Woman Held in Prolonged Solitary Confinement at Thomas Embling Hospital Sees Limited Progress
A woman found not guilty of assault on grounds of mental impairment has experienced minimal progress in her decade-long confinement at Thomas Embling Hospital, with a new “deseclusion” plan involving limited time in a restricted safe space, a court hearing revealed today.
The woman, who has been in almost total solitary confinement since 2015, is participating in a program allowing her up to 25 minutes a day in a specially designed room with partial views of the sky, while remaining shackled at the wrists and ankles. During therapy sessions, ankle restraints are removed, but wrist restraints remain in place. Yesterday, the court was briefly halted when she appeared via video link still shackled in a locked room, prompting an investigation into the necessity of the restraints. A Forensicare psychiatrist explained the restraints are used whenever she is outside her seclusion room to reduce the risk of staff injury, noting a decrease in aggressive incidents from an average of 12 per month to 5.3 since May. “The restraints don’t stop the aggression, but they decrease the opportunity and they decrease the serious consequences,” the psychiatrist stated.
The case highlights ongoing challenges within Victoria’s forensic mental health system, particularly regarding the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which called for the elimination of seclusion and restraint by 2029. Thomas Embling Hospital is currently undergoing an expansion, intended to provide a specialized unit for greater patient independence and improved security, but operational funding has yet to be fully allocated. The delays and ongoing issues with staffing shortages at Forensicare, which manages the hospital, have been linked to recent redundancies and proposed further job cuts due to the state budget.
The woman expressed satisfaction with the continuation of her custodial supervision order, and a further review is scheduled for March 2026 to assess her progress. A Victorian government spokesperson stated construction of the hospital expansion is continuing, with minor defects still needing to be addressed and a carpark yet to be built.
