Heather Calgaret was a proud Yamatji, Noongar, Wongi and Pitjantjatjara woman. She is remembered as a loving and smiling ‘mother hen’ who was a rock to her family and who loved and connected with her culture through her kids and art.
Heather was 31 when she died in hospital after collapsing in her cell at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in November 2021. She collapsed the day after she got her first dose of the Buvidal weekly injection.
After a long wait for her family, the four-week coronial inquest into Heather’s death began in April 2024. Among other issues, the inquest investigated Heather’s physical and mental state in prison and the quality of medical and mental healthcare she received. In custody, Heather had her youngest baby taken away, her mental health worsened, she gained more than 70 kilograms and developed related physical health issues.
The inquest heard evidence that the care she received through the private companies Correct Care Australasia and Forensicare was mismanaged, fragmented, not equivalent to that available in the general community, and culturally unsafe.
The inquest also investigated the Victorian parole system. Heather was eligible for parole almost a year before her death and was denied parole a month earlier. The inquest heard from a panel of experts on the parole system who criticised the significant delays, the inability for people in prison to have a say in parole decisions, the secrecy of the parole system, and housing difficulties. There have been over 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991.
Heather Calgaret was a proud Yamatji, Noongar, Wongi and Pitjantjatjara woman. She is remembered as a loving and smiling ‘mother hen’ who was a rock to her family and who loved and connected with her culture through her kids and art.
Heather was 31 when she died in hospital after collapsing in her cell at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in November 2021. She collapsed the day after she got her first dose of the Buvidal weekly injection.
After a long wait for her family, the four-week coronial inquest into Heather’s death began in April 2024. Among other issues, the inquest investigated Heather’s physical and mental state in prison and the quality of medical and mental healthcare she received. In custody, Heather had her youngest baby taken away, her mental health worsened, she gained more than 70 kilograms and developed related physical health issues.
The inquest heard evidence that the care she received through the private companies Correct Care Australasia and Forensicare was mismanaged, fragmented, not equivalent to that available in the general community, and culturally unsafe.
The inquest also investigated the Victorian parole system. Heather was eligible for parole almost a year before her death and was denied parole a month earlier. The inquest heard from a panel of experts on the parole system who criticised the significant delays, the inability for people in prison to have a say in parole decisions, the secrecy of the parole system, and housing difficulties. There have been over 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody since 1991.
The latest criminal news from around the country, including pressure on WA government to act on ‘systemic failures’ in youth detention following inquest into death in custody of Cleveland Dodd, Victoria backflipping on raising the age of criminal responsibility and all prisons in NSW now having access to ‘virtual’ medical care.
There is no doubt in Hayley’s mind about the importance of the program that allowed her to care for and train a dog while in prison. “It saved my life,” she says.
There are renewed hopes that phone calls in Australian prisons will soon be more affordable or completely free, with campaigns advocating for the change ramping up around the country.
Following a number of complaints from inmates, the NSW Ombudsman investigated Serco’s response to an assault at Clarence Correctional Centre.
About Time Media acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands across Australia and particularly acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, traditional owners of the land on which About Time Media is based.
We acknowledge the continuing impacts of the criminal legal system on First Nations people, including disproportionate rates of incarceration and deaths in custody, which remain a national shame.
We pay deep respect to Elders past and present, and all families of those who have lost loved ones in prison.
© About Time Media Ltd.
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