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Staff at a Canberra prison pepper sprayed a First Nations inmate who was self-harming and then handcuffed and strip searched her, an investigation has found.
A report by the ACT Custodial Inspector, released this week, found “serious gaps” in how the woman was treated before, during and after the incident, and evidence of “systemic and institutional racism”.
The woman, who has a “significant history of loss and trauma”, was detained at Alexander Maconochie Centre in the ACT at the end of June 2025.
She had major mental health concerns before this and during her incarceration.
After prison authorities did not allow her to take part in NAIDOC celebrations, the woman climbed a roof in protest. As punishment for this, prison staff gave her 28 days in separate confinement and the loss of privileges.
The Inspector found that this punishment was “grossly disproportionate”, and that it cut her access to culture and kin when she was having significant mental health difficulties.
In late July, the woman asked to go to an Aboriginal art program but was told she could not.
The report said that she then engaged in self-harm.
The Inspector said that after prison officers found her in her cell, they pepper sprayed her, and then handcuffed her behind her back. They then removed her from the cell and conducted a strip search.
Despite falling unconscious after the use of the pepper spray, healthcare staff did not attend to the woman until the following day, the investigation found.
The ACT Custodial Inspector was scathing of the use of pepper spray in an acute mental health crisis, and of the treatment of the woman before and after the incident.
“Using OC spray on someone who is self-harming and not posing a threat to others is inappropriate and should not happen,” ACT Custodial Inspector Rebecca Minty said.
“The approach taken prioritised control over care. That is not consistent with a trauma-informed response.”
The woman also did not receive a health assessment until the following day, despite the risk of “catastrophic injuries to her head or neck” from the incident”.
The review found the use of pepper spray in this situation was “extremely distressing”, and that the woman felt the effects of it for a number of days, posing “significant risk of physical and psychological harm and trauma.”
The woman told the Inspector that she had been feeling “completely powerless, frightened and unheard in the lead-up to the incident”, and that it had impacted her self-esteem and mental health.
The treatment of her by prison staff in the lead-up to the incident and in response to it also showed evidence of “systemic racism and implicit bias”, the Inspector found.
The Custodial Inspector recommended that OC spray use be outlawed in response to self-harm and attempted self-harm, and that the ACT government must take active steps to enhance a trauma-informed response to self-harm incidents.
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