Erin Patterson spends most of her day alone in her cell and can only speak to one other inmate through a mesh fence.
Patterson, 50, was found guilty of murdering three of her in-laws – and attempting to kill another – with a lunch laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023.
She will be sentenced on September 8 following a pre-sentence hearing on Monday in which relatives of the victims shared emotional statements at the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The triple murderer is behind bars at Melbourne‘s only all-female maximum security prison – the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre – at Ravenhall, 20km west of the city.
Patterson’s life inside the jail since her arrest in November 2023 was revealed in court as her lawyers fought for her to be handed a non-parole period.
The mother-of-two is a ‘keen crocheter’ and has access to wool, a hair straightener, books, magazines, television and a computer inside her cell, the court was told.
She is housed in protective isolation, spending 23 hours per day alone in her cell because of the ‘notoriety’ of her offending, defence barrister Colin Mandy SC told the court.
Her only form of interaction with another inmate is through a shared mesh fence that connects her small courtyard with another courtyard belonging to an adjacent cell.
Patterson (pictured leaving court on August 25) is a ‘keen crocheter’ and inside her cell she has access to wool, the court was told
Erin Patterson’s life behind bars was aired to the Supreme Court on Monday as her lawyers fought for her to be handed a non-parole period
Patterson’s only opportunity to interact with other inmates is through a shared mesh fence that connects her courtyard with the courtyard belonging to ‘Tiny Terrorist’ Momena Shoma’s cell
The inmate in that cell is believed to be ‘Tiny Terrorist’ Momena Shoma, the Bangladeshi Islamic State fanatic who attacked a Melbourne father.
Shoma was sentenced to 42 years in prison at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre after stabbing her homestay landlord Roger Singaravelu in the neck.
She then tried to murder a Canadian inmate in 2020 with a pair of gardening shears while behind bars.
Mr Mandy told the court that Patterson had never spoken to this person.
Corrections Victoria assistant commissioner Jenny Hosking said it could be due to Shoma not wanting to speak to her.
During Patterson’s plea hearing on Monday, her barrister stated his client’s concerns in prison.
Mr Mandy told the court Patterson’s proximity to Shoma left her concerned for her safety.
He claimed she had only been given access to the prison library ‘a handful of times’ and had to be taken there in a prison van escorted by two guards, where she is given 20 minutes to be inside.
Patterson is an inmate at Melbourne’s only all-female maximum security prison, at Ravenhall, 20km west of the city
Patterson sits at the dining room table where she served her guests the lunch as she speaks with police on August 5, 2023
Mr Mandy claimed she had tried to go to the leisure centre, but each time she visited it had been locked, and her access to the unit’s lounge area had been minimal.
Ms Hosking was called by prosecutors to discuss Patterson’s conditions behind bars.
She said short staffing at the women’s prison, because of inmate numbers dropping over the Covid pandemic, had led to more lockdowns which restricted movement for inmates.
Ms Hosking said Patterson’s high-profile and the nature her offending meant her safety was at risk, but her placement in the protective unit would be continually reviewed.
But Mr Mandy argued her placement in isolation was permanent because the ‘notoriety of these offences is not likely to diminish’.
Patterson’s day-to-day life behind bars was discussed in Monday’s hearing as Justice Christopher Beale determines the length of her sentence.
Meanwhile, a former inmate, who was released in March this year, branded Patterson ‘a real rude b***h‘ and claimed her cell was filthy.
‘Her cell was a pigsty. She was very serious, never smiled, only made fun of people, was narcissistic and hardly slept,’ the former inmate told news.com.au.
A jury convicted Patterson of murdering Don (left) and Gail (right) Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband, Simon
Patterson was convicted of murdering her estranged husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson (left) and the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian (right)
She claimed when Patterson first moved to the Murray Unit, the protection unit, other inmates would say hello to her but she would ignore them.
‘Any interaction she has with people, she tries to manipulate them and make them feel like shit,’ she said.
The inmate also claimed Patterson thought she was ‘entitled to whatever she wants’ because her case is so high-profile.
