Distraught father urges independent inquiry into son's prison death
The distraught father of a young Aboriginal man who died in prison is urging the ACT government to open an inquiry into his son's death.
Matt Hogan is haunted by the death of his 23-year-old son Jonathon, who died by hanging inside Junee prison, NSW, on February 3 this year.
Jonathon Hogan, who died inside Junee prison earlier this year.
Photo: SuppliedJonathon had a history of substance abuse and mental health issues, and had absconded from the mental health unit at Canberra Hospital before his incarceration at Junee.
He had been taken to Canberra Hospital's mental health unit last year after he was arrested in the ACT for property offences and had self-harmed in police custody.
Matt Hogan, who is holding a photo of Jonathon, wants a public inquiry into his son's death.
Photo: Jamila ToderasMr Hogan is desperate to know whether Jonathon was being treated for substance abuse inside Junee, and why someone with a history of self-harm was locked in a cell with hanging points.
In a letter jointly addressed to the ACT ministers for health, corrections and police, Mr Hogan urged the territory government to open an inquiry into his son's death.
"This letter concerns my son Jonathon, a 23-year-old Aboriginal man who was born, raised and lived in Canberra and who died in Junee prison on February 3 2018," Mr Hogan wrote last week.
"My purpose in writing to you is to ask you to institute an independent inquiry within the portfolio areas of the ACT for which you are responsible… I ask this in the hope that the tragic fate suffered by my son will not be repeated."
The NSW police force is investigating Jonathon's death and will prepare a report for the NSW Coroner ahead of a public inquest.
Mr Hogan is worried this inquest will overlook important questions surrounding his son's death, such as whether ACT authorities told Junee prison about Jonathon's mental health issues, and how he was able to flee from Canberra Hospital in the first place.
"These issues go to the nature, quality and effectiveness of services in the ACT," Mr Hogan wrote to the ACT government.
"Not just for people such as my son who are in touch with the criminal justice system, but to people with multiple issues such as those with which Jonathon lived, including major mental health problems, a history of self-harm and extremely problematic alcohol and drug use."
A spokesman for Corrections Minister Shane Rattenbury said the government had agreed to investigate Jonathon Hogan's treatment in ACT custody.
"The ACT government has given Mr Hogan and Winnunga an undertaking that ACT Corrective Services and ACT Health will examine Mr Hogan's treatment while in our custody and care," he said.
The ACT government would also provide information to the ongoing NSW coronial inquest as required, the spokesman added.
The Junee Correctional Centre is privately run by the GEO Group, a multi-national company that operates prisons in Australia, South Africa and the United States.
At least three separate inquests as far back as 2007 have made recommendations related to the removal of hanging points in prisons run by the GEO Group in Queensland and NSW.
The removal of prison cell hanging points was one of the key recommendations made by the historic Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991.
The GEO Group referred all questions about Jonathon Hogan's death at Junee prison to Corrective Services NSW.
"One of our major strategies to reduce deaths from unnatural causes includes the audit and removal of obvious hanging points in correctional centres and court cells that accommodate inmates who are at risk of self-harm or suicide," a corrections spokeswoman said.