Prison officers took about 10 minutes to respond to a call for help from an Indigenous man who later died from an asthma attack, a Sydney inquest has heard.
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Nathan Reynolds, 36, called for assistance at 11.27pm after struggling to breath at a South Windsor prison's minimum-security wing on August 31, 2018, but guards arrived 12 minutes later after walking there.
One of them, Matthew Fawzy, said he been waiting for a colleague to see Mr Reynolds. When asked why this took roughly 10 minutes, he said, "I can't think of anything".
And when asked why he didn't run to Mr Reynolds, the prison officer said he had been trained to avoid this.
"We were taught never to run, unless it's an officer actually getting assaulted," Mr Fawzy told the NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday.
Casey Wright, the prison's only registered nurse, was called at 11.40pm, with Mr Fawzy explaining he had also been trained to "sight" prisoners calling for assistance before requesting a nurse.
"We get knock-ups (calls for assistance) all the time - you don't know what's legitimate and what's false," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday fellow inmate Aaron Robinson fought back tears as he recalled desperately trying to assist Mr Reynolds, who went stiff while struggling to breathe before he died.
"I needed to keep him calm. He was in a panic, couldn't exhale - he was a man begging for help with his eyes and he couldn't say a word," Mr Robinson said.
"What little breath he had was just gasping for help. I just asked him to look at me and concentrate on me ... to try and relax so he could breathe."
Mr Robinson, then 44 and trained in first-aid, said he had bonded with Mr Reynolds as they both expected to be released from prison on the same day in September 2018.
"We're getting too old for this s***," Mr Robinson recalled the two men joking with each other.
The inquest on Monday was told by another inmate, Jeremy Preo, that Mr Reynolds was slapped in the face by Ms Wright.
Mr Preo also recalled Ms Wright telling a prison officer the dying man was having a drug overdose.
Ms Wright is due to testify later in the inquest.
CPR began shortly after Ms Wright's arrival, continuing when paramedics showed up about 12.14am.
Thirty minutes later, and 77 minutes after he first radioed prison guards about his breathing difficulties, Mr Reynolds was declared dead.
The inquest is expected to hear from respiratory specialist Greg King that when Mr Reynolds radioed for help at 11.27pm, his condition was already severe and life-threatening and the window to prevent his death was very narrow.
Mr Reynolds' sisters, who have attended the hearing alongside her brother's partner and mother, said they want truth and justice.
"Nathan died on the cold floor of a prison, with no loved ones around him. He was just 36 years old - he died far too young," Taleah and Makayla Reynolds said in a statement.
Australian Associated Press
