Queensland prison guard warned that spit hood was suffocating inmate before her death | Queensland

Ambulance chiefs report stated guard raised alarm 13 seconds after Selesa Tafaifa said I cant breathe, inquest documents reveal A prison guard warned colleagues that a spit hood was suffocating a female inmate minutes before she died, inquest documents reveal.

Queensland This article is more than 2 months old

Queensland prison guard warned that spit hood was suffocating inmate before her death

This article is more than 2 months old

Ambulance chief’s report stated guard raised alarm 13 seconds after Selesa Tafaifa said ‘I can’t breathe’, inquest documents reveal

A prison guard warned colleagues that a spit hood was “suffocating” a female inmate minutes before she died, inquest documents reveal.

The medical director of the Queensland ambulance service, Stephen Rashford, told a coroner’s inquest the warning should have been taken more seriously by other guards who incorrectly believed Selesa Tafaifa was spitting at them.

Tafaifa suffered a fatal cardiac arrest in a Townsville jail in 2021, after being placed in the spit hood.

Selesa Tafaifa had spent significant time in solitary confinement before altercation that led to her death, inquest hearsRead more

According to Rashford’s medical report for the coroner, released to Guardian Australia, the alarm was raised by a female guard 13 seconds after Tafaifa herself told officers “I can’t breathe” four times.

“It’s, it’s suffocating her,” a female correctional service officer told a fellow male guard, according to the report.

The male guard replied, “It’s just awkward. It’s just awkward.”

In his report, Rashford also cast doubt on an officer’s explanation for use of the hood, saying he could see no evidence Tafaifa was spitting at staff.

Video of the incident, played in court in Brisbane, showed a guard telling two others “she’s spitting and resisting”.

But Rashford said he was unable to hear anything that sounds like spitting in the video.

“There is heavy breathing which may result in bodily fluid leaving the mouth as opposed to actively spitting at someone,” he said.

In evidence last week Rashford told the court if fluid did come out of her mouth, it was likely a result of her condition rather than an intentional act.

“When people spit they almost head bob, they have to generate the force to … project the fluid out, so I couldn’t see any movements to suggest that,” he said.

Prison video shows Selesa Tafaifa being wrestled to the ground by officers. Six minutes later she was deadRead more

Tafaifa was put into a spit hood three times over a six-minute period before being left unconscious on the floor of her cell in cardiac arrest, according to her family’s lawyer, Dan O’Gorman.

Rashford concluded that the concern by the female guard “should have prompted reassessment by all involved.”

“This was almost certainly a point where the subsequent deterioration that occurred could have been potentially avoided,” his report said.

Tafaifa, a 44-year-old Samoan woman, was asthmatic, morbidly obese and had a heavy heart, among other health ailments when she died.

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In the lead-up to her death she was involved in an altercation with staff that began after she became emotional at being unable to make a phone call on the prison’s phone system.

Officers placed her into stress positions, but Tafaifa resisted their efforts.

Forensic pathologist Jessica Vidler’s autopsy report for the coroner, which was also released to Guardian Australia, found Tafaifa had recent injuries all over her body, three abrasions to the head, 15 to her arms, and seven to her legs and feet.

She had seven bruises up to 12cm long on her chest and back, one of which was attributed to efforts to resuscitate her, while the others were likely caused either during restraint or resuscitation, Vidler found. There were no lethal injuries, and Vidler found the cause of death “not determined”.

Queensland’s prison system is among the last jurisdictions in the country to use spit hoods, despite their use being discontinued by the state’s police force. They were used 82 times in state prisons last financial year.

‘Inhumane’ spit hoods still in widespread use across Queensland, despite royal commission recommendationsRead more

In parliament on Tuesday, Greens MP, Michael Berkman, asked police and corrective services minister, Mark Ryan, whether the government would ban the devices “before we see another death”.

Ryan said he would not comment on Tafaifa’s death as it was before the coroner but said he supported custodial officers who do “dangerous work.”

“I support the work of custodial officers... They make decisions about [the] appropriate use of force in very dynamic situations ... We need to remember that people in custody are there for a reason, sometimes because they’re violent and dangerous.”

At the time of Tafaifa’s death she was under investigation for another alleged incident, in which she was accused of spitting at a correctional services officer.

The coroner’s inquest will sit again in May. Tafaifa’s family are pushing for an immediate ban on the use of spit hoods, as was implemented in South Australia in 2021.

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