I have some experience with CPAP therapy. It is a treatment for sleep apnea (and snoring) but not a cure.
Usually once diagnosed, the patient needs to use it for life unless the reason for sleep apnea is due to obesity where weight loss may help. Sometimes surgical intervention and oral appliances are tried with limited success, but cpap therapy is the preferred 'gold standard' treatment for sleep apnea.
In my experience, all cpap machines these days record the sleep therapy data.
Typically recording parameters include start time, end time, any breaks in between, the pressure the machine has been running at plus Sleep Apnea events (defined as stopping breathing for 10 seconds or more)
Often flow data will also be recorded (breathing cycle) and with Auto CPAP (APAP) machines, the pressure will vary as required to treat sleep apnea and snoring, and would be more obvious when actual sleep and waking events occurs rather than just usage.
CPAP therapy becomes second nature and using it every time during sleeping is essential and habitual. So if GBC used it every night and did not on the night in question, that would raise alarm bells and be more circumstantial evidence.
I can't comment on prison use, but I think it would be permitted, as it is a medical condition that can be potentially life threatening if untreated. I assume the prison authorities have a duty of care to their 'guests'
For those interested in learning more about this condition, please visit
Sleep Disorders Australia (SDA) which is a charitable organisation run by volunteers who help sufferers and their families nationwide. They have a
free information booklet and many Fact Sheets on a range of sleep disorders including
sleep apnea,
snoring etc available for free download from their website.
Also if you have any questions there is an
informative FAQ section on this website.
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