Isolation: COVID-19 has made it almost impossible for prisoners to see their families in person.
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Pict Rider, Contributed
COVID-19 has brought restrictions to millions of people worldwide, including prisoners and their families. Shenae Mcgee is the mother of seven children, and they have not been able to see their father, who is in prison, since last year. Her husband has been incarcerated for the past 18 months, and due to visitation restrictions phone and video calls have been the only way to stay in touch.
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Ms Mcgee works seven days a week to take care of her kids, and said it was a strain to be the sole provider for a single-income household in Shepparton.
She said it could impact her mental health, particularly when her partner had COVID-19 and his prison went into lockdown last month.
“It hurts inside, it makes you depressed because you're sitting there especially when your partner had COVID, you think ‘Is he okay? Is he all right? Are they looking after him?Like, what's going to happen?’” she said.
Ms Mcgee said she and her children could only talk to her husband once a week for 10 minutes during this time.
“A 10-minute phone call once a week, you're not going to get through all your children to have a proper phone call with their dad,” she said.
Her partner was charged with armed robbery in August 2020.
He experiences borderline personality disorder and anxiety.
For three and a half weeks her partner was isolating alone in his cell, unable to leave for fresh air.
“It worsened his mental health because he couldn’t have communication with anyone,” Ms Mcgee said.
“You're going to jail for messing up and you're meant to get better in jail but their mental health is getting worse.”
According to Victoria Health, people only need to isolate for seven days after contracting COVID.
However, prisoners have been required to isolate in protective quarantine for 14 days, which recently changed to 10 days.
The News questioned Corrections Victoria about Ms Mcgee’s partner and a government spokesperson said “when COVID-19 protective measures are in place, the highest priority is ensuring the health and welfare of all prisoners and staff”.
“During periods of restriction prisoners are monitored, assessed and provided with a range of health care and mental health supports,” the spokesperson said.
While Ms Mcgee and her children can now talk to their father whenever they want, after the prison recently ended its lockdown, visitation restrictions remain an issue for the family.
She said her children struggled with not seeing their father.
“My oldest son's had trouble at school when he's never had trouble at school; your kids cry on Christmas for hours because their dad's not there,” she said.
“The kids cry because their dad's not ringing, but the kid’s don’t understand the situation.”
Shepparton lawyer Luke Slater said visitation restrictions made prison time more difficult, describing it as an underestimated issue.
He said this not only impacted the prisoner, but also the wider family.
“It can cause a real disconnect that I think will have long-term effects on relationships,” Mr Slater said.
“They don't get great quality treatment in custody, and that is simply a consequence of what I would regard as a fairly punitive prison system.”
Locked up: Visitation restrictions are making it hard for families to connect with their loved ones.
Photo by
Rattankun Thongbun
Ms Mcgee has a 19-month-old daughter, whom her husband has not seen since she was five months old.
Visitation rights have been regularly changed during the pandemic.
Some of her children have not seen their father since December, and others have not since April last year.
Currently, visits for Victorian prisons are suspended until further notice to protect the prison population.
Corrections Victoria has a road map for the ongoing management of COVID-19 in prisons and said it would ease restrictions further as soon as it was safe to do so.
As of February 27, there were 35 total active COVID-19 cases in prisons statewide, according to the government website.
Flat Out is an advocacy support network for women who have had contact with the criminal justice system and executive director Karen Fletcher said there was “not regular testing of all prisoners across the system”, so there “could easily be more cases”.
She said there could be difficulties accessing rapid antigen tests, as well as the likelihood of asymptomatic cases.
Ms Mcgee said she was feeling less optimistic about when she could see her husband “unless they (prison system) change their ways”.
“I've rang multiple times to corrections, made multiple complaints, I've rang the jail ... some days you’ll get a really nice person but sometimes they’re just really rude and it makes you hurt,” she said.
“It makes you sad, like sometimes you get off the phone and you cry, but then sometimes you get off the phone and you're angry.”
A government spokesperson said “any changes to current protective measures in the prison system are based on expert health advice”.
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