Erin Patterson has become a “keen crocheter” inside Victoria’s maximum security women’s prison, where she spends about 22 hours a day isolated.
Inside her prison, Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, Patterson’s personal items include wool for crocheting, blankets she has crocheted, a hair straightener and computer.
During a pre-sentencing hearing on Monday, details of the triple murderer’s prison life were revealed in the Victorian supreme court.
Patterson was convicted last month of murdering Heather Wilkinson, Don Patterson and Gail Patterson, and convicted of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Jenny Hosking, the assistant commissioner for the sentence management division at Corrections Victoria, provided details about Patterson’s solitary prison life.
Patterson is only permitted to have contact with one other prisoner – who is serving a sentence for terrorism and has attacked other inmates, the court heard.
But her defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, said she had never spoken to this person.
Hosking did not dispute this but said it could be due to the other prisoner not wanting to speak to Patterson.
Hosking said Patterson had not engaged with the prison’s chaplaincy services. But Mandy told the court his client had used the service and seen the prison chaplain multiple times.
Since police charged Patterson in November 2023, she has spent most of her time at Dame Phyllis in the prison’s Gordon unit – a protected area – due to the high public attention on her offending, the court heard.
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While the unit has small courtyards, Patterson is only permitted to use the courtyard areas when they are vacant due to her isolation conditions to ensure her safety.
While United Nations guidelines stipulate 15 days is the maximum time that should be spent in segregation, Mandy said his client had been in the restricted unit, separated from other prisoners, for about 400 days.
He said Patterson spends about 22 hours a day in her cell due to ongoing lockdowns and had access to a small courtyard for no more than one hour a day. Due to her isolation conditions, Patterson is not able to use the courtyard if it is in use by another prisoner, Mandy said.
While an intercom system in each cell allows prisoners to talk on a one-to-one basis, Mandy said this required knowing the names of other prisoners.
While Hosking said Patterson had access to the prison’s library, she agreed this was limited due to more frequent lockdowns that were driven by staff shortages.
But she anticipated the lockdowns – driven by staff shortages – would ease by the end of the year, with a recruitment drive under way.
After Patterson is sentenced she would have access to the prison’s education services, Hosking said.
Arguing for a fixed non-parole period, Mandy said his client’s isolation was a relevant sentencing factor.
“Ms Patterson will likely be held in those conditions for the foreseeable future,” he said.
He told the court Patterson would always be at risk from other prisoners, meaning isolation would be required to manage this.
These conditions make the “burden of imprisonment” much greater for Patterson than other prisoners, he said.
Victoria supreme court judge Christopher Beale said Patterson’s isolation conditions in custody did not sound “very humane” and he was confident they would be required for a long time.
He said Patterson’s “notoriety” would not diminish. But prosecutor Jane Warren argued “at some point people will lose interest”.
Beale will sentence Patterson on 8 September.
