Erin Patterson’s pre sentence hearing has revealed details of the grim reality of her life in an isolation wing at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, which houses some of Australia’s worst female criminals, many of who are locked up for heinous crimes.
The cold-blooded mushroom killer spends up to 23 hours a day locked inside her cell with the only person for company a female terrorist who has attacked other prisoners – Erin’s only solace is crocheting blankets.
The triple murderer, 50, who finally faced the loved ones of her victims’ Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, as well as the solo survivor of the deadly mushroom lunch, Ian Wilkinson, 71, in Melbourne’s Supreme Court on Monday, is often seen knitting and has adorned her cell with her handmade blankets.
“She has a TV, room for her personal items, she has a lot of wool and crochet equipment, a computer and she has her own pillows and a number of crochet blankets that she did herself,” Corrections Victoria Assistant Commissioner Jennifer Hosking said during submissions as she described Patterson’s living conditions.
The court heard Patterson is being held in the prison’s notorious Gordon isolation wing for her own safety and not because she poses a risk to others.
TRAPPED AND ISOLATED IN PRISON
Since her incarceration Patterson has spent 400 day in the separation unit, which exceeds the recommended 15 days, as set out by the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela Rules. The rule states that prolonged solitary confinement is a form of torture.
She receives her meals via a trap door to her cell and often spends up to 23 hours a day in her cell with the only woman for company in jail on terrorism charges, and who has attacked other prisoners.
Staff shortages since Covid has meant she has very little contact with anyone other than prison guards, and her lawyer described her hearing the screams of the other disturbed women whom she is housed with reverberate around her tiny cell.
Initially, Patterson was in the Murray unit of the prison where prisoners have more freedom to move around and access to a lounge room, but she was moved to the Gordon over fears her safety and because of the high profile nature of her case. Ms Hosking said it is continually under review whether Patterson will stay in Gordon or move back to the Murray unit, but could not guarantee that she will ever leave.
She told the court that the prison has a policy of placing individuals in the “least restrictive conditions” while prioritising their safety and the safety of others.
Furthermore the court heard that Patterson spends between 22-24 hours alone in her cell every day and can only access the small courtyard off her cell when she is granted permission from a prison guard. Access is dependent on whether a prisoner is using the larger courtyard, as Patterson cannot come into contact with them.
Ms Patterson currently only has access to one other person, a prisoner who she could communicate with through a mesh fence whilst in her one metre by one and a half metre yard. But Mr Mandy posed the question to Ms Hosking, “Can I suggest to you that she has never spoken one word to that person?”
Mr Mandy revealed the prisoner who Erin is able to communicate with has been in the Gordon unit for three years, and is incarcerated due to terrorism offences. They have attacked other prisoners whilst in custody.
Ms Hosking says Patterson could request access to other prisoners, but it would require a formal approval process. She also has access to an in cell intercom in which she could contact other prisoners, but to do so she would have to know the name of the other prisoner and also undergo a request review process. This has never happened.
Patterson has access to the library and leisure services but in her 14 months in prison she has rarely been able to do so due to staff shortages and the fact that two prison guards must drive her in a van and accompany her into the library. Once in the library, she has twenty minutes in there. She has requested access to a computer and once sentenced she can seek access to further education.
She has also repeatedly asked for access to the treadmill in the lounge area, but it has rarely happened because it is occupied by other prisoners or there is no one to take her.
Mr Mandy has described the conditions in the cell as “appalling” and “deprived” with Patterson often only leaving her cell for one or two hours a day, despite the maximum time allowed being up to four hours.
WILL ERIN GET A NON-PAROLE PERIOD?
Despite this, Patterson’s defence barrister Colin Mandy SC conceded he would not be arguing for anything other than life imprisonment due to the severity of Patterson’s crimes, but argued the issue was whether Justice Beale should set a non-parole period.
Mr Mandy proposed that the court should fix a non-parole period of 30 years, pointing out that Patterson would be 80 by the time it came up. He argues that Patterson would likely remain in protective custody for the foreseeable future because of her notoriety and the belief that she “will always be at risk of other prisoners”, calling her living conditions “appalling”.
Addressing the court, prosecutor Jane Warren disagreed saying at some point interest in the triple murderer will diminish and said all the charges fall in the “worst category” and that she subjected her victims’ to a long and painful death. She argues that Patterson should die in jail.
“It is a case so cold, so horrific our submission is the offender is not deserving of mercy.”
While Justice Christopher Beale retires to consider all the elements of the case, he has revealed that he will hand down the sentence on September 8 at 9.30am.
He closed the hearing by saying that we often talk of the ripple effect of a crime, but when it comes to the four generations of the Patterson and Wilkinson’s families who have been effected by the cruel, calculated killings, it is “more like a tsunami than a ripple”.
