Marlon Noble was born on 11 February, 1982. When he was about four months old, he suffered meningitis, and spent the next eight months in hospital. As a result of this, Marlon was left intellectually impaired. He has well below average intelligence, and cognitive difficulties. A 1995 assessment found he had problems with literacy and numeracy, and was likely to be confused by complex instructions. He also had problems expressing himself verbally.
When Marlon was 19, he was charged with sexually assaulting two children. Specifically, he was charged with two counts of sexually penetrating a child under 13 years, and three counts of indecent dealings with a child 13-16 years. The alleged victims were an intellectually impaired nine-year-old girl, and her older sister, who was about 14. That was in December 2001.
In 2002, Marlon first appeared in court, and was then held in custody for assessment. The court quickly found that he was mentally impaired. In March 2003 it was decided he was "unfit to stand trial". The court could then choose whether to release Marlon unconditionally, or to make a custody order. It decided to hold him in custody, and his case was transferred to the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board.
That is, it decided to hold him in prison. He was not found guilty of any of the charges made against him. Today, Marlon is still in prison. He was never tried for these alleged crimes.
In June 2010, a forensic psychologist called Mary-Anne Martin released a report, which stated that, with assistance, Marlon was now able to plead and stand trial. His lawyer said that Marlon would like to plead not guilty to the charges.
However, he cannot do this. The charges have been withdrawn, as of late 2010. The Director of Public Prosecutions explained to the court that because Marlon had been imprisoned so long – indeed, much longer than a court could have reasonably sentenced Marlon if he had been found guilty of all charges – he would not seek to continue with the charges.
There is perhaps another reason why the charges are unlikely to be proven beyond reasonable doubt in court. The alleged victims, and their mother, denied in April this year that Marlon ever harmed them. Marlon had played with them when they were children. Their mother described him as a "big softy", and the older sister described him as a "good bloke".
She "couldn't think of anything (he did)" when her mother pressed her to remember any wrongdoing. "I just thought of him being good to us and how we grew up together." She was also certain he did not rape her sister.
According to Colleen Egan, the younger sister does not seem to remember being sexually assaulted either.
She was unable to answer detailed questions but said she did not remember Mr Noble. She did not recall a police interview in which she made allegations. The girl's 2001 interview record, which was counter-signed by a welfare worker, suggested Mr Noble had penetrated her "front and back".
There was no evidence to support or disprove the allegation from a medical examination on the day of the alleged incident. She did not have injuries.
Her mother believed Mr Noble, 29, did not rape her daughter.
Both the older daughter and her mother support Marlon's release.
Marlon has been imprisoned for 10 years, without ever being found guilty of a crime. There appears to be no evidence that the crimes which it was alleged he committed ever actually occurred.
However, it was not intended that he stay in prison forever. In 2006, the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board endorsed a five stage plan for graduated release into the community. In 2008, he was granted day release for one day at a time. In 2010, this was increased to two consecutive days a week.
On one such visit on 2 September 2010, he gardened in his Disability Support Worker's home. He told her that he "had the flu bad", so she gave him a Sudafed tablet.
On September 3, Marlon gave a urine sample to the prison authorities. On September 8, the Pathwest Prison Drugs of Abuse Screen came back with a "presumptive positive" finding for amphetamines. On September 9, a Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry Test reported on the Analyst's Certificate that amphetamines were not detected.
These tests are explained in a report by Robert Cock QC, in a report from which I've drawn much of the above material.
Cock explains that "the screening test does not establish the presence of illicit drugs, it does no more than suggest the desirability of a more sophisticated analysis". The Analyst's Certificate, on the other hand, established that "analysis of the urine sample taken on 3 September 2010 ... did not reveal any indication of illicit drug use."
However, on 7 October 2010, Marlon was charged by a prison prosecutor with an aggravated prison offence, based on the screening test result, and an admission by Marlon. Cock's report was the result of an independent inquiry into Marlon's detention: he concluded that this was a "flawed approach" to the screening test, for the reasons just explained. He noted that "The Analyst's Certificate was not taken into consideration at any stage of the initial disciplinary process prior to the determination of a conviction, despite what is required by Departmental policy and procedure."
Duly convicted, because of this alleged amphetamine use, from 15 October, 2010, Marlon was no longer allowed Home Leave in the community.
Cock's report goes on to note that there is “no record that the Analyst’s Certificate was provided to the prisoner or his advisors or representatives." Cock suggests that the prison appears not to have "understood that the screening test had no evidential value in terms of establishing the presence of any illicit drug, and that the only analysis which was capable of evidencing the presence of illicit drugs, the Analyst’s Certificate, was negative." Cock describes the failure to provide this material to either Marlon, or to consider it when deciding to prosecute, as a "serious departure from the process mandated by the Prison Regulations. Moreover, it was not provided to, nor its presence and contents mentioned, to the Visiting Justice." He concluded that this was a "fundamental flaw in the prosecution process which inevitably led to the decision of the Visiting Justice to accept Mr Noble's plea of guilty and convict Mr Noble."
Why did Marlon admit to using amphetamines? Having noted the affidavit of the support worker about the Sudafed, the finding that there were no signs of amphetamine use in his urine, Cock notes that Marlon had explained the pressure he was placed under to confess. He provides the transcript of an anguished phone conversation on 12 October 2010 Marlon had with Ida Curtois, a woman who promised his mother she'd look after him. Marlon told her that "I had to say it", "All the officers pushing me", "push me and push me until (indistinct) over the edge", "pushing and pushing me".
Cock noted Marlon's predicament: "after being told that the test had shown his urine sample to be dirty, that he had to come up with an explanation and that he was lucky that the Visiting Justice would merely issue a warning and not adversely affect his home leave, it seems to me that he was ill equipped intellectually to maintain his earlier denials". That the Superintendant failed to comply with prison regulations and disclose to him the Analyst’s Certificate "merely added to the disadvantage he already suffered".
On 10 December 2010, Rebecca Andrich, an advocate for Marlon, sent a letter to the Mentally Impaired Accused Review Board. She wrote about the statutory declaration that Marlon had been given cold and flu tablets, though she acknowledged that the "Assistant Superintendant of the prison has stated that he is unable to provide me with any further information on the testing of urine outcomes to substantiate for you the scenario of cold and flu tablets." As she has worked with Marlon for more than five years, she wrote "in my opinion", Marlon "would NOT have deliberately or knowingly engaged in any recreational drugs as he is fully aware of the consequences."
On 19 January 2011, the Registrar of the Board, on behalf of the Chairperson of the Board, wrote back to her, expressing its "concern" about this opinion, and the "impact such views may have on the quality of supervision provided to Mr Noble whilst on home leave". This was because they were still convinced of Marlon's guilt.
On 21 March, the Department of Corrective Services informed the Board that the conviction of Marlon for the drug offence was "unsound". Marlon was then granted two 48-hour leaves from the prison each week, and his conviction for the alleged amphetamine use was administratively set aside.
That is to say, from October to March, Marlon was no longer allowed home visits. In preparing his report, Cock interviewed Marlon. He wrote that losing "the opportunity to regularly leave the prison on supervised absences ... impacted very heavily on his confidence of ever realising his hope of one day leaving the prison system forever."
This all might be considered startling. In his ninth year of imprisonment for a crime there is no evidence he committed, and which probably never occurred at all, he was convicted of another crime there is no evidence he committed, and which probably never occurred at all.
Approaching his tenth year of imprisonment in November 2011, the Board referred him to the national sex offenders registry, as it considered conditionally releasing him in January. This is despite the perhaps trivial fact that he was never found guilty of any sexual offence, that the DPP withdrew the charges, and that the alleged victims don't seem to believe he sexually assaulted them.
The Board proposed releasing Marlon, with 10 stringent conditions. For example, he will not be allowed "to enter licensed premises, including restaurants, nor leave his home at Geraldton, 400 kilometres north of Perth, overnight without permission". He would be subject to random drug and alcohol testing.
A few years into Marlon's imprisonment, his mother was murdered. According to Greens MLC Alison Xamon – who has been a vocal supporter of Marlon – the conditions mean he would not even be able to "visit his murdered mother's grave". Furthermore, these "conditions could be in place for the rest of his life". She concludes that these conditions mean he "cannot lead a normal life". If he is to be conditionally released, the Board's decision will be
final, there is no avenue for appeal and no transparency to its decision making. The other option is for Attorney-General Christian Porter, with Cabinet support, to make a recommendation to the Governor for Mr Noble's final and unfettered release. But in answers to parliamentary questions, Mr Porter has indicated he does not seem to have an appetite to exercise this power.
The Western Australian Premier, Colin Barnett seemingly has no problems with the conditions, explaining that "we also want to make sure he poses no risk to the community". Presumably, one can't be too careful with a man who has been alleged to have committed sexual offences against children, and to have used drugs, even if the evidence is overwhelming that Marlon has been imprisoned for 10 years without ever having broken any laws, and all charges have been withdrawn. So if Marlon is released after over 10 years in prison, he faces the prospect of stringent conditions for the rest of his life, on penalty of being sent back to prison.
It is possible that if there is a public outcry, the conditions placed on Marlon's release may be reduced, or he may simply be unconditionally released. Other than scattered stories, there does not appear to have been much outrage expressed over the fate of Marlon Noble. The Greens called for an inquiry, which doesn't appear to have gotten anywhere.
How could this happen? How could a man who is almost certainly innocent have been locked up for ten long years, without a storm of furious public outrage?
I think a large part of the answer can be found in a simple fact I have omitted from this story so far: Marlon Noble is Aboriginal. As noted in the NTER Evaluation Report:
Despite making up less than 3 per cent of the Australian population, Indigenous people comprise more than a quarter (26%) of the prisoner population...The age-standardised Indigenous imprisonment rate (1,891.5 per 100,000 adult population) is more than 14 times the non-Indigenous rate (133.5 per 100,000 adult population), and the ratio has increased every year, apart from one, since 2000.
Western Australia is Australia's worst performer. As Chris Graham noted in 2009, it jails "black males at more than eight times the rate of South Africa during Apartheid".
We can and should hope that one day soon, Marlon will be free, and will be allowed to live out the rest of his life in dignity without state imposed restrictions.
Yet there is a more troubling thought. Given how appallingly Australia has failed Marlon Noble. Given how many Aboriginal people we lock up every year. How many more Marlon Nobles are there out there, who we simply don't know about?
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Michael Brull has a featured blog at Independent Australian Jewish Voices, and is involved in Stop The Intervention Collective Sydney (STICS).
Comments
Comments in response to the article
Trevor :
Anybody who has mentally disabled children knows that nobody actually cares. The burden falls squarely on the parent's shoulders. Everybody else looks away, making a few embarrassed noises when caught out in their total lack of concern.
Simoc :
WA has had an even worse case. The deaf and dumb mute convicted of murder and did a life sentence, recently released and compensated. He was also mentally retarded and was such easy pickings for a lazy police force under pressure. These cases are replicated on scales across Australia. Yesterday a senior police officer was sent to jail for 16 years in NSW. The WA perpetrators get off free.
MikeB :
The arguments of the child protection anti-rape lobby - false accusations never happen; the system is biased against victims; more pressure on the accused is justified. Marlon is one example of where this leads.
FreeGuy :
Having lived most of my time in WA and known many people working in the police, prison and legal system, it was very easy for me to guess this story was about an Aboriginal man when the whole thing started to sound too terrible to be true. WA is a place where high profile lawyers and police detectives literally get away with murder, while petty misbehaviours see Aboriginals imprisoned and tortured (such as repeated unnecessary tazering). Both Lib and ALP governments chant the same mantras about 'tough on crime' but it really means 'tough on easy targets'.
Azrael :
I spent some 5+ years of my life as a low-paid lawyer working on cases of this nature. It is not as rare as Mr Brull makes out - generally speaking, the civil commitment processes work well, or at least they have since Murray Allen took over the running of the Review Board. Criminal commitment (as per the defence of insanity, or through a finding of being not fit to stand trial), however, is essentially 'detention at the governor's pleasure', and is therefore subject to extreme political interference. For this reason, a plea of guilty followed by a plea for mitigation is often preferable to claiming an insanity defence, even where one quite clearly deserves such a defence. I do not know whether Mr Noble is being kept in the general prison, or in the Frankland Centre (a closed division of Graylands), but mentally impaired prisoners who cannot get a place at the Frankland Centre are inevitably subject to bullying, bastardisation and neglect (there are good psychiatrists and facilities in the prisons, but often the general staff don't act until a prisoner has degenerated to the point of psychosis). In my time working in this field, I met numerous prosecutors and police officers who expressed similar concern about the treatment of people in this position. The most frustrating thing is that there is literally nothing, as a lawyer, that one can do here. If civil commitment is conducted wrongly, there are review boards, and appeal procedures that I, as a lawyer, was able to pursue. After years of struggle, I stayed in the job long enough to see real reform take place in that area, and a Mental Health Review Board reformed - if I was ever unfortunate enough to suffer mental illness, I have a fair amount of faith in the current review board's ability and bona fides to consider each case critically and thoroughly. But for a person in Mr Noble's position, the governor (i.e. the government of the day) has absolute unmitigated control, which they are often tempted to use to show how tough they are on law-n-order, no matter how unsuited the person is as a target for such political grandstanding. I never dealt with Mr Noble, but I had other clients in similar positions. And as a lawyer who had turned down offers of massive salaries in order to dedicate my time to this issue, it was absolutely crushing to realise that there was nothing - absolutely nothing - that I could do for these people.
Ahyoo Serious :
This is very, very disturbing and shows that this country has a long way to go. Before pointing the finger at places like China with regard to human rights, Australia needs to clean up its own back yard.
che :
Terribly sad and shocking. Perhaps if he were a footballer accused of the same actions it would have unfolded differently? Regarding both attention and outcome.
J :
What particularly horrifies me about all this is that we have a person with disabilities caught in legal and bureaucratic nightmares for a very long time. Further, the amount of time means that his behaviour has been socially modified to live under constant supervision in an institutional setting - which is no longer the way we work with people who have disabilities of this kind. So, even if he is released and even if this is with a clean slate, and even if this is with a skimpy support system in place, he will find it incredibly difficult to manage on a daily basis let alone at night. And nowhere do we hear of compensation for a life lost behind bars - because, regardless of race, this is a young person with disabilities. Quite disgraceful for a so-called civilized society.
Cap'n :
Coming from the state which (amongst other things) stitched up Andrew Mallard, why should we be surprised that nothing has changed?
a_boy :
Get it right please Michael. Australia has NOT failed Marlon. My state of Western Australia certainly has. Our current state government seems incapable of making a sensible, compassionate decision on this (and many other) cases. Barnett's stance is totally incomprehensible. He should sack the board responsible for the outrageous set of conditions imposed upon Marlon, and set up a more responsive body of people who know what they're doing.
Treechanger :
This case is both frightening and appalling as it illustrates the real and absolute danger that mentally disabled people face at the hands of police and the prison system if they do not have a strong advocate at the time of charging. WA should be so ashamed of this case.
GrassyNoel :
The fact that he hasn't been convicted of anything means that he *is* innocent, not just almost certainly innocent.
sinbad :
I was reading the story outraged at the injustice done to this man by the authorities and wondered how this could have happened. Then the word Geraldton appeared and immediately I understood. When I was a kid it was the Queensland Government that played loose with the law, Queensland has joined the civilized world but WA is still run like a fiefdom and the Premier and his accomplices just seem to make up the law as they go. That is probably why the West has never developed like the rest of Australia. I am terribly sorry for Marlon but wonder if he will be punished even more now that his plight has come to light and embarrassed the WA authorities.
WP :
Mr Brull, you would have done better not to make this a race issue. This made me angry at you for playing this card. His race is irrelevant. He is not the first person to be locked up in WA who had mental issues, for a crime they could not have committed. I cannot remember his name, but a man was released a few years ago after 10 years for a murder that would have been extremely difficult for him to commit. His supposed confession was no such thing. He had extremely low IQ and a mental disability. He thought he was helping police. He was white. This is a system of justice issue, not a racial issue. You note that the arrest rate for Aboriginals is higher than for whites. The arrest rate is high for those who are poor, and badly educated regardless of race. Unfortunately far higher portion of Aboriginal people fall into that category than whites do. The problems of the justice system is a related but separate issue to that of the high rate of poverty and low education leading to high arrest rates. That aside, thank you for bringing this issue up. If we as a society must be able to have confidence in the system, at times my confidence has been shaken.
Fiona :
It would be interesting to know what caused the individual to be charged in the first place. However, given the absolute hatred our society has for people who sexually abuse children, I doubt his race is the contributing factor to this saga. I suspect if he was a poor, mentally impaired, white man, the outcome would be similar. Statistics like 'Despite making up less than 3 per cent of the Australian population, Indigenous people comprise more than a quarter (26%) of the prisoner population' do highlight a problem. But the question is why are the crimes being committed, not why are they going to jail. You can also say 'men are much more likely to go to prison than women', but that doesn't mean the 'system' is discriminating against men! I hope this mess gets sorted out, and yes there should be a public outcry.
The Devil You Dont :
It is possible race has played a part in this, however the lack of outrage from the public is not necessarily because of race. My guess is that most people are unaware. Those that are aware probably either hold the view that to attract the attention of the legal system you must have done SOMETHING wrong, or else simply don't care because they don't think something like this could happen to them, so why bother.
mac :
Why does 4 corners or some other ABC programme not take this up? It is not just about this individual but the system as a whole. It disgusts me.
sinbad :
4 corners has done a story on the abuse of a prisoner that caused death in WA but they just don't care, WA isn't like the rest of Oz.
Frankf :
I want someone to make a blockbuster movie about this and show it to the world, so that all can see just how "great" AUSTRALIANS are.
Kassandra :
I have seen many examples of people like Marlon receiving similar treatment, though less extreme, on the basis of misconstrual of their behaviour towards children. It occurs not because people like Marlon are Aboriginal, though that may add to the prejudice in some peoples' minds, it occurs because they are intellectually disabled men.
Not Surprised :
A dreadful story, but my response while reading it was - it could happen to anyone whether or not they are intellectually impaired, and there are probably hundreds of tales out there. This sort of epic is the consequence of a society obsessed with sex offences against children - you are guilty as soon as you are accused. How could a man who was almost certainly innocent have been locked up for ten years without a storm of public outrage? - because he was "almost certainly innocent" of a sex offence against children. Dirt sticks. I do have a query though - Where was the WA Aboriginal Legal Service in all this?
alexii :
Justice is and always has been for the wealthy and privileged. Everyone else can go to hell.
Tony :
Absolutely heart-breaking.
billonthehill :
For the first 90% of the article I was pleased to note that the gentleman's Aboriginal descent was not mentioned - it is irrelevant to the facts. This case is simply a travesty of justice and we should all be embarrassed. If there are facts that the gentleman was either placed in prison, or kept in prison, because of his Aboriginality, then it becomes relevant and a disaster on a further front.
Miowarra :
In Western Australia (and likely in other states) being Aboriginal is clear evidence of criminal intent - but only to coppers and screws.
Brown :
Whilst we would like to think that courts send people to gaol because they are criminals the overwhelming evidence is that racism is alive and well and many Indigenous people are treated badly because of the status. We need to turn the tide and make all Australians accountable for how we have treated the first people of this great country.
mattydor :
The racism question is whether a white Australian would be allowed to stay in jail for 10 years without ever going to trial.
iansand :
If you are Aboriginal you are more likely to be arrested. If you are Aboriginal you are more likely to be convicted. If you are Aboriginal you are more likely to be incarcerated. The reasons for this may be complex, but the facts are indubitable.
jh :
I have seen whitefellas get suspended terms for far more serious crimes than indigenous people who received a custodial term.There are a whole load of Marlons in the system. If you are Aboriginal, the presumption is one of guilt until innocence is proven, and once you're in the system, that seems to be proof enough of guilt.
kevh :
The WA justice system is corrupted. Case after case has emerged of illegal incarceration, black and white and successive WA governments have refused to undertake the root and branch purging and reform of the police and prosecution that is required. I do agree that in many cases, it is not a racial issue. However, as always in the 'frontier' states, it is the indigenous male who is overly represented. There are many ways of dealing with the petty crimes that most are jailed for. Jail should be, and isn't currently, the last resort.
Le blogeur gai :
We all know we live in a racist country. The current debate over asylum seekers who arrive by boat highlights that fact oh so well. If Marlon had been a white person, imagine the public outrage at his treatment.
WP :
In WA there have been similar cases involving white men. So no it’s not a race issue. It’s a justice system issue.
oldenbutnowiser :
When I was a young criminal lawyer in the northwest, it was commonly known that the local police (who maintained criminal record cards), thought nothing of "accidently" including an extra conviction or two when updating the records of Aboriginal offenders. I caught a couple of police doing it and even saw a visiting magistrate, who had an almost photographic memory, tick off a prosecuting sergeant for allowing the practice.
Robert :
What happened to innocent until proven guilty? No matter how you paint it and with the best of intentions Australia is still a racist country. That is self-evident in dealing with Indigenous people and the boat people coming into this country. The bigotry shown in both cases beggars belief. It is so much easier to turn a blind eye and keep the status quo rather than make an effort to prove his innocence and to have the intestinal fortitude to admit a mistake was made. But as with all things in this modern society the question is likely to be asked, "Well if we made a mistake and an error in judgement, how much will it cost us?" Seems the losing of face and possibility of having to make reparations is too hard for some. As an Australian, how proud do you feel now, when a fellow countryman can be treated so poorly and hardly one person says Boo?
Mary2 :
Indigenous people are routinely imprisoned for crimes that, for Whites, would rate a warning at worst. Indigenous people are over-policed because they live in small communities. They get booked for 'public nuisance', get sent to court, cannot pay fines, go to prison. They have less access to bureaucracies like renewing drivers licenses, get booked for driving without a license, get sent to court, cannot pay fines, go to prison. Indigenous people are also more heavily policed because they are Indigenous. Young males are much more likely to be stopped and harassed by police than White teens etc. etc. Indigenous people are also more likely to be unemployed and live in poverty - which can lead to crimes of poverty. Prison is so common among Indigenous men that it has become a rite of passage in some communities. You are not a man until you have been convicted.
sinbad :
The justice system is much fairer in Bali than West Oz and cheaper.
Ahyoo Serious :
How did you feel about this fellow before discovering that he is Aboriginal and then coming to the illogical conclusion that this is just about race? The facts of the case are very disturbing. The author is merely pointing out in the final paragraphs the simple truth that indigenous people continue to be treated very differently by the "justice" system in this country. Aborigines continue to be gaoled for the same petty crimes that non-Aboriginal people are not incarcerated for and only those who choose to ignore the facts believe otherwise. Courts do send people to gaol for being Aboriginal in the same circumstances that others are not sent to gaol. Fact.
This case must be one of the worst of its kind
by ray jackson, president, indigenous social justice association
reports like this one dealing with the crimes perpetrated against marlon noble by the state and its uncaring racist minions that become blind to all reason merely because the person involved has an intellectual disability and this is compounded by the fact he is either aboriginal or of another culture drives me to utter distraction.
not just because of this case, that must count at least as an example of the worst of its kind, but because it makes me remember other such callous cases, but of a lesser degree perhaps, that i and other gaol advocates have become involved in over too many years.
the custodial system is indeed a very, very callous place because once you are caught up in it you are judged by your keepers to be far less worthy of human consideration and proper treatment from the time you come under their control. a blind control that immediately strips from you your dignity and self-respect. the all pervasive view is that you must deserve to be there otherwise you wouldn't be there. not a skerrick of humanity is shown by your keepers regardless of your situation or complaint. regardless of the crime for which you have been charged you will equate in their minds as being the worst of criminals. whatever is wrong with you you are told to wait.........and wait.........and wait some more.
personal problems? wait. health problems? wait. mental health problems? wait. any problems? just wait.
to your keepers you count as nothing, your concerns count even less. all the humanness from any interaction between you and your keeper does not exist. their attitude is that you are instantly identified as a liar, a scammer of the system or you are definitely a trouble maker. that attitude embraces every day you are in custody. from the keepers point of view you do not rate as being of any concern. let the welfare or the nurses or the psychs or just anybody else sort you out. they are there to lock the cell door behind you. if you still have full control of your faculties you may just get through this initiated culture shock.
but imagine, if like marlon, the police have charged you with a hideous crime and, if like marlon you have an intellectual disability, then you are wide open for the 'special treatment' of having everyone in the system judging you as being guilty and deserving of no effort to come to the truth of the matter. you will be ignored by the system because you have become a difficult case and the system does not know what to do with you. years later if you have the charges dropped, again like marlon, you are no better off. by this time you have been designated as a forensic patient and have become a virtual life prisoner. the gaols do not want you but nor does the mental health system. you are in 'no-man's land' and are expected to cop it sweet.
over the 20+ years i worked within and without the gaol system the hardest cases to become involved in were the forensic inmates. no one would listen, not even the mental health tribunals or the ministers involved. three cases stand out in my memory of the blind brutishness of the systems involved. psychiatric nurses and the psychiatrists themselves would listen to no plea, even if cultural, because they were 'god' whilst you were an uneducated interfering blob obviously being fooled by the inmate.
the first case involved that of an elder who was picked up by the police around tamworth way because the good citizens were frightened by his odd behaviour. the police picked him up and he became aggressive when they tried to lock him up. he was charged, faced the local court and he was bundled off to the long bay gaol hospital to be assessed. months went by and very little was done to find out what his problem was. i was contacted by a concerned inmate if i could visit the elder and assist him. by this time other aboriginal workers became aware of his situation and the system were prepared to declare him a forensic inmate. a life sentence.
he was an old man, somewhere between 70 to 80, and his so-called strange behaviour was merely his reconnecting with his culture and his sacred sites on his country. he wanted to do that before he died. when he became excited it was only his distress being given voice at the destruction of some sites. the police dropped the charges against him yet it took many many more months to get the elder out of gaol. he was finally handed over to the care of his family but only because a team of dedicated advocates fought the system for him.
i have seen the results of a cruel disgusting gaol system that have been responsible for driving at least two aboriginal acquaintances in the gaols of mentally breaking them to the point whereby they were declared forensic inmates.
during the late 90's i argued that the number of aboriginal inmates being nominated as forensic inmates was virtually skyrocketing but i could not, by this time, gain access to them or interest any official to what i was saying.
prior to my completing 10 years at the metropolitan remand and reception gaol at silverwater i became aware of a forensic patient that somehow had proved that he was no longer of any interest to the system but he could not be released from gaol (he had no charges against him) until he was cleared by the mental health tribunal and such clearance was then endorsed by the gaol minister of the time. this all hinged on him getting a good psych report but at that time there was a shortage of psychs but when new ones were found we began lobbying them to see him and clear the way for him. prior to that happening however he was transferred to another gaol in the country and did not return for about 6 months. the psych seen him but she stated that in her opinion he would be a danger to himself and society if he was released. she said he had an anger problem. i called it a frustration problem, but what would i know.
we lobbied the tribunal and the minister to ignore this report and for him to be given the chance of a new report. by this time this inmate had served some 18 months in gaol without charges. eventually they agreed to allow him to see a new psych and get a new, hopefully good, report. i'm told he eventually got out but had broken 2 years doing so.
the major problem, as marlon has to his detriment found out, is no one wishes to make a decision in case it is the wrong one and their careers are ruined. common sense and logic have no part in the process. it's done by the dusty musty books of rules and rules are rules. the custodial systems are not operated with imagination or flexibility as those who work in those systems quickly learn.
i have every sympathy for marlon and can only urge readers to write to the wa corrective services minister stating that marlon needs to be released. and properly compensated for false arrest and imprisonment.
Electorate Office:...
61 Lowood Road
Mt Barker WA 6324
Postal Address:
PO Box 61
Mt Barker 6324
Ph: 1800 644 811
Fax: 9851 1912
Email: terry.redman@mp.wa.gov.au
Ministerial Office:
11th Floor
Dumas House
2 Havelock Street
West Perth WA 6005
Ph: (08) 9213 6700
Fax: (08) 9213 6701
Email: Minister.Redman@dpc.wa.gov.au
fkj
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(p) 02 9318 0947
address 1303/200 pitt street waterloo 2017
www.isja.org.au
we live and work on the stolen lands of the gadigal people.
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Reposted on Ramp Up, a disability site set up via ABC
Hi Indymedia,
This story was reposted on Ramp Up (a disability site set up via abc)
http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2011/12/09/3387845.htm
here are the comments from that page,
regards from anon.
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Comments (5)
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anon :
11 Dec 2011 9:14:45pm
Hi Michael Brull,
Thanks for this & your other work.
Especially for actually calling racism racism. & racism is what's what's happening here, no matter how many other prejudices are also compounding the injustices.
As I inferred in my other Ramp Up comment re Graeme Innes' "The year in review" the way disability & the law interacts is a factory of injustice, every which way. The sick legal system re rights of unfit to give evidence is as bad as re unfit to stand trial. (See also the evidence rulings of children's bus cases, SA.) Then there's trying to get justice, or just help, if you've been disabled by the "justice" system. (See the Rex Bellotti jnr case.)
Marlon Noble, the girls & their mother have all been dealt with with flagrant disregard for the 'welfare' or 'care' that is supposedly a duty to be provided in the justice & prison systems. The suffering spreads, their friends, community & family...
The "storm of furious public outrage" was/is among people who - apparently - don't matter.
There are too many cases like this. Throughout all states, in many systems. So many lives, so many people's gifts wasted in absurd & often futile attempts to change, or even cope with, the gross injustice of these hidden/ignored everyday tragedies. The sort of grief it brings kills those it doesn't kill directly.
The reports are done, the facts are written up, the stories told again & again.
In the face of this, when action is taken by power that ignores what it's victims say needs to be done to fix it, or does the opposite of what they say while claiming that's what they want or what's best for them, or neglects to admit error, or even decides to continue as usual, then it's beyond the "neglect" that's sometimes admitted to, it becomes another active process of deliberate oppression alongside all the other horrors enacted here.
"Aboriginal Land - Always Was, Always Will Be, Land Never Ceded."
In the hope that we will one day live in Peace.
Thanks for speaking up.
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Solair :
11 Dec 2011 9:03:18am
Am just soooo ashamed to be Australian in this case. My Dad who fought and was shot by the enemy and nearly died would turn in his grave to think this is the wonderful country he nearly died for.
Where oh where is the Australian Human Rights Commission in this ?
Why do we have a Human Rights - is it only to employ Law graduates at huge cost to the Australian Taxpayer ? Going on to the Federal court when most mediations fail is NOT an option for disabled people and is a cruel barrier to justice.
Lucky country ? Not if you are disabled it's not !
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dalma :
10 Dec 2011 11:05:33am
This obnoxious disreputable miscarriage of Justice, is indicative of the malaise our Court's perpetuate daily. The entire charade is happening daily in Courts across the Land - Family Courts, children's Courts, drug Courts, and Coroner's Courts etc, are churning out light sentences, and allowing the guilty to not only be set free, but to continue their nefarious trade, with the Magistrates blessings & condolences. Magistrates in Australia, are appointed by Attorney General's of each State, and most are Political appointments, which is NOT based on merit, experience or how well they practice Law.
This case highlight the incompetence of the Police, welfare Officers, Aboriginal agencies,and numerous Govt Departments whose role is to protect vulnerable people, and to give them needy support and guidance. All have failed abysmally. There is one Justice for the rich, another for the people who can afford a solicitor, for Caucasians, for those with connections who can vouch for glowing character references, the dispossessed & the poor, wretched , maligned Aboriginal.
If everybody had achieved their sworn duty, and upheld the Law as we know it, this contemptuous travesty would not have occurred. The Palm Island fiasco, and it's aftermath which cost a mint, and endured many inquiries, still hasn't been satisfactorily resolved. The Palm Islander's still live in third World poverty & filth, and despite all the rhetoric, will continue until it is sold off as a holiday resort, like Daydream & Kepple Is.
The Court's could have appointed a Psychologist Panel to evaluate the mental capacity of the belligerents. No person can be prosecuted if they lacked intellectual acumen, much less the result of heresay testimony from unverified sources.
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Paul Tyson :
09 Dec 2011 10:44:17pm
This is just terrible. And what a terrible sting in the tail this story has regarding race. What a racist country we live in. Thanks for putting this in the open Michael. But why has, and will, nothing change here even once it is in the open. What shame, what shame Australia. What is wrong with us?
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Glenda Lee :
09 Dec 2011 4:51:49pm
The prejudice and discrimination perpetrated by the system and the courts appears to be deliberate and unending for this man. It's a terrible travesty. Call it disability or call it race discrimination it doesn't change the fact that in the eyes of society he is at the BOTTOM of the heap and doesn't matter!
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