JOSHUA CAMERON was 19 when he overdosed on a cocktail of prescription drugs in his cell at the maximum security Long Bay Correctional Complex.
Tests would later show he had four drugs – the painkillers codeine, morphine, paracetamol and tramadol – in his system, any one of which could have killed him. He was being prescribed paracetamol at the time.
December 21, 2008: The tricks used to get a hit in prison
Postscript: February 16, 2009
A 19-year-old prisoner did not intend to commit suicide when he took a range of prescription drugs at prison where officers admitted there was an open trade in medications, a coroner has found.
Joshua Cameron, who was not prescribed three of the four painkillers found in his system, was found dead in his cell on June 28, 2006.
A coronial inquiry into his death had heard there was an open trade in prescription medications in Metropolitan Special Programs Centre but Coroner Paul McMahon did not find enough evidence to recommend that any of the other inmates be charged.
Delivering his findings on Friday, Mr McMahon did not make any recommendations against the Department of Corrective Services despite officers admitting they knew about the trade but could do little because of the lack of staff.
Speaking afterwards, Joshua’s mother, Sheryl, maintained that the department had failed her child.
“There’s got to have been something they could have done to make sure another family doesn’t have to go through with this,” she said.
September 24, 2006: Careers ruined: guards who feel like prisoners
JOHN Heffernan spent more than half his life managing prisoners. As the former governor of prisons in Tamworth, Glen Innes and Grafton, John Heffernan knew how to handle “disruptive” inmates. So he was quick to recognise when the same tactics were being used on him.