Tammy Shipley’s final moments in Sydney jail cell recorded in CCTV footage

Warning: Distressing content. This story contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person. Tammy Shipley’s image has been reproduced with her family’s consent.

In a Sydney jail cell, a woman lies on a bed, her legs and hands spasming.

The spasms give way to seizures that rock her entire body.

Eventually, she falls from the bed and remains lying face-down on the floor of the cell, where she will spend the final moments of her life.

This is the scene captured by a CCTV camera in the Mum Shirl Unit of Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre on 20 December 2022.

Tammy Shipley, a 47-year-old Aboriginal mother remembered by her family as loving, creative and kind, was in jail after being charged with trespassing, breaching her bail and shoplifting $23.10 worth of goods from Woolworths.

Tammy Shipley, 47, died after consuming massive quantities of water in jail while delusional.

An inquest into her death at the NSW Coroner’s Court has heard officers failed multiple times to conduct the required physical checks on Shipley, who had long suffered schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, over a period of nearly three hours.

Unknown to prison staff, Shipley had been consuming massive quantities of water due to a delusion of extreme thirst, depleting vital sodium content in her blood.

Both counsel assisting the inquest, Dr Peggy Dwyer, SC, and Shipley’s family, including her mother, Vicki, supported the Herald’s application to access the footage.

Detective Senior Constable Salim Trad, the officer in charge of the coronial investigation, told the court on Tuesday that Shipley was displaying “abnormal behaviour” from December 11, the day she was admitted to jail, based on earlier footage.

Tammy Shipley fell off her bed in jail after suffering seizures. She remained in that position for 20 minutes.

“I could tell she was actually quite delirious,” Trad said.

Shipley looked in the mirror and spoke to herself. At other times, she took her clothes off or cried.

Despite a note that she would benefit from human interaction, Shipley was left mainly to herself.

She was also consuming increasing quantities of water from the 17th onwards. On December 20, the day of her death, she filled her cup 67 times, the court heard previously.

Trad said the CCTV showed Shipley defecating on the floor, vomiting and breathing heavily that morning.

“She continues to force herself to drink water throughout that time, regardless,” Trad said. The officer said Shipley was visibly unwell from about 10am. At 11:55am, she collapsed on her bed and began fitting soon after.

In the hour that followed, officers walked past the cell three times but did not look inside, the court has heard. A set of broken blinds obscured their view.

About 1:16pm, a psychiatrist observed her, through a hatch in the door due to COVID-19 concerns, and saw her lying on the ground surrounded by fluid, the court has heard. But officers did not enter her cell until 20 minutes later and could not revive her.

Tammy’s mother, Vicki, and the rest of her family supported the release of the CCTV vision. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Trad agreed with counsel assisting that it took “far too long” for Corrective Services to assist Shipley after she was first seen lying on the floor.

“It’s a matter of life and death,” he said. “With CPR, seconds count.”

The court heard that vision from each of the cells in the unit could be seen live from an office.

Trad recommended that Corrective Services increase the number of physical checks on inmates in the Mum Shirl Unit and implement a method of recording checks made.

Shipley had six children, one of whom died shortly after birth. Vicki Shipley said her daughter was a loving parent who had enjoyed a long period of stability, free from drug addiction, in which she raised her children.

“She was a very kind person,” Vicki said. “She would help anybody out.”

But after a traumatic birth experience, Shipley’s mental health deteriorated and she began to abuse drugs again.

The inquest continues before state coroner Teresa O’Sullivan.