Qld prison officers forced to attempt to revive dead inmates

Queensland prison officers have unloaded on a “ludicrous” procedure that is activated whenever an inmate is found dead.

Prison officers are being forced to try to resuscitate clearly dead inmates for up to an hour because of a jail-issued operating directive, it can be revealed.

Despite nurses at the jail being able to declare people dead, paramedics are being called to do it.

In at least two cases, officers say they had to try to resuscitate prisoners until a para­medic had arrived, where one had post-mortem lividity and another had a stiffened body after rigor mortis had set in.

A prison officer told The Courier-Mail ambulance staff could take up to an hour to get to the jail.

“The situation is ludicrous,” the officer said.

“Staff are working 45 minutes to an hour on a corpse.

“I think it’s the fact that every death in custody goes to an inquest so nobody wants to (declare someone dead) for fear of retribution (at an ­inquest).”

Prison officers have told The Courier-Mail the ordeals had been traumatic and have called for Queensland Corrective Services operating procedures to be changed or clarified to make it clearer that registered nurses should make a declaration if a paramedic is delayed.

Officers are unable to ­declare a person dead, however doctors, paramedics and registered nurses are able to, along with police who can in some more obvious circumstances.

Registered nurses work at Capricornia and Brisbane correctional facilities where the prisoners died in late August and November, according to officers, however they did not declare the inmates dead.

Prison officers have an operations directive that says they must treat an apparent death in custody as a medical emerg­ency, which includes CPR. It does outline that they are able to seek medical assistance by calling Queensland Health staff who are on duty, or by calling for a paramedic.

Brisbane Correctional Centre at Wolston

It is understood the nurses, who work for Queensland Health, have had difficulty ­accessing parts of the jails and are normally based at medical centres within the prison. They have assisted with CPR but not declared people dead.

Health’s guidelines state CPR must continue unless there is post-mortem lividity or rigor mortis has set in.

Together Union assistant state secretary Michael ­Thomas said the issue needed to be resolved and was traumatic for staff at the jails.

“There has to be a better system for this,” Mr Thomas said.

“Asking our officers to perform CPR for extended periods of time on a clearly deceased person is immensely psychologically damaging.

“Corrections and, more ­importantly, the state, should be putting all possible options in place to minimise this.

“If that means having people available every centre who can make an assessment or a ­declare a person deceased, then they should do that.”

Queensland Corrective Services referred the matter to Queensland Health.

A QCS spokeswoman said in an emergency officers followed “established incident management processes to ­ensure every effort is made to save life by ­applying first aid techniques and continue until otherwise instructed by a doctor, para­medic or registered nurse”.

“We would like to thank the officers for their incredible ­efforts to do everything they could to save life,” the spokeswoman said.

“Queensland Corrective Services offers counselling and support to all officers as needed.”

A Queensland Health spokesman said doctors, registered nurses and paramedics were authorised to declare a person dead.

“We are working with QCS to provide advice relating to their operating procedures,” the spokesman said.