Clockwise from top right, Julianne Francis Williams, Julie Tongs and a screenshot of Ms Williams being held down on her bed by three corrections officers. Photos: Facebook/Region/Supplied.
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains a video with distressing footage.
Footage shows a female detainee lying on her bed alone in her cell when three corrections officers, after ordering her to submit to a strip search, enter wearing helmets and lean on top of her with a riot shield.
She is dragged off the bed and onto the ground where the three officers, who have been joined by a fourth, hold her down while she pants heavily and complains of chest pains.
“I can’t breathe,” she says while officers hold her down. She is clearly distressed and screams repeatedly.
The incident continues for several minutes before another officer orders the four others to get back and tries to comfort the woman as she sits on the floor.
The ACT Supreme Court has allowed the release of distressing footage of an incident at Canberra’s jail that ultimately resulted in a judge finding a detainee was illegally strip-searched, breaching her human rights.
On Wednesday (15 October), the ACT Government was ordered to pay 90 per cent of the legal costs incurred by the former detainee, Julianne Francis Williams, during her fight for justice.
Justice Verity McWilliam also ordered a pixelated version of the footage of the incident in her cell, which took place before the strip search, to be placed in the court file.
Ms Williams has consented to the footage being brought into the public domain.
While this incident breached human rights laws, the government says two body scanners have since been installed at the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC), which have drastically reduced the need for strip searches.
“In 2024, 580 strip searches were conducted across ACT Corrective Services, compared to 4077 in 2020–21, before the introduction of body scanners,” an ACT Government spokesperson said.
In 2021, Ms Williams’ mental health had deteriorated and she was transferred to the AMC’s crisis support unit. There, she was subjected to a forceful attempted strip search in her cell before the strip search was carried out in the bathroom.
She launched a civil case against ACT’s Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS) in the Supreme Court, asking for a declaration that her human rights had been breached.
Last month, Justice McWilliam found her human rights were breached over both the attempted strip search and the strip search. The court formally declared these findings on Wednesday (15 October).
Julianne Francis Williams was detained at the Alexander Maconochie Centre when the incident took place in 2021. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Julie Tongs, CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services, supported Ms Williams’ case from the beginning and described the footage of the incident in her cell as “disgusting”.
She said Ms Williams started the civil case not because she was seeking monetary damages, but because she was seeking a declaration that what happened to her was wrong.
“It was horrendous what happened to her,” Ms Tongs said.
“They just don’t seem to learn from any of this; they just seem to keep on making the same mistakes.
“People need to be held to account. They should have been charged.”
Ms Tongs said Ms Williams was a vulnerable woman who had gone to jail for committing a crime, but she hadn’t gone there to have this happen to her.
“She’s traumatised by this,” she said.
Hopefully, this sets a precedent for others. They don’t have to take this sort of behaviour, they’re not animals.”
Late on Thursday (16 October), an ACT Corrective Services spokesperson said JACS was currently reviewing Justice McWilliam’s judgment and had not yet determined whether it would appeal.
When asked about how much money 90 per cent of Ms Williams’ costs amounted to, the spokesperson said a monetary figure had not been determined yet.
The ACT Government spokesperson said while strip searches can be necessary for the safety and security of the court transport unit and the AMC, the government recognised they can be distressing.
They said ACT Corrective Services has implemented changes to reduce their use, including installing two body scanners at the AMC in 2023, which significantly reduced non-admission strip searches.
Corrective Services also implemented a new search policy in February 2022, removing mandatory strip searches, including on entry to the crisis support unit.
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