Glenn Mills took his own life while awaiting trial Following the Coroner's investigation into the death of accused HIV predator Glenn Mills in his cell, Corrections says while it's doing its best, it can't always prevent prisoners from taking their own lives. "Unfortunately, best practice cannot always prevent a prisoner from attempting to, or succeeding in, taking their own life and suicide in prison is an issue for correctional jurisdictions worldwide," says General Manager Prison Services Jeanette Burns. "The Department extends sincere condolences to the Mills family for their loss," she says in a statement. "Deaths are very upsetting for our staff as they are for prisoners' loved ones." Mills died in his cell at the former Mt Eden Men's Prison on 30 November 2009, leaving a note saying he that after six months in custody he "could bear it no more and would rather be dead". Prison staff found him hanging and unresponsive. The 40-year-old was on remand awaiting trial, facing multiple charges relating to accusations he deliberately infected people with HIV. Coroner Katharine Greig has 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', and says the fact he wasn't given his anti-depressant medication on several occasions before his death was unacceptable. Burns says Corrections has recently completed a review of its risk assessment tools, which provide a broad assessment of a prisoner's risk of self-harm across a range of emotional, behavioural and situational factors. "We are also exploring best practice to assist prisoners to return to health, and to provide on-going support following discharge from an at-risk status. In conjunction with other agencies we are developing an over-arching strategy for suicide prevention," she says. "We recently introduced a Mental Health Screening Tool that was developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. This validated tool will improve the rate of detection of those prisoners with serious mental health issues who require secondary mental health care. It will also enable more effective identification of prisoners with mild to moderate mental health issues that can be primarily managed by prison health services."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 20th July 2012 - 5:32pm