A terminally ill Aboriginal man died in custody after being handcuffed and shackled during hospital visits for treatment.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage opened a mandatory inquest into the death of Mati Tamwoy at Royal Darwin Hospital while on remand on November 17, 2023.
Counsel assisting Chrissy McConnel said "little to nothing (was) known about his early life or when he first came to the Northern Territory".
But sentencing remarks from previous charges reveal the 66-year-old man completed year 10 schooling before becoming a leading seaman in the Royal Australian Navy.
He received an honourable discharge before moving to Central Australia and then Darwin in 2005.
Three years later he was convicted of manslaughter for killing his wife and sentenced to three years and six months' jail.
"He was a violent man and no stranger to the system," Ms McConnel said.
"His criminal history includes convictions for manslaughter and many aggravated assaults."
At the time of his death Mr Tamwoy was on remand for stealing and an aggravated assault charge, and considered to be low-security prisoner.
He was dying from an aggressive blood cancer called plasmablastic myeloma and admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital while undergoing intensive chemotherapy.
As Mr Tamwoy spent months bouncing back and forth between prison and hospital admissions, Judge Armitage began to iinvestigate the use of restrictive practices, particularly shackles and handcuffs, by correctional officers.
Despite his palliative state he was continuously shackled to a bed by correctional officers, who say it was standard practice to "secure the patient".
Judge Armitage asked guards if they could use their own discretion when using restrictive practices, like shackles and handcuffs on prisoners who were in hospital.
All four guards who appeared said they had applied shackles or handcuffs as was practice and could only remove them at the request of medical staff following approval from their own supervisor.
At one point corrections officer Hemant Sharma said when he took over guarding Mr Tamwoy he had a bandage around his leg to stop "any pain" from the shackles.
While lying in hospital, Mr Tamwoy told corrections officer Graeson Cooper: "I have cancer, I'm sick. You can't shackle me."
But Mr Cooper said he continued to shackle Mr Tamwoy because it was standard practice and he needed "secure the prisoner" to the bed.
He told the court in his experience it’s more comfortable for prisoners in a busy A&E to be shackled to a bed and have “lengthy chain” to be able to roll over.
Judge Armitage heard that Mr Tamwoy was admitted to the intensive care unit and remained shackled to the bed.
Mr Cooper said on reflection he could have used his discretion to unshackle Mr Tamwoy.
First-class corrections officer Mary Sun said staff were concerned with "covering their ass" and they should always follow the "standard operating procedure".
"We need to make sure that prisoners are always secured or shackled, because if they're not, we always get asked the reason why this person has an injury," she said.
Following a medical episode in prison, Mr Tamwoy was rushed to hospital and died.
The three-day inquest continues.
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