jail inmate compensated $160k after excessive use of force incident
An inmate at Canberra’s jail has been paid almost $160,000 compensation after being violently hand-cuffed and dragged from his cell in 2017. He took the case to court, claiming he suffered extreme pain, an injury to his shoulder, and ongoing mental harm. The Chief Justice found the incident was degrading and amounted to an excessive use of force.
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00:00 Court documents show that in 2017 the inmate, who the ABC has chosen not to name, was taken,
00:07 along with several other prisoners, to an overflow area of the jail without exercise
00:12 or shower facilities.
00:14 After several days in this overflow area, he and two other inmates became angry and
00:18 frustrated, and all three smashed the windows of their cell doors.
00:22 As a result, he was forcibly removed from the cell by way of a so-called "hard extraction".
00:27 Four officers using a riot shield entered the cell where he was kneeling down as he
00:31 had been instructed to do so.
00:32 The inmate was then pulled away from the wall, spun around and thrown to the ground, causing
00:37 him to strike his head against a wall.
00:39 His hands were cuffed from behind and he was dragged from the roof.
00:43 His arm was pulled upwards as he was forced to kneel again, causing him a painful shoulder
00:47 injury.
00:48 In her written judgement, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said she found the CCTV footage harrowing
00:53 to watch, as the inmate could be heard crying out and swearing in visible expressions of
00:58 pain.
00:59 She described the use of force as "significant" and "degrading", saying it caused him "extreme
01:04 pain and distress".
01:05 Her judgement also acknowledged specific resourcing issues which led to increased tensions at
01:10 the jail at the time.
01:11 She found that ultimately the use of force was not justified and awarded the man $159,654
01:18 in damages.
01:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]