Notorious bank robber and fugitive Brenden James Abbott is seeking to have his detention declared unlawful and is also suing the Western Australian government for wrongful imprisonment.
Lawyers at Forbes Kirby, who represent the career criminal known as ‘the Postcard Bandit,’ filed a judicial review proceeding Tuesday in the Washington Supreme Court, seeking to invalidate Abbott’s prison sentence.
Abbott, 62, who escaped from Fremantle prison in 1989, claims sentencing laws introduced in November 1996 do not apply to him and that his custodial sentence in WA expired while he was in custody in Queensland.
The infamous thief has an extensive criminal record and earned his nickname by taunting police with postcards while on the run.
It also seeks to challenge the constitutional validity of the laws, which require an inmate who returns to prison after an escape to serve an additional period of imprisonment equal to one-third of the time he was released, in addition to the time he was released. still to serve when escaping.
Notorious bank robber and fugitive Brenden James Abbott is seeking to have his detention declared unlawful. Abbott is pictured left with Japanese tourist Masao Ayuda in Alice Springs in 1990.
Abbott (pictured), 62, who escaped from Fremantle prison in 1989, claims sentencing laws introduced in November 1996 do not apply to him and that his custodial sentence in WA expired while he was under custody in Queensland.
Abbott claims that imposing a sentence without court intervention “offends” the strict separation of the judicial and legislative branches of government at the federal level.
His lawyers say the case may ultimately have to be resolved by the Superior Court.
Abbott’s lawyer, Matthew Crowley, said the real issue “is not whether we like Mr. Abbott or not.”
“Opinions will differ on this, just as they did on Ned Kelly 150 years ago,” he said.
“The real issue is the constitutional power the state has to keep people in prison after serving their sentences – without trial, verdict or sentence – even if they don’t like them.”
Crowley said if Abbott’s action was successful it would mean he had been falsely imprisoned in WA since May 2016.
Abbott is a maximum security inmate at Perth’s Casuarina Prison, where he is serving a 14-year sentence for bank robbery, prison riot and escape from Fremantle Prison in 1989.
He was extradited to Perth in May 2016 after serving 18 years in Brisbane prisons, following his recapture in Darwin in May 1998.
He had escaped from Sir David Longland Prison in Brisbane in November 1997, where he was serving time for bank robberies on the Gold Coast.
Abbott had been arrested on the Gold Coast in March 1995, five and a half years after escaping from Fremantle prison and embarking on a covert life as a fugitive, suspected of robbing banks in WA, SA and Queensland for up to $5. million.
Abbott is technically eligible for parole in WA in October 2026. But as a prisoner who has served more than 25 years but is not subject to a life sentence, his situation is unique.
There is a genuine possibility that Abbott will never be granted parole and will not be released until his maximum term expires in January 2033, which would be 34 years and eight months after his recapture in Darwin.
Abbott remains subject to a high-security escort classification, meaning that if he is required to leave prison for reasons such as a court appearance or medical care, he would be subject to tight security measures.
Inmates with that classification are automatically detained in maximum security, meaning they are not eligible to be transferred to a self-care unit or to participate in the prison’s resocialization program.
The infamous thief (pictured) has an extensive criminal record and earned his nickname by taunting police with postcards while on the run.
Abbott appears escorted to the Brisbane Police guardhouse after being refused bail in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 12, 2016.
This program is generally reserved for inmates serving life sentences.
WA Department of Correctional Services protocol states that resocialization programs for inmates serving fixed-term sentences “are often discouraged as they are generally eligible to apply for release planning activities as sentenced prisoners, provided they reach a minimum security status and placement. ‘.
But Abbott cannot achieve minimum security status because of his classification and prison authorities insist he remains a flight risk, even though there have been no escape attempts since his recapture in 1998.
In 2017, he was sentenced to a concurrent five-year jail term for the 1989 Fremantle prison escape.
