Harriet Alexander
April 25, 2009
A SUPREME Court judgment allowing two prisoners to sue the state over their lack of contact with other prisoners could open the doors for all segregated prisoners to take legal action against the NSW Government.
The convicted killer and alleged "SuperMax jihadist" ringleader, Bassam Hamzy, along with a fellow inmate, murderer Emad Sleiman, won the right yesterday to sue the Commissioner of Corrective Services, after claiming that being put into segregated custody represented false imprisonment.
Prisoners held in segregated custody are allowed only one hour of contact each day with one prisoner chosen by the commissioner.
Sleiman also won the right to claim damages for the six years he was held in segregated custody in the Goulburn SuperMax prison complex.
The commissioner, Ron Woodham, has described the inmates in Goulburn's SuperMax as "scumbags" and Hamzy continued the war of words yesterday with a gleeful reaction to the judgment handed down by Justice Michael Adams.
"I just f---ed the commissioner, I just f---ed the commissioner," he called through the door of his jail cell after the judge had left the bench, on footage that was captured by videolink in court.
The prisoners claim they were taken into segregated custody in the prison without the commissioner first obtaining a "segregated custody direction", which is mandatory under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act, and that they were effectively being held in a prison inside a prison.
Justice Adams said it was necessary in the interests of society to imprison some people who broke the law, even sometimes in isolation, but that the restriction of liberty should not go "one inch further than the law permits".
"It has nothing to do with the personal merits, or lack of them, of the prisoner," he said.
"The law will be enforced, not because of what is owed to the prisoner, but because of what it owes itself and the community it serves."
Sleiman's barrister, Mark Robinson, said the judgment would open the gate for all prisoners held in segregated custody to sue the Government for damages. "It's a significant victory for people in the high risk management unit, and it's a significant victory for Mr Sleiman," he said.
"It goes to the lawfulness of detention. You're not allowed to be held in segregated custody unless there's an order for you to be held in segregated custody. Almost everyone held in the high risk management unit is held without a segregated custody direction."
Hamzy was recently accused of allegedly using dental floss to transport a phone between cells to co-ordinate a drug ring that supplied users in Sydney and Melbourne.
He is serving a minimum of 21 years for a 1998 murder, and gained notoriety in 2007 for allegedly masterminding a mass breakout plot.
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