Mentally ill prisoner hearing voices missed out on antipsychotic injections while in jail

A MENTALLY ill prisoner who didn’t receive antipsychotic injections in the Alice Springs prison heard “commanding voices” before he went on to assault a fellow inmate, a court has heard.

The prisoner was receiving injections before he went to jail. Picture: SUPPLIED

A MENTALLY ill prisoner who didn’t receive antipsychotic injections in the Alice Springs prison heard “commanding voices” before he went on to assault a fellow inmate, a court has heard.

Herbert Young, 30, was charged with causing serious harm in 2018 but a Supreme Court judge found him not guilty on the grounds of mental impairment due to his schizophrenia, hallucinations and psychosis.

Supreme Court Justice Jenny Blokland said a report from a psychiatrist revealed Young has chronic schizophrenia and chronic psychosis and has suffered hallucinations from the young age of 14.

“When not in prison he had been receiving antipsychotic injections. He did not receive injections in prison. In other words, he was not receiving treatment sufficient to control his symptoms,” Ms Blokland said. A spokesperson from the Central Australia Health Service told the Centralian Advocate they could not comment on specific cases but their patients are not treated differently when they are in prison.

“The situation for prisoners suffering with a mental illness is no different from that of any other mental health patient …” the spokesperson said. “How medicines are delivered depends entirely on the health care plan prescribed by the forensic mental health team.”

Young and his cousin were in shared accommodation with 10 other people at the Alice Springs prison in 2018 when they became involved in a short verbal argument.

The next day Young heard a loud voice commanding him to hit his cousin while watching TV before he approached him and knocked him unconscious.

Young immediately accepted responsibility when prison guards asked what happened and he made an apology to the victim afterwards. He started taking tablets to treat his condition after the incident.

Young is still in the Alice Springs jail for another offence. He is awaiting reports on his suitability for supervision including from the CEO of the Department of Health.