REVEALED: Life inside Wacol sex offenders precinct

It was set up to house some of the state’s worst child abusers and rapists. We take a look at what goes on inside Brisbane’s sex offenders precinct, who is inside, what they’re allowed to do and the security measures in place to watch them.

After vigilante mobs hounded the most notorious paedophile in Queensland’s history from town, to town, to town, the State Government stepped in to build a special facility for some of the state’s worst sex offenders.

Serial child rapist Dennis Ferguson, now deceased, served 14 years for the kidnap and sexual assault of three children at a Brisbane hotel before his release sparked a furore in two states.

The Government responded by introducing a new law, the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (DPSO), to deal with those considered at very high risk of reoffending.

And in 2010 it announced that 30 convicted sex criminals would be housed at a new precinct in Wacol in Brisbane’s west, initially with two to three men per house.

The Queensland Corrective Services facility at Wacol.

While not a jail, the site is on Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) land and is near several jails and the QCS Academy.

At the time, occupants had to pay 25 per cent of their Centrelink payment in rent.

They can leave the precinct, although often only with an escort and while wearing tracking devices on their ankles.

Many have to submit weekly schedules of their planned activities.

Occasionally, some have been caught trying to remove the anklets.

Satellite images show there are nine buildings in the precinct.

The Wacol sex offenders' precinct housing (centre of image). Picture: Google Earth

The accommodation houses have kitchens and basic furniture and the area is surrounded by high wire fences, CCTV and lights.

Visitors are allowed, but only if approved and most occupants are forbidden from having any contact with children.

Many residents must confirm details of people they are in a sexual relationship with, or contact regularly.

Most have internet access, as long as they hand over passwords and do not visit banned sites. Approved phones, computers, TVs and other devices are allowed, but have caused problems.

In September, 2021, an offender who cannot be named for legal reasons was sentenced after police spotted him at Milton train station with a phone on an approved excursion.

He later told police he’d been receiving nude photos from girls aged under 16 and had sent nudes of himself. A notebook was found with details of girls he wanted to contact.

The late Dennis Raymond Ferguson leaves Wolston Correctional Centre at Wacol. Vigilante mobs chased him from town to town before he fled to NSW.

Despite the strict internet rules, other occupants have also been caught out.

In August last yearJason Matthew Crutch was sentenced after being caught with more than 150 child porn images and videos on his phone, some involving children as young as four.

Officers discovered Crutch had been engaging in conversations with a girl, 15, whom he enticed to send him images of herself wearing a bra.

Drugs and alcohol are banned inside the precinct, although they are rife. Routine urine and mouth testing is carried out.

In March last year, for instance, former Gympie man Nigel Patrick Robinson, 44, pleaded guilty to charges including possessing methamphetamine.

His lawyer, Michael Cridland, told Richlands Magistrates Court that drugs were “endemic’’ in the precinct.

In 2013, another court heard Robinson accessed pornography, including rape images, on the internet while living at the precinct.

Robinson was jailed in 1997 after stalking a woman in a shopping centre and then raping her at knifepoint.

He also tried to rape another woman and indecently assaulted a girl, 9, in a schoolyard.

Some occupants are banned from visiting pubs, clubs, hotels or nightclubs or bottle shops and have to abide by curfews, with at least one banned from leaving Queensland.

Parts of the precinct are in an exclusion zone and some residents must have “walking passes’’.

Douglas Brian Jackway.

Perhaps the most notorious of the current crop of Wacol occupants is Douglas Brian Jackway.

Labelled the “worst of the worst’’, he once threatened to cut the throat of a nine-year-old boy after he was caught in the act of raping him.

The Supreme Court in 2020 released the 46-year-old to live at the Wacol precinct, where he is subject to a 24-hour curfew, wears a GPS tracker, cannot drink or take drugs and can be tested at any time.

If granted permission to leave the precinct for any reason he must be escorted by QCS staff.

QCS said it did not comment* on “specific operational information’’.

However, its rules included prohibition on internet use by offenders on the precinct, even if they had no court-ordered internet ban.

Those with no ability to buy a phone received a QCS non-smart, basic phone to ensure they were contactable while under supervision.

Precinct rules did not allow visitors without approval. An approved visitor was typically a contractor, psychologist delivering treatment or emergency response personnel.

Family members and support workers were also banned but offenders can meet them in the car park outside the precinct. No children were allowed.

No alcohol, illicit drugs, or non-prescribed medication was allowed to be brought on or held on the precinct.

One of the houses at the Wacol precinct.

In January, Wacol occupants were ordered not to visit each other in their houses as part of a crackdown following an incident.

A month earlier, Police Minister Mark Ryan announced that the government would double monitoring of first-time child sex offenders to 10 years, while repeat offenders would be monitored for 20 years. The worst will be monitored for life.

But the new laws did not apply to those living at Wacol.

Mr Ryan also promised security would be increased after reports a resident got out because of “inadequate’’ fencing.

While the precinct was generally welcomed at its announcement 13 years ago, it has come under blistering fire from judges in recent times due to overcrowding.

There are now four or five men living in each house.

An article in the Queensland Law Society journal Proctor in December last year said that a number of judges believed the DPSO laws were not being effectively resourced.

The first person to be subjected to the law, child rapist Robert John Fardon, has lived at the precinct for years.

He is chaperoned to do his shopping and must cook for himself in a kitchen he shares with serious sex offenders Farlane George and Gregory David Kynuna.

Justice Peter Applegarth.

Supreme Court Justice Peter Applegarth raised the issue of overcrowding while ordering the ongoing imprisonment of Edwin Arthur Guy, 69, jailed in 1998 for 34 child sex offences.

“Almost 20 years ago, the (DPSO Act) was passed. It targeted what were expected to be a dozen or so of the very worst sexual offenders,’’ he said.

“Since then, the number of persons who are subject to continuing detention orders and supervision orders under the Act has grown far beyond original expectations.

“The facilities to accommodate them have not developed to meet a constantly-increasing demand.

“The few ‘precinct’ houses near prisons that are intended to provide temporary accommodation for individuals released under supervision orders are overcrowded.”

Justice Applegarth said current housing alongside prisons such as Wacol Correctional Centre was not suitable for young indigenous men from far north Queensland, or many middle-aged men with significant mental health problems.

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that QCS did not respond to a request for comment. Due to a technical issue, the response was not noticed until after publication.