JP ROLE IN JAILS A 'CONCERN'

STATE Coroner Alastair Hope has expressed concern about prison
discipline after a prisoner complained of unfair punishment hours
before he was found hanging in his solitary confinement cell.

Mr Hope said justices of the peace presiding over prisoner discipline
appeared to be giving all inmates the maximum penalty simply for the
sake of consistency.

"If this is the case, I would have concerns about the way in which
current practices and procedures are used to implement the
disciplinary provisions of the Prisons Act," Mr Hope said.

He recommended the issue be considered by a review of prison
discipline which is already under way by Magistrate Paul Heaney.

The comments came as Mr Hope handed down a finding of suicide after a
two-day inquest this month into the death of Dean Kieran Lauder. Mr
Hope said Lauder had experienced separate confinement several times
and did not appear to have been distressed by it, but he did express
concern to another prisoner that his punishment was unfair.

Lauder was locked in a punishment cell three days before his death
after being sentenced to two weeks separate confinement for two
charges of using cannabis.

Lauder, 22, a heroin addict serving time for burglary and car theft,
was found hanging from a torn sheet tied to a light fitting in his
punishment cell in May 1998.

He gave no indication to the prison nurse, prison officer or other
prisoners he was at risk of self harm, Mr Hope said. The inquest heard
evidence Lauder's girlfriend Kathryn Doyle received a small package
from a woman called Leana, of Kingsley, but Ms Doyle ignored Lauder's
repeated requests to deliver the package because she believed it was
heroin.

Father, Stephen Lauder, told the court his son feared for his safety
when he was released from his punishment cell if the drugs were not
smuggled into the prison.

Mr Lauder said outside the court yesterday he wished he had known his
son's fears before his death so that he could have given him more
support. He also complained that the family had not been notified
about an earlier suicide attempt.

He said his son had complained to him about the injustice of getting
the same punishment for cannabis as those caught with heroin. Mr
Lauder, his wife, Vennice, and daughter, Kelly, said they hoped the
coroner's recommendations would be implemented.

Deaths in Custody Watch Committee spokeswoman Kath Mallott said
nowhere else in Australia could JPs extend the sentence of a prisoner
because of a relatively minor offence in jail.

Last month, Mr Heaney began conducting hearings of prison charges,
replacing a system unique to WA in which JPs unilaterally determine
the punishment of prisoners.

Attorney-General Peter Foss said Mr Heaney's full review of
disciplinary procedures was expected to be completed by the end of
June.