AI Chat Search Browse Media On This Day Map Quotations Timeline Research Free Datasets Remembered About Contact

Glenn Mills took own life, Coroner rules

Fri 20 Jul 2012 In: New Zealand Daily News

Glenn Mills took his own life in his prison cell A Coroner has ruled Glenn Mills took his own life in Mt Eden Men’s Prison, and left a letter saying that after six months in custody he “could bear it no more and would rather be dead”. The 40-year-old was found dead in his cell on the morning of 30 November 2009 while he was on remand awaiting trial, facing multiple charges relating to accusations he deliberately infected people with HIV. Coroner Katharine Greig has allowed details of his death to be published in full, saying publication of the particulars would not harm public safety and noted it was important the public have confidence in the New Zealand prison system. "Where there have been inadequacies or deficiencies in the management of prisoners it is desirable that the public should have access to the knowledge of such deficiencies, that the deficiencies have been inquired into, and that steps have or will be taken with a view to ensuring that they do not occur again.'' Prison staff found Mills hanging and unresponsive. A sheet tied around his neck was attached to the bars of a window, and a chair was found on the bunk near the window sill. Coroner Greig say the note Mills left also referred to concerns he was not regularly receiving his anti-depressant medication, his disappointment at not being granted bail and how difficult he found it to be labelled by the media. Mills was due to appear in court on the day of his death and the inquest heard that during his time in prison he had been “sad and worried”. Before his death he had also reported being verbally abused and threatened by other inmates, and spent all of his six months in prison in voluntary segregation, three months of which was in a medical wing of the hospital due to an HIV-related infection. He was returned to a cell in late October, something he objected to. His file shows there was an “altercation” in the medical wing when he was told he was being relocated. It was in early November that he reported being threatened by other prisoners. Mills was found dead after 4AM on 30 November and had not been checked on since 5PM the previous night. The wing where he was being held in the old prison had an exemption from regular night checks due to the risk of guards being stabbed through the peepholes in the cell doors. Coroner Greig expressed concerns about the fact nothing was done for 15 years in the now-closed Mt Eden Prison to lessen the risk of ‘hanging points’, because Corrections believed spending money on a prison which was to ultimately be closed was not appropriate. She says 14 other inmates had killed themselves in their Mt Eden Men’s Prison cells since 1996 in the same way Mills did. “In my opinion, notwithstanding the likely closure of MEMP in the future, the failure over an extended period to take steps to mitigate the clearly identified risk posed by the window bars was a serious omission.” She also said Mills wasn't given his anti-depressant medication on several occasions before his death and such a system failure was unacceptable. The Coroner found while Mills’ mental health was frequently assessed, the effects of being moved from Auckland Central Remand Prison to the noisy and much older Mt Eden Men’s prison were not considered. She says she’s not able to make a finding on whether the move to Mt Eden was a factor in Mills’ decision to end his life, but says it is clear he found the move particularly difficult. Coroner Greig says she is satisfied Mills’ HIV status was managed appropriately, and guidance was sought from experts in the field for his care. “It is clear that before he was admitted to the infirmary he declined to have blood tests to check the current status of the condition and at one stage Mr Mills chose not to have treatment offered in relation to this condition”. As Mt Eden Men’s Prison closed in 2011, the Coroner says recommendations that might prevent deaths there in similar circumstances are not relevant. However she says his death highlights issues that prevent challenges for all prison operators as they strive to reduce the risk of prisoners taking their own lives. She recommends sufficiently robust assessment processes for identifying prisoners at harm to themselves, improved staff training, the reduction of environmental risks in cells and robust administration procedures for prisoners’ medication. You can discuss this gay New Zealand community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum here    

Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff

First published: Friday, 20th July 2012 - 10:28am

Rights Information

This page displays a version of a GayNZ.com article that was automatically harvested before the website closed. All of the formatting and images have been removed and some text content may not have been fully captured correctly. The article is provided here for personal research and review and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of PrideNZ.com. If you have queries or concerns about this article please email us