A man's body has been found inside an industrial bin in Tasmania
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News.com.au
20 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Shocking new claims about lockdowns, suicide attempts and ‘green water' at Melbourne prison
Ashleigh Chapman is pacing back and forth inside her tiny cell in the solitary confinement division at Melbourne's maximum security women's prison. She is almost six feet tall and her long legs take seven steps to reach the concrete wall on one side before she turns 180 degrees and paces back towards the other wall. The monotony of daily life in 'the slot' at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre is not her only problem. The water for showering, brushing her teeth and filling her water bottle are turning the sink and the shower floor green. When she boils it inside the glass kettle inside her cell, the walls of the kettle turn black, she says. 'You couldn't see inside the kettle at all,' Chapman tells Her weight has dropped from 80kg to 50kg behind bars, because something is 'making me sick'. She skips meals routinely when prison officers ignore her allergies and serve her food that could cause anaphylactic shock. Cereal for dinner, or nothing at all, is a regular theme. She listens out for the jangling of keys. It's part of what she refers to as the 'psychological torment and torture' that comes with being locked inside her cell for 23 hours a day — or 24 if she gets unlucky. Her tiny, daily taste of freedom comes in the form of a 20-minute visit to the airing yard or a trip to the empty loungeroom void of a single other human being and where the TV remote is broken. Chapman, who left the facility in Melbourne's north in May after four years behind bars, says there were numerous days where she spent 24 hours in her cell. On other days, she would be let out only to be told immediately to re-enter her cell. 'They literally unlocked my door. As soon as I stepped out they said, 'sorry, we need to lock you back in'. I said, 'why?' and they said, 'doesn't matter, go back in'.' Chapman speaks almost daily with three inmates still inside. She says they are 'constantly reporting' lockdowns that mean inmates are having their basic human rights taken away. It's leading to huge numbers of self-harm incidents and suicide attempts, she says. A 'code black', which is a medical event, happens 'nearly every day'. 'Whether or not that would be almost passing away, self harm is rampant,' Chapman says. 'The amount of times that medical would be called for a code black is unbelievable.' 'She did it quietly in her cell' Kelly Flanagan left the prison in March this year after spending two years in the Murray Unit — which is not for inmates in solitary confinement. In diary notes shared with she reveals that lockdowns — usually reserved for riots or security breaches — have been occuring almost daily because of staff shortages. The result — seven suicide attempts in a single month. 'Just before I got out, the women at DPFC including me were being locked down as much as 60 per cent of the time,' Flanagan says. 'In the last month that I was in prison there were seven women who tried to commit suicide. Five of those were Indigenous women. Two near fatal attempts. The community does not know how bad it is there at the moment.' Her diary notes show that in February this year there were lockdowns on February 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24 and 27. Flanagan has compiled a spreadsheet of every lockdown at DPFC between January 2024 and May 2025. The data has come from prisoners, lawyers and other prison sources, she says. It shows the Gordon Unit, where Chapman was in solitary confinement, had 14 all day lockdowns between March and May this year. The reason for those lockdowns was 'no staff'. 'On March 13, I was living two cells down from a woman who tried to kill herself,' Flanagan tells 'This particular woman couldn't handle the lockdowns anymore. She expressed this to us and the officers on many occasions. She voiced it every day. 'She really couldn't handle being alone anymore. She tried to end her life by cutting her wrist and letting herself bleed out. She did it quietly in her cell, door shut and nobody knew anything. 'She almost passed away by the time we found her. My heart is breaking for her. I want to cry for her. No one should ever feel this isolated.' Victoria's Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan addressed the concerns around lockdowns during Question Time on May 28. 'This issue has been going on for a number of months now, I must admit that as minister I have been quite frustrated, too, understanding that staff there are very passionate about making a difference,' he said. 'Lockdowns are sometimes required in our prison system. It is necessary to maintain the safety and security of prisoner and staff. We do expect them to be kept to a minimum.' has reached out to the Department of Corrections for comment. A spokesperson said: 'We take the safety of staff and prisoners very seriously in our corrections system.' 'During a lockdown prisoners continue to have access to meals, healthcare, rehabilitation programs and legal services. 'We are continuing to recruit hundreds of new corrections staff, with a squad of new recruits starting training at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in this month and due to graduate in September.' Corrections claims there have been no reports of green water coming from any taps at DPFC. 'Overcrowded, understaffed and unsafe' Shadow Corrections Minister David Southwick told Victoria's prisons are 'now in chaos and are overcrowded, understaffed, and unsafe'. 'Locking up women in their cells for days on end not because they've done anything wrong, but because the system can't find enough staff is unacceptable, unsafe, and no way to run a prison,' he said. 'This is not new. I raised serious concerns earlier this year, and since then I've continued to hear disturbing stories from inside Dame Phyllis Frost Centre; women missing medical care, family visits cancelled, and severe mental health impacts. It's not justice. It's neglect. 'Corrections officers are at breaking point. They tell me morale is at rock bottom. Staff don't feel safe, they don't feel supported, and they're leaving the system in droves. That's only making the crisis worse because the fewer officers we have, the more lockdowns we'll see.'
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
How many close friends do you really need?
In 2025, many of us are living alone. Or we live with housemates, cotenants, flatmates – people who may share a fridge, a lease, even a dog, but not necessarily our inner world. While the population swells in our cities, and digital devices keep us constantly connected, many of us live in a kind of emotional isolation. We go to work, we cook our meals, we scroll our phones, we answer messages – and still feel deeply alone. For generations, it was a given that our romantic partner, our spouse, was also our closest confidante – the person we could cry in front of, confide in, lean on when the day had simply been too much. But for some, the presence of a partner only throws the lack of connection into sharper relief. Intimacy cannot be assumed. And for the growing number of people living solo, the question becomes starker: if not a partner, then who? The answer, it turns out, is friends. Not a friend. Friends – plural. Research from News Corp's Growth Distillery with Medibank reveals that those with the best self-reported mental wellbeing are also those with the most people in their corner. On average, people with high wellbeing have five people they can rely on; those with poorer mental health report just over three. Australia is in the grips of a mental health crisis, and people are struggling to know who to turn to, especially our younger generations. Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, equipping Aussies with the skills needs to have the most important conversation of their life. That gap might sound small, but in practice, it's enormous. It's the difference between feeling like there's always someone you can call, and running through a dwindling mental list of names when things start to unravel. The data is compelling. It confirms what many of us know instinctively, but sometimes forget to prioritise: that connection is not an optional extra — it is vital. Friendship is not decoration for a busy life. It is one of the structures that hold us upright. And yet, many Australians don't feel able to build or rely on that structure. The research also found that nearly half of us feel unprepared or unsure how to talk about mental health – even when someone turns to us for help. And when it comes to talking about our own struggles, we hold back out of fear: not fear of judgement, but fear of burdening others. We silence ourselves to protect the people we care about, not realising that this silence builds barriers where we need bridges. What emerges from this research is not just a picture of loneliness, but a profound uncertainty about how to connect in meaningful ways. Many of us are deeply social in practice – attending events, replying to group chats, showing up for work drinks – but feel emotionally cut off. We keep things light. We're funny, dependable, generous. But not vulnerable. Not fully ourselves. And in doing so, we miss out on the nourishment that true connection can bring. It's tempting to try to solve this with another app, a new social initiative, a government-funded campaign. And those all have their place. But there's something more elemental at stake here – something that doesn't require policy or innovation, but courage. We need to talk to our friends. Really talk. We need to be brave enough to say, 'I'm not okay.' Or even just, 'I'm struggling today.' We need to listen to each other without scrambling for solutions. To be present, even if we don't have the perfect words. Of course, that kind of honesty doesn't appear overnight. It takes time, and trust. But the alternative – isolation, both physical and emotional – carries its own costs. Mental ill-health is not just a personal issue. It's a public one. It affects families, workplaces, healthcare systems, communities. And it's growing. We cannot afford to pretend that mental wellbeing is something people can cultivate entirely alone. The most resilient among us still need others. That's why the link between support networks and mental health is so powerful. It gives us something tangible to work with. If we want to improve wellbeing, we can start by expanding our circles. That might mean reaching out to old friends and suggesting a catch-up that's more than just a walk-and-talk. It might mean gently probing when someone gives a breezy 'I'm fine' that doesn't ring true. It might mean noticing who is always the listener and never the speaker – and inviting them to take up space. These small actions don't always feel like mental health interventions, but they are. A text message that says 'thinking of you' might be the first step out of someone's emotional fog. A regular coffee catch-up might become someone's only appointment they truly look forward to. We don't need to be therapists to be impactful. We just need to be consistent, and willing to show up – even imperfectly. And we need to remind ourselves, too, that we are not burdens. If someone cares for us, they probably want to know how we really are. It is not weak to need others. It is human. In a culture that prizes independence and stoicism, this may feel radical. But if the research tells us anything, it's that no one thrives in isolation. We thrive in connection. We flourish in friendship. So maybe the real message from all this data isn't about mental health campaigns or social trends. Maybe it's simpler. Maybe it's this: pick up the phone. Send the message. Make the plan. Build the net before you fall. Because one day, you might need it. And so might someone else.
ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
Teenage boy in custody after alleged Darwin Show stabbing of another teenage boy
A teenager is in serious condition after he was stabbed at the Royal Darwin Show, with the alleged offender in custody, police say. The Northern Territory Police said the boy, aged 15, was assaulted with a knife by another 15-year-old boy at the showgrounds after an altercation. A spokesperson said the alleged offender fled the scene after the incident took place at around 8.20pm on Saturday. "Police and St John Ambulance attended, and the victim was conveyed to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition," the spokesperson said. Police later posted a Facebook update at 10pm, saying the alleged offender was located. "The 15-year-old alleged offender has been arrested by police and is currently in custody," the statement said. Police are urging anyone with information to contact 131 444 and quote reference number P25199834.
