GUILTY Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 *Arrest* #21

[Detechtive]

And Shoma's victim didn't die.

Okay wow, so it wasn't even murder!

 

[Detechtive]

I’m finding it difficult to entertain the solitary confinement issue being so intertwined with the sentence. Yes, the person is likely to require protection from other prisoners. I would also argue, in this case, others need to be protected from this prisoner. Beale did take the solitary confinement into consideration in sentencing and I get that. However, the person doing the sentencing doesn’t have a crystal ball. In many ways, there isn’t certainty about the conditions under which a prisoner is incarcerated and what will happen in the future. I just think it’s really problematic or somewhat tenuous to base the sentence on the conditions of incarceration when so many factors can impact on the conditions. Does this mean other prisoners could have their sentences revisited if they experience those solitary conditions? Sorry, I’m probs rambling but basically, in my mind, prison conditions are a correctional services matter. If prison conditions are a problem it should be addressed at a systemic level and maybe this case will impact on that?

I find it difficult to accept that because of the heinous crime she committed, which resulted in unprecedented media coverage, which has led to her need for protection, means that her sentence is lessened. It doesn't make any rational sense, to me.

But further; for multiple or mass murder, “ordinary” sentencing rules are not enough. The law should explicitly require fully cumulative sentencing for multiple killings, unless there’s an extraordinarily compelling reason not to, so there is no loophole for trials of scale to be reduced by mathematical compression.

Only then can the justice system clearly communicate: every life lost matters. Every life taken will be met with uncompromising accountability. Anything less risks eroding public trust in justice, IMO.

 

[Monstradamus]

Erin has hired a human rights lawyer

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/triplekiller-erin-pattersons-prison-conditions-in-cell-smaller-than-toilet-the-subject-of-scathing-rant/news-story/12158f28132a293a27100427f93cde2e

Triple-killer Erin Patterson’s prison conditions in cell ‘smaller than toilet’ the subject of scathing rant​

There’s “screaming and yelling” outside Erin Patterson’s tiny cell, smaller than most toilets. Inside it’s worse, where it’s being described as “torture”.

Erin Patterson has hired a human rights lawyer.
It might seem like an innocuous shift but it’s part of a bigger play.


Patterson, who turned 51 inside a tiny cell at the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne last week, is being kept separate from other inmates.

News.com.au can reveal the Australian Human Rights Commission is ready and willing to launch an investigation into conditions for the mushroom lunch killer on the inside.

Patterson, as the individual being impacted by those conditions, needs to provide explicit consent for an investigation and she has reportedly been asked to do so by her legal team.

In the meantime, academics and medical professionals have described her life in solitary as “crushing sensory and social deprivation day after day, month after month”.

Clive Solomon, a retired Consultant General Surgeon, advocates across Australasia for the abolition of prolonged solitary confinement.

Poor petal. Imagine being so notorious you can't be near any other inmates for your own safety. Throw her into gen pop, and see how she goes.

 

[BreakingNews]

Life in Australia doesn't mean life. 33 years sounds like an awful lot of time, IMO. Reading up on life sentences without parole is usually for heinous crimes (tick) and how safe the general community would be if released. IDK, would she be a threat to the general community if she was released in her 80's? It's not like she is a mass murderer of random people. (Like Martin Bryant).

Also if she has no hope of ever getting out of prison, her risk of self harm would greatly increase MOO. And she would have no incentive to rehabilitate herself.
She would have to be watched closely.

Human rights comes into play also. Our system can be tough, but we aren't barbaric.

Who amongst us would come out after 33 years with our brains in tack?

I believe 33 years non parole fits the crimes.

Canberra's Criminal Law Specialists | Andrew Byrnes Law Group

Andrew Byrnes Law Group provides skilled, aggressive criminal defence in Canberra and surrounds, protecting your rights with fearless representation.

www.andrewbyrneslawgroup.com.au

blog/how-long-is-lifetime-in-prison-in-australia

 

[Kemug]

IMO I’m sure that prison is restrictive for EP but the issue in my mind is: is the human rights angle of it all a ploy for her to gain sympathy and therefore leniency or is it a legitimate issue? Imprisonment is meant to be serious punishment IMO

Yes, it's not meant to be a world cruise or a health kick, or even a boot camp.

 

[Kemug]

Life in Australia doesn't mean life. 33 years sounds like an awful lot of time, IMO. Reading up on life sentences without parole is usually for heinous crimes (tick) and how safe the general community would be if released. IDK, would she be a threat to the general community if she was released in her 80's? It's not like she is a mass murderer of random people. (Like Martin Bryant).

Also if she has no hope of ever getting out of prison, her risk of self harm would greatly increase MOO. And she would have no incentive to rehabilitate herself.
She would have to be watched closely.

Human rights comes into play also. Our system can be tough, but we aren't barbaric.

Who amongst us would come out after 33 years with our brains in tack?

I believe 33 years non parole fits the crimes.

Canberra's Criminal Law Specialists | Andrew Byrnes Law Group

Andrew Byrnes Law Group provides skilled, aggressive criminal defence in Canberra and surrounds, protecting your rights with fearless representation.

www.andrewbyrneslawgroup.com.au

blog/how-long-is-lifetime-in-prison-in-australia

How do you feel about isolation for all that time?

 

[LinasK]

I agree with the DPP. Her sentence is manifestly inadequate, imo.
Taking the lives of 3 people warrants EP spending the remainder of her entire life behind bars. LWOP, no less.

Especially because it requires no physical effort to poison people in your '80's beyond cooking. That's what Dorothea Puente did. Erin continues to be a danger to society and her children.

 

[LinasK]

Erin has hired a human rights lawyer

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/triplekiller-erin-pattersons-prison-conditions-in-cell-smaller-than-toilet-the-subject-of-scathing-rant/news-story/12158f28132a293a27100427f93cde2e

Triple-killer Erin Patterson’s prison conditions in cell ‘smaller than toilet’ the subject of scathing rant​

There’s “screaming and yelling” outside Erin Patterson’s tiny cell, smaller than most toilets. Inside it’s worse, where it’s being described as “torture”.

Erin Patterson has hired a human rights lawyer.
It might seem like an innocuous shift but it’s part of a bigger play.


Patterson, who turned 51 inside a tiny cell at the maximum security Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne last week, is being kept separate from other inmates.

News.com.au can reveal the Australian Human Rights Commission is ready and willing to launch an investigation into conditions for the mushroom lunch killer on the inside.

Patterson, as the individual being impacted by those conditions, needs to provide explicit consent for an investigation and she has reportedly been asked to do so by her legal team.

In the meantime, academics and medical professionals have described her life in solitary as “crushing sensory and social deprivation day after day, month after month”.

Clive Solomon, a retired Consultant General Surgeon, advocates across Australasia for the abolition of prolonged solitary confinement.

Not from the pictures of the cells we saw. They looked like nice dorm rooms.

 

[LinasK]

I’m finding it difficult to entertain the solitary confinement issue being so intertwined with the sentence. Yes, the person is likely to require protection from other prisoners. I would also argue, in this case, others need to be protected from this prisoner. Beale did take the solitary confinement into consideration in sentencing and I get that. However, the person doing the sentencing doesn’t have a crystal ball. In many ways, there isn’t certainty about the conditions under which a prisoner is incarcerated and what will happen in the future. I just think it’s really problematic or somewhat tenuous to base the sentence on the conditions of incarceration when so many factors can impact on the conditions. Does this mean other prisoners could have their sentences revisited if they experience those solitary conditions? Sorry, I’m probs rambling but basically, in my mind, prison conditions are a correctional services matter. If prison conditions are a problem it should be addressed at a systemic level and maybe this case will impact on that?

I agree. Sentencing isn't the place to discuss prison reform.

 

[LinasK]

Life in Australia doesn't mean life. 33 years sounds like an awful lot of time, IMO. Reading up on life sentences without parole is usually for heinous crimes (tick) and how safe the general community would be if released. IDK, would she be a threat to the general community if she was released in her 80's? It's not like she is a mass murderer of random people. (Like Martin Bryant).

Also if she has no hope of ever getting out of prison, her risk of self harm would greatly increase MOO. And she would have no incentive to rehabilitate herself.
She would have to be watched closely.

Human rights comes into play also. Our system can be tough, but we aren't barbaric.

Who amongst us would come out after 33 years with our brains in tack?

I believe 33 years non parole fits the crimes.

Canberra's Criminal Law Specialists | Andrew Byrnes Law Group

Andrew Byrnes Law Group provides skilled, aggressive criminal defence in Canberra and surrounds, protecting your rights with fearless representation.

www.andrewbyrneslawgroup.com.au

blog/how-long-is-lifetime-in-prison-in-australia

Look up Dorothea Puente in Sacramento, CA. She was actively poisoning her boarders for their Social Security checks- strangers in her 80's until she was caught.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Especially because it requires no physical effort to poison people in your '80's beyond cooking. That's what Dorothea Puente did. Erin continues to be a danger to society and her children.

She doesn't even have to cook! Slipping the right sort of something into a drink while someone isn't looking is all it takes. It can even be done from a bed or a wheelchair.

 

[BreakingNews]

How do you feel about isolation for all that time?

It surely would lead me to insanity. But if that is what the prison has to do, so be it. However Human Rights might not agree. So I don't know what the answer is.

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder what they are angling for with this focus on her human rights.


We already know the prison does not have enough guards to watch her in the yard sometimes, so extended outdoors time is probably not feasible.
She could be deadly if they give her internet capabilities for study or group programs, because that could likely be abused.
Allowing her time in General Population, and then be outraged if someone attacks her.

Triple-killer Erin Patterson’s prison conditions in cell ‘smaller than toilet’ the subject of scathing rant

 

[wellbehavedtortie]

IMO, the solution to horrific prison conditions isn't too lessen the sentence, it's to do what they could to make the conditions better. I realise that would take a lot of funding and staffing, but surely that's better than letting her go early.

What about all the other women in the prison? I've got a lot more sympathy for someone who had a horrific childhood and is in jail due to bad decisions and non-violent crimes. Who is speaking up for them?

 

[SouthAussie]

I am not sure that they are trying to shorten her sentence with the human rights complaints. I think it might be a side issue, at the moment.

I think Colin Mandy was trying to shorten it, using that argument. And it might be part of an appeal (who knows), but I think they are pushing for Erin's 'conditions' to change now.


But on the sidelines, there’s a separate push to move her from the daily deprivation and “torture” inside a tiny cell described as “a box smaller than our toilets”.

Triple-killer Erin Patterson’s prison conditions in cell ‘smaller than toilet’ the subject of scathing rant