New legal advice service for prisoners with mental illness

DLA Phillips Fox and the Mental Health Legal Centre (MHLC) are pleased to announce the launch of a free legal advice service for prisoners who have been assessed as experiencing a mental illness.

Members of DLA Phillips Fox's Melbourne Office will attend the Mental Health Legal Centre every Thursday and conduct a free and confidential legal service via telephone aimed initially at prisoners in Marrmak, a Specialist Mental Health Service in Dame Phyllis Frost Prison.  

Advice will be available in relation to legal issues including administrative law appeals, debt matters, residential disputes, guardianship and administration, family law and child custody, judicial reviews, inquests and other human rights issues. 

The Thursday Advice Clinic is a key component of Inside Access. Inside Access is an MHLC-driven initiative focussed on law reform, research, reporting, casework and broader community education to raise awareness of the legal and other needs of prisoners who experience mental illness.

On the basis of the casework generated from the advice clinic, the program will gather data and report on legal needs of the client group, identify and work on systemic issues requiring law and policy reform, and conduct legal education amongst prisoners, prisoner advocates and in the broader community.

For more information please contact:

Alice Skipper
Solicitor, DLA Phillips Fox
P: +61 3 9274 5073
E: alice.skipper@dlaphillipsfox.com

Dan Creasey
Solicitor, DLA Phillips Fox
P: + 61 3 9274 5210
daniel.creasey@dlaphillipsfox.com

Sam Sowerwine or Vivienne Topp
Mental Health Legal Centre 
P: + 61 3 9614 1122