“Whistleblower David McBride’s debilitating conditions of imprisonment at the Alexander Maconochie Centre comprise cruel and unusual punishment,” writes ROSS FITZGERALD.

Australian Defence Forces Army whistleblower lawyer David McBride – convicted for revealing war crimes in Afghanistan – is currently imprisoned in Canberra.

Before Mr McBride was sentenced by the ACT Supreme Court on May 14 to five years and eight months incarceration, he was leading a sober and useful life.

Whatever one thinks about his guilt or innocence, it is my opinion that his currently debilitating conditions of imprisonment at the Alexander Maconochie Centre comprise cruel and unusual punishment. 

This is because Mr McBride – a war veteran with PTSD – may not be receiving proper medical treatment for this debilitating condition, his safety is at risk and he is separated from his much-loved registered carer dog, who I can testify always needed to accompany him wherever he went in Sydney.

Despite the fact that Mr McBride has had no active drug or alcohol issue for the past two years, he is now compelled to attend a 12-week rehabilitation program .

In a recent communication to me, David McBride confided that his mental and physical health is deteriorating. As all the time I knew him prior to being in jail, he was utterly truthful, I have no reason to disbelieve him.  

It may be pertinent to this article for readers to know that, for 28 years,  I served the Queensland Parole Board and the NSW State Parole Authority, and that during that time I visited a number of prisons. Thus I am deeply conscious  about how  inmates should be treated.

A fascinating email was recently sent to me by one of McBride’s Sydney-based supporters, Tony Wakeman. 

Mr Wakeman wrote: “David was initially placed in a wing with lifers until another detainee threatened his life. 

“He was then moved into a maximum security cell block where a further threat was made to his life – it is not known whether this threat came from a detainee or not. 

“Following this, he was moved into segregation, segro, which is the punishment wing of the jail. It is also known as isolation.

“David was locked in his cell for 23 hours a day and given one hour a day to go to a small bitumen yard surrounded by barbed wire to exercise. He spent eight days in isolation before they moved him into another maximum security wing of the jail.

“Since he was removed from the first accommodation unit, his access to email his two daughters was cut. They were not notified. He no longer has access to the gym. He has a cell mate who is withdrawing from methamphetamine and screaming throughout the night. He has no access to natural light.

“He is locked in his cell most of the day. He is allowed out for a couple of hours to make phone calls. However, there are around 30 detainees and only two phones and detainees fight over the phones, which means Dave has not been able to use the phone to speak to his daughters. 

His visits have been restricted – he is allowed one hour once a week only. Dave is always looking over his shoulder. There is nowhere safe in the jail.” 

Although I cannot personally verify all of the claims above, they certainly make important reading.

David McBride’s current circumstances of imprisonment in Canberra deserve to be independently investigated, and the results publicly revealed.

Detailed fact-finding is required because all of his supporters, and some other Australians, maintain that McBride was imprisoned because he was doing his job and duty as an army lawyer in Afghanistan, and that he dared to speak the truth to power.

Whether or not Mr McBride should receive a federal pardon may be a matter for another day.

CityNews readers might be interested to know that, in order to fund a bail application and help lodge the grounds of appeal, supporters of Mr McBride have organised an online fundraiser. This is at chuffed.org/project/davidmcbride

He can also be contacted at this address:

David McBride

PIN 134463

Alexander Maconochie Centre

Locked Bag 7775

Canberra BC, ACT 2609

Ross Fitzgerald AM is Emeritus Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University.  His most recent publication is a boxed set of four Australian political satires, The Ascent of Everest (Hybrid Publishing, 2024), co-authored with Ian McFadyen of ‘Comedy Company’ fame.