Former nurse claims Adelaide Remand Centre practices are negligent, whistleblowers gagged

A former nurse at the Adelaide Remand Centre claims it is a toxic workplace where whistleblowers are gagged and prisoners routinely neglected.

An inmate was found dead at the Adelaide Remand Centre last week. Picture: File

A former nurse at the Adelaide Remand Centre has lashed what he claims is a negligent and toxic workplace, where whistleblowers are punished and prisoners’ health routinely ignored.

It comes after The Advertiser revealed the death last week of an Adelaide man in the Remand Centre’s showers.

The man, in his late 30s, was found unresponsive about 11.30am on Wednesday, July 9.

CPR was started immediately and external paramedics arrived quickly, but the man was pronounced dead an hour later.

The whistleblower nurse, who only worked at the centre a short time because he was unhappy there, came forward after hearing of the man’s death to raise his concerns about his time there early last year.

The nurse told The Advertiser that prisoners’ serious health concerns were treated with flippancy or suspicion, and that there was often a dangerous reluctance to take patients to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The RAH is just minutes away from the Remand Centre, which is at the western end of Currie St in the CBD.

“There was a real dismissive attitude toward patients,” the nurse said.

He claimed there was a routine tendency to assume all inmates were faking illness to cause problems, or that they were drug-seeking, leading to serious medical concerns being brushed aside.

“They’d call inmates ‘f**kwits’ and other names. There was just a total lack of empathy,” he said.

The nurse also raised concerns about the process for escalating urgent medical cases.

“You can’t call an ambulance directly. You have to get approval, even in situations where someone’s got chest pain,” he said.

The Adelaide Remand Centre is on Currie St in the CBD. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

The nurse also claimed that when whistleblower staff lodged complaints about workplace bullying or treatment of prisoners, they would often find themselves the subject of an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency complaint within a few days.

He said that he was still employed as a nurse elsewhere and had made a complaint to SafeWorkSA about the centre.

The Advertiser asked the Department for Correctional Services whether the deceased man had made any formal complaints or requests for medical assistance before entering the showers on the morning of July 9.

The department was also asked whether it acknowledged the whistleblower’s claims that there was a dismissive or punitive attitude toward prisoners who requested medical help, whether

prisoners were treated as “drug-seeking” rather than as patients who required medical assistance, and if whistleblowers were punished over making complaints.

In response, it said: “The department cannot comment on specifics relating to individual prisoners, including their medical history.

“The department understands that the man’s family is grieving. The right course of action to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the man’s death is through a coronial inquiry which will occur.”

The Advertiser asked SafeworkSA whether it was investigating any claims about the remand centre.

It said it was “unable to provide details or commentary on specific organisations or individuals”.

Originally published as Former nurse claims Adelaide Remand Centre practices are negligent, whistleblowers gagged