2025-07-16
The treatment of an Indigenous prisoner, who is reported to have been held in solitary confinement for more than 800 days in Adelaide’s Yatala jail, should be immediately investigated according to Greens Senator for South Australia, Barbara Pocock.
The Senator has written to Acting Premier Susan Close, requesting a full investigation.
Lines Attributable to Senator Barbara Pocock:
“I have written to the Acting Premier asking her to confirm the number of days that the prisoner, Mr Robert Barnes, has been kept in solitary confinement. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, prohibits solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days.
“If it’s true that Mr Barnes has been kept in solitary confinement for the reported 800 days then SA Correctional Services is literally guilty of torture. We send people to prison as punishment, not for punishment.
“This is a basic human rights issue and one that puts a spotlight on the ongoing failures of our prison systems around the nation. It’s over 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made over 300 recommendations to prevent the appalling number of Aboriginal deaths that continue to plague our jails.
“History will judge us harshly if we, as a society, fail to put a stop to this appalling treatment of our prisoners. I’ve asked the Acting Premier to confirm whether Mr Barnes has been denied visits from the designated Aboriginal Liaison Officer and other community members and whether he has been denied access to books and other materials, as has been reported .
“I am told this prisoner has already attempted suicide and self-harm on a number of occasions and I, along with many others in the community, hold grave fears for his health and wellbeing while he is held under these conditions.
“I’m particularly interested to find out whether the Premier continues to have faith in the management at Yatala jail. Prisoners are human beings and are still part of our society. We have an obligation to treat them humanely and to hold to account anyone who breaches the rules around the treatment of prisoners.”