documented the horrors she experienced<\/a>, told news.com.au Ms Golightly\u2019s death was not surprising.<\/p>\n\u201cTarsha Golightly, 18 years old. A young women, who is another casualty of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. I am not surprised there is another death, lockdowns and these bail laws,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the justice system learnt. We lost Veronica Nelson after she allegedly stole a bottle of perfume, and was denied bail and lost her life. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Coroner deemed her death as preventable, we lost Heather Calgaret… A coroner deemed her death as preventable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have lost a lot of women because of the conditions at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre because bail was not available and because of these lockdowns. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do we have another death in custody? Because nothing has changed, conditions are getting worse. Mental health is strife, a young women should not lose her life. <\/p>\n
\u201cTarsha doesn\u2019t get the chance to be a mum, a wife, a student, have a career, have a life, rehabilitate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kelly Flanagan, a former inmate at the prison, says she witnessed seven suicide attempts in a period of 30 days while she was locked up there.<\/p>\n
One was near-fatal and \u201cright next door to my cell\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found her,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember her saying \u2018I cant stay in my cell another day, I cant be locked away without human connection or the sun. I would rather die\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am not surprised this has happened again. I said previously that lockdowns, lack of care (and) support would create death and it has. <\/p>\n
\u201cShame on you. A child has lost its mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
News.com.au approached the Corrections Victoria about whether lockdowns had been in place in the lead up to Ms Golightly\u2019s death. <\/p>\n
A statement reads: \u201cCorrections Victoria acknowledges the death of an 18-year-old woman in custody at DPFC on Monday 27 July 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise that all deaths in custody have an impact on family members, friends and those working within the corrections system, as well as victims of crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll deaths in custody are reported to the Coroners Court of Victoria, which formally determines the cause of death.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Geelong Advertiser, which first reported on Ms Golightly\u2019s death, spoke with Jesuit Social Services, who said \u201cseveral consecutive days of lockdowns\u201d were in place in the days prior to her death.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we are seeking further information on the specific events that led up to this tragedy, during lockdowns women experience significant restrictions to their movement and access to support, and may be denied access to medical and mental health support, phone calls, legal appointments, exercise facilities, and outdoor spaces,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Ms Flanagan, who left the prison in March last year, kept a diary of how many days the prison had been locked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust before I got out, the women at DPFC including me were being locked down as much as 60 per cent of the time,\u201d she told news.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the last month that I was in prison there were seven women who tried to commit suicide. Five of those were Indigenous women. Two near fatal attempts. The community does not know how bad it is there at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her diary notes show that in February last year there were lockdowns on February 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24 and 27.<\/p>\n
Flanagan has compiled a spreadsheet of every lockdown at DPFC between January 2024 and May 2025. The data has come from prisoners, lawyers and other prison sources, she says.<\/p>\n
It shows the Gordon Unit, where Ms Chapman was in solitary confinement, had 14 all day lockdowns between March and May this year. The reason for those lockdowns was \u201cno staff\u201d.
\u201cOn March 13, I was living two cells down from a woman who tried to kill herself,\u201d Ms Flanagan said.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A teenage mum has been found dead outside her cell at Melbourne\u2019s maximum security women\u2019s prison as former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[39801,91154,91123,67323,32829,41415,33780,37005,41360,31771,49335,91173,38897,9799,45441,91111,49413,91158,91143,41465,51109,38705,91104,41054,38038,85670,91159,91106,37565,91166,49381,91113,37296,38151,51145,42207,37162,91132,37726,45463,91147,91170,42185,91139,21187,91107,91136,91149,91161,61714,75461,84710,91177,91114,1113,28745,36917,45703,30091,91115,312,3743,91109,2717,40471,91140,91116,91105,10521,91174,36801,91157,91148,91167,1819,91172,91150,91128,57213,91138,49864,77744,91118,23067,45710,91127,91133,91134,91165,46998,91142,30104,38447,91131,49012,39437,91110,36888,91141,91152,91145,260,3162,59738,91137,91117,37007,91112,91135,91124,37321,46484,20209,893,31458,8851,40829,91108,91129,91146,40448,61445,91153,91178,91163,19835,91121,3738,91171,91120,91155,91119,37275,48035,37538,41022,42680,68592,91144,91156,49314,36683,39868,37554,51539,91175,91130,91125,36531,40756,52305,40772,37772,39616,37324,91176,67306,91151,42261,37038,36556,43706,91160,91126,91164,91168,91122,53734,91169,91162,12740,68,7211,44794],"class_list":["post-68888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-death","tag-s-max-security-women","tag-s-maximum-security-women","tag-s-prison","tag-july-2026","tag-41415","tag-33780","tag-37005","tag-41360","tag-31771","tag-18-years","tag-18-year-old-mum","tag-38897","tag-9799","tag-45441","tag-23-hours","tag-49413","tag-24-and-27-flanagan","tag-30-days","tag-41465","tag-51109","tag-a-bottle","tag-a-brutal","tag-a-career","tag-a-child","tag-a-coroner","tag-a-coronial-and-workplace-investigation-while","tag-a-culture","tag-a-day","tag-a-diary","tag-a-family-member","tag-a-former-inmate","tag-a-life","tag-a-lot","tag-a-mum","tag-a-period","tag-a-space","tag-a-spokesperson-said-ms-flanagan","tag-a-statement","tag-a-student","tag-a-suicide-attempt-ashleigh-chapman","tag-a-teenage-mum","tag-a-wife","tag-a-young-women","tag-access","tag-all-deaths","tag-an-18-year-old-mum","tag-an-18-year-old-woman","tag-an-entire-lifetime","tag-an-impact","tag-another-casualty","tag-another-day","tag-another-death","tag-as-much-as-60","tag-bail","tag-care","tag-cent","tag-code-blacks","tag-conditions","tag-corrections-victoria","tag-crime","tag-custody","tag-dead-outside-cell","tag-death","tag-details","tag-dpfc","tag-exercise-facilities","tag-extended-stay","tag-family-members","tag-fatal-attempts","tag-february","tag-february-5","tag-former-inmates","tag-former-inmates-blast","tag-friends","tag-further-information","tag-heather-calgaret","tag-her-cell","tag-her-death","tag-her-diary-notes","tag-her-life","tag-her-passing","tag-how-many-days","tag-human-connection","tag-incidents","tag-indigenous-women","tag-inmates","tag-its-mother","tag-jesuit-social-services","tag-july-27","tag-kelly-flanagan","tag-lack","tag-last-year","tag-legal-appointments","tag-lives","tag-lockdown","tag-lockdowns","tag-march","tag-max-security-melbourne-prison","tag-medical-and-mental-health-support","tag-melb-prison","tag-melbourne","tag-mental-health","tag-monday-27","tag-ms-golightly","tag-my-cell","tag-news-com-au","tag-ongoing","tag-only-18-years","tag-our-beautiful-tarsha","tag-our-family","tag-outdoor-spaces","tag-perfume","tag-phone-calls","tag-place","tag-prison","tag-risk","tag-seven-suicide-attempts","tag-seven-women","tag-several-consecutive-days","tag-several-days","tag-shame","tag-significant-restrictions","tag-solitary-confinement","tag-some-losses","tag-staff-shortages","tag-such-a-heartbreaking-loss","tag-suicide","tag-tarsha","tag-tarsha-golightly","tag-teen-mum","tag-the-biggest-battles","tag-the-cause","tag-the-chance","tag-the-community","tag-the-conditions","tag-the-coroner","tag-the-coroners-court","tag-the-corrections-system","tag-the-corrections-victoria","tag-the-dame-phyllis-frost-centre","tag-the-days","tag-the-death","tag-the-discovery","tag-the-facility","tag-the-geelong-advertiser","tag-the-horrors","tag-the-impossible-grieve-someone","tag-the-incident","tag-the-justice-system","tag-the-last-month","tag-the-lead","tag-the-moment","tag-the-ones","tag-the-people","tag-the-practical-realities","tag-the-prison","tag-the-specific-events","tag-the-subject","tag-the-sun","tag-the-time","tag-the-women","tag-their-cell","tag-their-movement-and-access","tag-there-one","tag-these-bail-laws","tag-these-lockdowns","tag-this-tragedy","tag-two-former-inmates","tag-veronica-nelson","tag-victims","tag-victoria","tag-women","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}