Owen-D'Arcy v Chief Executive, Queensland Corrective Services

The applicant, Owen-D'Arcy, sought judicial review of decisions made by the Chief Executive of Queensland Corrective Services. The decisions in question were a maximum security order (MSO) and a no association decision, which restricted the applicant's contact with other prisoners in the maximum security unit (MSU). The applicant argued that the decision-maker, Ms Samantha Newman, failed to properly consider relevant factors and took into account irrelevant considerations. The applicant also argued that the decisions violated the applicant's human rights by being cruel, inhuman, or degrading and by limiting the applicant's right to liberty and security of the person.

The court was required to determine whether the decision-maker breached the rules of natural justice, whether the decisions were unreasonable, whether the decision-maker failed to consider relevant factors, whether the decision-maker took irrelevant considerations into account, and whether the decisions violated the applicant's human rights. The court found that the decision-maker did not breach the rules of natural justice or fail to consider relevant factors. The court also found that the decisions were not unreasonable and did not take irrelevant considerations into account. However, the court found that the decisions violated the applicant's human rights by being cruel, inhuman, or degrading and by limiting the applicant's right to liberty and security of the person.

The court ordered that the MSO and no association decisions be set aside and remitted to the respondent to be dealt with according to law. The court also ordered that the respondent pay the applicant's costs of and incidental to the application. The court found that the respondent had not satisfied the onus of demonstrating that the limitation on the applicant's human rights was justified. The court also found that the decisions were incompatible with the applicant's right to not be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way and his right to liberty and security of the person.