Inside the making of Four Corners Trapped program about the indefinite detention of forensic patients

ABC Investigations reporter Alexandra Blucher gained unprecedented access to forensic patients and their families to produce a Four Corners program, Trapped, which revealed allegations of the torture and mistreatment of people living with disabilities and mental illness who are locked up indefinitely by the state.

Around Australia, an estimated 700 people who have been charged, but not convicted, of crimes are being detained in the forensic system.

In some of the most extreme cases, they're locked up for years in solitary confinement with no release date.

Some have been determined too great a risk to live in the community because of their history of violence and complex behaviour.

The United Nations has condemned this treatment, and along with the Disability Royal Commission, has called for an end to their indefinite detention.

During her investigation, Blucher entered a facility to speak to one man who's spent more than two decades in custody and remains indefinitely detained and the program also features another patient who's spent 11 years secluded in a secure unit with only a caged outdoor area.

Blucher gives ABC Backstory an insight into the editorial and legal challenges she and the Four Corners team faced and explores the dilemma we face in balancing the safety of the community and the basic human rights of people living with a disability.

How did your Four Corners program, Trapped, come about?

Like many Australians, I had very little idea what a forensic order was when I learnt about how *Adrian was living.

So, I was shocked when I read that Adrian – who lives with an intellectual disability and chromosomal disorder – had been held for almost seven years in "permanent seclusion" and could only speak to staff through a horizontal slot in the wall or his outdoor caged courtyard.

Threats of police dogs had been used to subdue him.

In one instance, Adrian was found crying in a foetal position after a police dog went into his unit.

For months, he slept on a "putrid and mouldy" mattress in a make-shift tent in his courtyard to escape constant CCTV.

It was something you'd expect to read decades ago in the dark times of institutionalisation and abuse of people with a disability.

Instead, it was detailed in a damning investigation report in 2019 by Queensland's Ombudsman into his place of detention, at Brisbane's state-run Forensic Disability Service.

It found his treatment showed signs of "systemic abuse," and was "contrary to law, unreasonable, oppressive and improperly discriminatory."

Adrian is detained on what's called a forensic order.

It's an indefinite order with no release date.

People who've been found unfit to plead or stand trial, or who were of "unsound mind" when they allegedly committed an offence can be placed on a forensic order.

They can either be detained in a facility like a prison, a secure mental health hospital or a disability facility – or allowed to live in the community with conditions.

In 2012, Adrian was charged with serious criminal offences and was found unfit for trial because of his intellectual disability.

Those charges were withdrawn – and he was placed on a forensic order and detained at the Forensic Disability Service.

My Queensland colleague at ABC Investigations, Mark Willacy, reported on the Ombudsman investigation when it was released.

Adrian's story stuck with me, and I started developing sources and looking into the forensic system alongside working on other stories.

Late last year, after coming back from extended leave, I reconnected with some of my sources and learnt that Adrian was still in the exact same situation.

I was floored to discover that nothing had changed – despite his treatment at the FDS being found to be unlawful by the Ombudsman in a report that was tabled in parliament.

My sources were saying that there were many others in Queensland and around the country who were also stuck in the forensic system indefinitely.

They and their families, lawyers and advocates were finding it extremely difficult to advocate for better conditions or some kind of timeline on when they might progress through the system.

At this point I knew that we had to have a serious crack at opening this issue and the central theme had to be giving people inside a voice.

Both ABC Investigations, who I work for, and Four Corners jumped at the idea – but we all knew it would be extremely difficult to get over the line for 45 minutes of television.

What were the challenges in telling this story?

I've produced quite a few stories that were hard to tell for television – but I think this one would have to be the trickiest.

The challenges and complexities were immense – both legal and editorial.

Luckily, I had an amazing team to work with, including producer Alex McDonald, and researchers Carla Hildebrandt and Josh Robertson.

Editorially, we had to be up-front with the audience about the difficulty in balancing community safety with the rights of people with a disability.

It's a genuine dilemma facing the system and society more broadly.

Some of those detained as forensic patients have committed extremely violent acts, up-ending the lives of their victims and their families.

This risk to the community had to be acknowledged and interrogated.

On the legal front, states, and territories each have their own forensic system, with different laws, courts, tribunals and places of detention.

In some states, including in Queensland and New South Wales, strict mental health legislation bans the publication of the identity of forensic patients and their families.

The courts that place them on orders are secretive, often for the purpose of protecting the care and treatment of the people subject to them.

In Queensland, the Mental Health Review Tribunal, which reviews people's forensic orders and assesses whether they're ready to go into the community, is closed to the public and journalists.

Not only is it difficult to do a TV story when you can't identify the key people, this also makes it hard to verify information about their cases.

Journalists can't freely visit forensic patients – even if they have the capacity to make the decision to speak to the media, and with the support of their lawyers' and families.

And government whistleblowers would be taking a risk speaking about their concerns with the system.

In Queensland and Western Australia, the authorities accountable for the treatment of the people we featured refused to do an interview with us citing legal concerns.

Notably, this wasn't the case in NSW, where there was much greater transparency.

In Adrian's case, he wanted to speak to us and for us to tell his story.

Unfortunately, we were refused access to the facility when he wanted to do the interview.

So, to put as much of his voice in the story as possible, we had to get creative.

We were able to obtain an audio recording of him talking about his extreme frustration with being detained there and some of his powerful drawings and letters desperately seeking help.

Perhaps, the most compelling element for television, was securing never-before-seen CCTV footage of Adrian pacing in his outdoor caged courtyard.

There were also some incredibly courageous whistleblowers who spoke out about Adrian's treatment, including Ian McKeown and Isaac Walmsley.

Their involvement was crucial in helping us to humanise him.

In NSW, we learnt about a forensic patient named Michael Heatley who'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

He'd been in custody for more than 20 years as a forensic patient in both prison and Sydney's forensic hospital.

Like Adrian, and many others around Australia, he doesn't have a release date.

His story is extremely complicated, with many twists and turns – which were very difficult for us to verify.

One of the most poignant moments in his story occurred when he killed his cellmate while he was detained in the Long Bay prison hospital as a forensic patient for armed robberies.

Catastrophic failures by the prison guards involved led to the man being placed in Michael Heatley's cell while he was having homicidal urges.

He spent the next 15 years in extremely harsh prison environments – much of it without leaving his cell, and all while being a forensic patient.

He's served his full sentence for manslaughter and is still indefinitely detained at Sydney's secure forensic hospital.

He and his sister Christine Heatley wanted us to tell his story, but from the outset we couldn't identify them or get in to interview him.

So, we decided to run a case in the Mental Health Review Tribunal in NSW to get permission to identify Michael for the purposes of him talking to us on camera.

This is a big legal barrier to overcome.

It involved getting affidavits from Michael and Christine in support of our application and putting a series of legal arguments to a hearing of the Tribunal.

Our legal department had great success in last year's fantastic State Control Four Corners about public trustees.

Brilliant ABC lawyer, Corey Jankie, delivered here too – with a win.

This was a huge moment for our investigation and our ability to allow forensic patients to tell their own story.

After this, NSW Justice Health gave us unprecedented access to the facility to interview Michael Heatley on camera.

In contrast to the other states, the chief executive, Wendy Hoey, also did an on-camera interview – providing important transparency.

What's been the impact of the story?

In response to the story, the Australian Human Rights Commission renewed their calls to end the indefinite detention of forensic patients in Australia.

This followed the Disability Royal Commission last month recommending the same, in Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Tasmania.

In Adrian's case, his lawyers have made a complaint to Queensland's Human Rights Commission against the state government and other bodies that they allege are complicit in Adrian's treatment.

We've received many emails from other people concerned about the treatment of forensic patients – which we are sifting through for potential follow ups.

However, perhaps the most important impact was on the forensic patients themselves who were given the opportunity to tell their story in their own words.

Watch the Four Corners program Trapped on ABC iview