Question Time

PRISON CONDITIONS

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Does he stand by his statements to the house yesterday that the prisoner known as Jacqui at Yatala Labour Prison, who was chained to a bed for up to 20 hours a day over a nine-month period, did not have mental health problems; and, if he does not stand by his statement, will he now withdraw the remarks?

Yesterday in regard to an assertion that Jacqui had mental health problems, the minister told the house, 'That is I am told arguable,' and later he said:

What she has is borderline personality disorder which...is not generally considered to be a mental illness...

However, the diagnostic and statistical manual (known as DSM-IV, that is, the fourth edition) clearly shows that borderline personality disorder is a particular recognised mental illness.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts) (14:15): I thank the member for her question. The point I was making yesterday was that the clinicians who make decisions about whether or not the person should be in James Nash House, that is, a forensic mental health facility, have come to the conclusion that, whatever it is, her condition is not sufficient to warrant her being in a mental health bed in—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —James Nash House.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Look, the member can try to put words into my mouth. I know exactly what I said—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —and what I intended to say. What I was trying to explain to the house was that there is a dispute amongst the experts about whether the personality disorder is in fact a mental condition or not. I concede—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I concede that there is a dispute amongst experts about that, but the advice—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, you have asked the question.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The advice to me is that the borderline personality disorder is not such that it would cause her to be in a mental health institution, whether she was in a prison or she was in the broader community. She certainly is given and receives regular health attention, including from psychiatrists and, I guess, a psychologist as well.

On one occasion she was admitted to the James Nash House on the basis that there was an acute spike in her mental condition. So, it is not to say that she may not have mental illnesses, and if the member got that impression from what I said that is not what I intended. What I was trying—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I am just saying that if you got that impression from what I said it was not my intention. What I was merely saying to you was that the circumstances of that particular person, as difficult and as tragic and as awful as they may appear to all of us, were not such that the clinicians in the health service considered her to be an appropriate patient for a mental health bed. That is the advice to me. I cannot substitute myself for clinicians. Whether or not—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: You might want to have a debate about whether borderline personality disorder is a mental condition or something else.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: There are views—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The member just wants to argue with me. I am saying that I agree that there are different points of view about this, but I am telling her what my understanding of those points of view were.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Taylor.