The man who killed Courtney Herron on 25 May, 2019, is set to be released into the community on supervised day release just two years after he was transferred to a mental health facility because the Supreme Court of Victoria deemed him unfit to stand trial for her killing, says the victim’s father John Herron.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, Mr Herron, a criminal lawyer and victims’ advocate, said had information that Mark Hammond was being prepared for imminent supervised day release into the community.
“I believe he is in a transition unit and is set to be released,” Mr Herron said. In March 2020, the Supreme Court of Victoria ordered that Hammond be moved from Port Phillip Prison to Thomas Embling Hospital after he was deemed as unfit to stand trial for Ms Herron’s murder.
When Justice Phillip Priest ordered Hammond to be moved to Thomas Embling it was for what “could” be 25 years. The judge had added that Hammond would not be reviewed for early release for at least two years.
According to the Daily Mail Australia, Hammond who was transferred to the hospital in July 2020, was allegedly bashed by another Thomas Embling patient just before Christmas, 2021. He was hospitalised and then transferred to the Thomas Embling’s transition unit on his return. The unit allows for day releases and ultimately prepares them for early release into the community.
“The average time for a killer (to be under supervision at Thomas Embling Hospital) is five years. Of the 138 inmates (in the hospital), about seven have done the full 25 years but all in cases they are there for a nominal 25 years,”Mr Herron told Neos Kosmos.
He said Hammond’s early release from Thomas Embling Hospital was common and part of the restorative justice regime that it operated under which looked after the rights of perpetrators rather than those of the victims. The facility is administered by Forensicare under the Department of Health.
“It is part of a ‘restorative justice’ process to get inmates out as quickly as possible,” said Mr Herron. “We (the victims) and the police are not told of their release.”
Neos Kosmos contacted the Department of Health but received no response by the time of writing. The Forensicare website states: “We do not agree with recent commentary that reducing or eliminating restrictive practices will increase risks to the community and health care workers. However, we recognise the elimination of restrictive interventions is a challenge and will require substantial investment and change across our mental health and wellbeing systems. …Restrictive interventions have profoundly traumatic impacts on people experiencing mental ill-health. Similarly, health care workers experience physical and psychological harm whilst delivering or witnessing restrictive interventions.”
Mr Herron alleged that offenders received “no real help” while inside the correctional system. He claimed that drug and alcohol counselling were optional so that attendance was below 50 percent.
“I have advocated for victims in court, I have seen documents and court records and I have clients in prison, offenders get no real help once inside,”Mr Herron said.
“My daughter’s killer had no mental health treatment whatsoever while incarcerated, even though he claimed to be mentally impaired. Have you heard of a miraculous cure for schizophrenia? He went to Thomas Embling Hospital) claiming schizophrenia and now he is set to be released?”
“If he had been in a prison (under the Department of Justice and Community Safety), Hammond would have faced a parole board that would have looked at his case. Thomas Embling Hospital falls under the Department of Health” Mr Herron said.
“Ten years ago, I was part of the group who handed the contract to Forensicare (the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health) which is running Thomas Embling Hospital,” Mr Herron noted.
“I had expected this because I know the system. This early release is common and part of the restorative justice process but it is even more so in Victoria than other parts of Australia. The policy is to take them out with no regard to the victim or society.”
“The only way for people to know how system operates if people like me let them know about what is going on. I am not going to stop,”Mr Herron said.
The story also received coverage on Channel Nine’s news and current affairs programme the Today Show earlier this week.
