Wayne Fella Morrison inquest resumes after two years

A corrections officer asked a supervisor to stop uploading incident reports to allow colleagues to first get legal advice, an inquest into the death of Wayne Morrison hears.

Wayne Morrison inquest CCTV shown at the inquest into the death in custody of Wayne Morrison in Adelaide. Inset: Wayne Morrison with his sister, Latoya Rule. Pictures: Supplied/Facebook

A corrections officer asked a supervisor to stop uploading incident reports relating to the restraining of Aboriginal prisoner Wayne Fella Morrison to allow staff involved to first seek legal advice, an inquest has heard.

Yatala Labour Prison Correctional Officer Michael Penn told the inquest into Mr Morrison’s death that he advised supervisor Ron Joseph to stop uploading incident reports to protect the officers involved.

Mr Morrison, 29, died after his life support was switched off a week after he was left in a coma following a confrontation with Corrections officers in September 2016.

Multiple officers were knocked unconscious during the incident and Mr Morrison, a Wiradjuri man, had a spit hood placed over his head before being carried into a prison van. When he was lifted from the van minutes later, he was blue and unresponsive.

An inquest into his death had started in 2018, but a group of corrections officers applied to the Supreme Court for a review of several directions of Deputy State Coroner Jayne Basheer, who is presiding over the inquest. Justice Malcolm Blue then handed down a ruling i

Latoya Rule and her brother Wayne Morrison.

n April 2020, finding Ms Basheer should continue the inquest but with limited powers.

Mr Penn, who arrived at the prison after the incident, is on the executive of the Correctional Officers Legal Fund Inc, which uses law firm Tindall Gask Bentley for advice.

He had spoken to the law firm before phoning and asking Mr Joseph to stop forwarding or uploading incident reports.

The court heard that uploading the reports meant they became available to the prison’s management. It heard Mr Joseph began uploading the reports at 3.53pm, but had stopped doing so by 3.50pm.

“The reason I phoned him was after seeking legal advice to let him know about the seriousness of this matter and that he should not be forwarding any reports,” Mr Penn said.

“As the members, or the staff, has not received legal advice and they should be afforded the opportunity to get legal advice before they submit their reports.”

He said it was possible Mr Joseph may also “have just simply stopped uploading” the reports.

Before answering the question, he told the court he wanted to claim legal professional privilege and not answer. But, after objection from his lawyer Michael Abbott QC, Ms Basheer directed he answer the question.

Mr Penn later said if there was an issue with his request to stop the reports from being uploaded, prison management could have contacted him. He said lawyers had arrived at the prison “pretty quickly”.

“My assumption was that night that the officers should retain their records, speak to a lawyer, make sure it’s okay to submit the reports … I didn’t realise it was going to get to this,” he said.

“Where was management? Why didn’t they hunt me down if there was this problem … Where were they hiding?”

He said he felt “bullied” by the court process.

He also told the court he “honestly did not think we would have a death in custody from restraining a prisoner”.

The court also heard evidence from two other officers. It heard prisoners can now no longer be laid down in prison vans, which are now separated into three compartments. Instead, prisoners are now only able to sit in the van.

It also heard the officer who conducted the original admission interview with Morrison had not been fully trained in the role.

In September last year, State Ombudsman Wayne Lines found Corrections failed to identify Mr Morrison as a high-risk prisoner in the days before he suffered fatal injuries and should apologise to his family.

Corrections chief executive David Brown has sent a letter of apology. He is expected to give evidence at the inquest in the coming weeks.

The inquest has been listed to continue for the next five weeks.

Originally published as Wayne Fella Morrison inquest resumes after two years