Former prisoner of Yatala’s G Division reveals what it’s like to live among serial killers and bikies
SERIAL killers, white supremacists, notorious bikies and the mentally unstable incarcerated together — an innocent man’s tale of life inside Yatala’s notorious G Division.
SERIAL killers, white supremacists, notorious bikies and the mentally unstable are incarcerated in this prison wing together.
Welcome to G Division which houses some of South Australia’s most notorious criminals — and The Advertiser’s exclusive insight through the eyes of a former prisoner who spent two weeks in “hell on earth” before being released without charge.
The 37-year-old former prisoner was held in the high security G Division last year on stalking charges before the case against him was dropped by prosecutors.
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The man, who had worked at Holden and Bunnings for 15 years prior to his arrest, said his fellow prisoners included bikie Vincent Focarelli, a leader of White Power Australia and Snowtown killers John Bunting and Robert Wagner.
“It was hell on earth for a person like me who until then was just a normal person who went from never being in jail before to suddenly being surrounded by serial killers telling me what it was like to kill someone,” the man said.
The man was held in G-Division because he was deemed to be a suicide risk — a claim he denies.
Prisoners in the division are subject to the highest security and generally only allowed two hours outside their cell for yard exercise each day.
No physical interaction occurs between prisoners but verbal communication is frequent.
“We can’t see each other but we can talk to each other by lying on the floor and talking under the doors,” he said.
“The guards came around all the time and you have to make sure you yell ‘on the floor, boss’ — otherwise they launch into full alert when they can’t see you in the room.
“The rooms are tiny and there is nothing you can do. You don’t get TV and you have to ask for radio by pressing on a button — and even then it’s totally up to the guards whether they allow you to have it.”
The man said Snowtown killer Wagner had asked for a TV but they did not give it to him because it was around the time the movie Snowtown was being publicised.
“He (Wagner) wakes up screaming some nights — I think he is starting to relive some of the things he has done,” he said.
The man said some prisoners are held in rubber cells and those uncompliant are washed from their cells by a water hose if they became obstinate and refuse to leave when directed to.
“Those prisoners who are already struggling mentally have no hope of recovery — it just makes them a whole lot worse,” the man said.
One such prisoner, he said, was Wayne Dunstan who remains imprisoned in G Division.
Dunstan is awaiting sentence for assaulting his father but his parents have pleaded for him to be taken to James Nash house for treatment rather than exacerbate his condition in prison.
A Department Corrections spokesman said G Division provided the “greatest level of safety in the South Australian prison system given its strict regime and ability to observe and monitor prisoners very closely.
“This makes it an appropriate unit to accommodate both high notoriety prisoners and prisoners presenting with complex or high risk need,” the spokesman said.