Capricornia Correctional Centre riots: 64 prisoners now charged, due to face Rockhampton court in July

More prisoners have been charged over their alleged involvement in 16 hour-long riots at a Queensland prison. The case is proving complex as many prisoners have been released or have been moved to other prisons.

The tally of prisoners due to face court next month for their alleged involvement in the 16-hour-long riots at the Capricornia Correctional Centre north of Rockhampton has risen to 64.

The riots broke out on October 21, 2021 and at the height of the unrest, about 70 prisoners were allegedly involved before the drama eventually dissipated at 2.30am the following day.

In April, it was announced 45 prisoners had been charged and Queensland Police Service confirmed this week that number had since risen to 64.

The male prisoners, aged between 19 to 42, have been charged with riot causing damage.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

They will all appear in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court between July 11 and 22 and will face the same magistrate.

The investigation into the riots has been quite a lengthy process and was a joint operation between the police and Queensland Corrective Service, under Operation Tango Roadtrain.

Investigators trawled through 2300 still images, undertook more than 200 prisoner interviews, 100 statements from correctional officers and watched hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

Preparation for the court hearings will be just as complex as each prisoner will have their own individual briefs of evidence and facts.

While the number of prisoners charged is 64 now, there could be more by the time the court process begins.

Given the court dates are seven months on from when the riots occurred, many of the prisoners have been released and live in various locations and some prisoners have been moved to other centres across the site.

All of the prisoners will need to appear in person in Rockhampton.

Photos obtained by this publication of the damage from the riots.

THE RIOTS

On the day of the riots, there were 703 prisoners incarcerated at the Capricornia Correctional Centre.

The situation began around 9am when the maximum-security inmates were told to return to their cells as the staff were having a union meeting.

The prisoners had only been out of their cells for three hours and refused to go back in, with one allegedly throwing a “buy up crate” at a correctional officer.

The group then allegedly broke into other secure units and the garden shed where they got their hands on petrol, made molotov cocktails, inhaled, injected and ingested the petrol and were able to arm themselves with power tools.

In the wake of the riots, all of the petrol and diesel garden equipment at the centre has been converted to electric.

More prisoners from residential units allegedly joined the chaos and destroyed multiple officers stations, units and cells and lit fires, defaced property with graffiti, smashed cameras, threw soft drinks as missiles and used vending machines to ram fences.

By 6pm, 60 prisoners made their way onto the roof of a building and had to be coaxed down in negotiations with corrections officers.

As a result of the damage to units and security during the riots, about 180 secure cells and 150 residential cells couldn’t be used.

Queensland Corrective Services has not confirmed the monetary damage to the centre from the riots.

A tender was awarded in February for the Principal Consultant contract to Phillips Smith Conwell Architects for $114,104.65 for the Capricornia Correctional Centre expansion project.

Queensland Corrective Services said this was for a range of work, including facility enhancements as a result of the expansion completion and the Code Black (the riots).

Another tender was accepted on June 20 for five demountable building modifications at the prison.

Rockhampton business Milner Constructions was awarded the $418,308 contract.