What Patterson’s new life will look like inside prison
Triple murderer Patterson will return to Dame Phyllis Frost Centre after the jury found her guilty on Monday.
The maximum security prison is home to up to 600 women.
Dame Phyllis Frost is home to hundreds of female inmates Credit: YUT FILM & VIDEO
The facility has housed some of Australia’s most infamous female offenders, including teen killer Caroline Reed Robertson, gangland widow Roberta Williams and German drug smuggler Andrea Mohr.
Other high-profile inmates Patterson will be bunking with include pedophile rapist Malka Leifer, black widow Robyn Lindholm, Melbourne crime queen Judy Moran, and serial con artist Samantha Azzopardi.
Patterson will spend her time in a protected unit out of concerns for her safety.
The unit is also home to Leifer and other prisoners who are not allowed to be in other general areas of the prison.
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre is located in Ravenhall, in Melbourne’s western suburbs. Credit: YUT FILM & VIDEO
The facility has two types of accomodation: single cells with ensuite facilities or self-contained units.
There are also two special cell blocks housing 20 prisoners each, which are designed for protection prisoners and prisoners with a history of poor behaviour.
The medium security units house ten prisoners in separate rooms while minimum security units house only five prisoners.
Each unit has individual kitchen and dining facilities and prisoners are required to cook and prepare their own meals and do their own washing, ironing and housework.
Groups of prisoners share activity areas and there is a quiet area for reading and writing.
A cell inside Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. Credit: YUT FILM & VIDEO
Formerly known as the Deer Park Metropolitan Women’s Correctional Centre, the prison opened in August 1996.
The government took control of the facility in late 2000 and it is now managed by Corrections Victoria.
It was renamed after Dame Phyllis Frost, who was a well-known campaigner for women prisoners.
What happens to Erin Patterson now?
7NEWS reporter Estelle Griepink has provided insight into what is expected to happen to Patterson now.
“Because she has been found guilty, she’s been taken from her custody box in the court through what we believe is a lift into a tunnel that connects to the police station,” Griepink said.
“She’ll be put in that prison van and she’ll travel to Dame Phyllis Frost. And there we are, unlikely to see her again until about August.
“That’s when her next court hearing has been scheduled. So of course, if she was found not guilty, she’d walk free. But now that she’s been found guilty, the next part in the court process is to set a plea hearing or a pre-sentence hearing.
“That’s when we’re expecting to hear victim impact statements from family members affected by this tragedy. And then after that, we’ll proceed to sentence.
“But sometimes that takes a while. So the first hearing will be in August, and that’s just a mention to discuss these proceedings going forward. But she potentially could appear at that in person. So she would need to be brought in a prison van for that as well.”
A jury took just seven days to find the mother-of-two did deliberately lace a beef wellington with toxic death cap mushrooms to kill three people and almost murder a fourth.
7news.com.au