Recommended offer to inmates

Thinking Outside the Cell Defined Terms Baker's Dozen Problems Articles & Reports - Bibliography

The Australian Govt. should adopt the precedent set by Canada and Switzerland and legislate that each inmate convicted of a Sadistic, Brutal, Heinous, Unprovoked Murder/s that is identified or sentenced Never To Be Released should -

(a) complete a statutory declaration every two years that attests that s/he declines assisted dying by lethal injection; and

(b) have the right to request assisted dying at any time in between the formal written approach each two years.

Below is an extract from Death with Dignity for the Seemingly Undignified: Denial of Aid in Dying in Prison (2019) by Los Angeles Lawyer, Kathleen Messinger

"CONCLUSION

Opinions about aid in dying have evolved in recent years and the public has become more accepting of the underlying rationale for permitting it. The autonomy, self-determination, and pain that a terminally ill patient may feel justifies the decision to die with dignity. Not only has the public become more receptive, but courts and state legislatures have as well. Despite an overall trend towards compassion in aid in dying, terminally ill incarcerated individuals are not afforded the same compassion, nor the same opportunities to end-of-life care. This is a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because it is unnecessarily punitive and exacerbates the pain of individuals already suffering. When the state strips individuals of their freedom and denies them their ability to “provide for their own needs,” the government has an affirmative duty to provide for the inmate.249 Regardless of how we morally feel about aid in dying as an option, and perhaps believe that those incarcerated deserve to suffer, the state must fulfill its obligation to provide for aid in dying because anything less is “incompatible with the concept of human dignity....."250 "

Below is an extract from Never To Be Released Prisoners:

"Canada has led the way in considering the rights of prisoners to request 'assisted dying' in countries that have sanctioned 'assisted dying'. Below are two pertinent extracts from the Dalhousie University, Canada paper Assisted dying for prison populations: Lessons from and for abroad - Aug 20, 2019:

Currently, 15 jurisdictions allow the practice of assisted dying. Six of these jurisdictions are countries (Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland).
Eight are jurisdictions within the United States (California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) and one is a state in Australia (Victoria).16 The prison context is not mentioned in any assisted dying law in any jurisdiction with the exception of Canada.17
No law explicitly excludes prisoners from accessing assisted dying or describes a different legal framework for assisted dying that is specific to prisoners.
We found no official guidelines specifically regulating assisted dying in prisons in any permissive jurisdiction, with the exception of Canada.18

Once assisted dying has been decriminalized, in many jurisdictions, it must be made available to a country’s prison population because of the principle of equivalence of care. This principle establishes that a country’s prisoner population must be provided with health care that is equivalent to what members of that country’s general population receive.19 This principle has received international recognition and is included in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Protection of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules), one of the main United Nations guidelines for the protection of prisoners.

Mindful of the lead taken by Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, eight states in the USA and Victoria Aust, and mindful that many Lifers deemed never to be released are dying a thousand deaths; experiencing a manic depressive QOL, the Australian Govt. should legislate that each inmate convicted of a Sadistic, Brutal, Heinous, Unprovoked Murder/s and is incarcerated in a maximum security jail who has been identified as Never To Be Released should be required to complete a statutory declaration every two years that s/he declines an offer to be euthanized (assisted dying) by lethal injection. Just as dogs, cats, horses etc are euthanized when their QOL materially reduces, humans should be afforded the same dignity when their is no prospect of improved QOL. Such inmates should also have the right to request euthanasia by lethal injection at any time in between the formal written approach every two years.

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for Canadian Prisoners: A Case Series of Barriers to Care in Completed MAiD Deaths - 22 Dec 2021

Self-inflicted deaths in Australian prisons - Australian Institute of Criminology - No. 513 August 2016 chronicle that self-inflicted deaths in custody have fallen over the last twenty years or so. This is because Australia's prisons, particular our Maximum Security Prisons, have better technology to monitor and place inmates. Not because our prisons are materially more humane as evident in the below Baker's Dozen Unsustainable Problems Within the Australian Prison System

See:

Dying with dignity Canada - its your life, its your choice

Manic Depression As Identified In Documented Reports/Journals/Articles

Lifers deemed never to be released, many are dying a thousand deaths; experiencing a manic depressive QOL

Self-harm - Prisoner suicides

Should prisoners have assisted dying rights? Complex debate begins in Switzerland - SBS - 7 Jan 2020

Switzerland approves assisted suicide for prisoners - February 7, 2020

Switzerland opens the way for Prisoner Assisted Suicide - Hope - 21 Feb 2020

Switzerland to allow prisoners to request assisted suicide - bioethics from around the world - 16 Feb 2020

Switzerland grapples with assisted suicide for prisoners | Daily Sabah

Assisted dying for prison populations: Lessons from and for abroad - Dalhousie University, Canada - August 20, 2019

Voluntary Assisted Dying: 'Mum was choosing the control' - SBS 'Insight'