Four inmates plead guilty, sentenced over Woodford Correctional Centre riot

Taxpayers shelled out almost $30,000 to replace furniture, phones, security cameras and fix smashed windows damaged during a South East Queensland prison riot a magistrate labelled ‘20 minutes of stupidity’.

The riot occurred at Woodford Correctional Centre in October 2023. Picture: Lachie Millard

Taxpayers shelled out almost $30,000 to replace jailhouse furniture, phones, security cameras, and windows smashed during 20 minutes of mayhem, and the damage bill could have been worse if the fire one inmate tried to ignite using a toaster had taken hold.

The riot at Woodford Correctional Centre involved eight prisoners on October 13 last year, four of whom learned their fates in Brisbane District Court on Friday.

The judge lashed them, branding the riot “stupid” and “a pointless exercise” that ultimately achieved nothing other than extending their time behind bars.

Ishmeal Micha Bond, 21, Brendan Lee Green, 23, Phillip Guy Yak, 27, and Kyel Robert McMaster, 35, pleaded guilty to one count each of rioting.

The court heard the eight inmates inflicted $27,000 damage in 20 minutes.

Yak pulled phones out of the wall and tried to start a fire using a toaster.

Bond barricaded a door, threw items at the guards’ station, and smashed a window.

Green threw objects at CCTV cameras and destroyed them, he also smashed windows using a pole.

Prison officers were forced to use tear gas in a bid to subdue the rioters. File picture

McMaster helped the others by barricading a door with his body to keep prison officers out.

The riot was such that the police dog squad was deployed in response.

Judge John Coker said the response also included prison officers using tear gas and other chemical agents.

“They deployed gas through the officers’ station windows to contaminate the area around the officers’ station and they then also used chemical agents to suppress the prisoners,” he said.

“Teargas was also used in the exercise yard.”

The court heard Yak has a significant criminal history, including a home invasion where he attacked and cut the homeowner – who he did not know – with a machete.

Yak’s lawyer said he had been in jail for five years now serving previous sentences. She asked for immediate parole.

Bond has a criminal history dating back to 2022. His lawyer said he suffered “an extremely prejudicial upbringing with violence, drug use and neglect from a young age”. They asked for him to be immediately released on parole.

McMaster also has a lengthy criminal history. But his lawyer also asked for immediate parole eligibility, citing his mother abandoning him soon after his father died when he was 11.

Green’s history started when he was 18, but he is the only one no longer serving a previous sentence – his legal counsel pushed for him to be immediately released on parole.

In sentencing, Judge John Coker said the riot was instigated by another inmate – referred to only as McSweeney – and the four defendants “foolishly jumped on the bandwagon”.

“I would have thought that each of you would realise the stupidity and foolishness of the behaviours that now have you before the court,” he said.

Fellow inmate Alex Graeme Stevens, 22, has already been sentenced over his involvement in the riot – he received 12 months’ jail. Picture: Facebook

“Particularly in circumstances where for each of you parole eligibility dates or the opportunity for release have actually now passed due to 20 minutes of stupidity.

“It was a pointless exercise and achieved nothing whatsoever other than perhaps the release of some tension or stress that all of you experienced.”

Judge Coker handed Yak a 12-month prison sentence, but due to time already served, he will be eligible for parole on Friday.

Bond and Green were given an extra 10 months’ jail, but both will be immediately released on parole due to time already served.

McMaster received an eight-month sentence, but is also immediately eligible for parole.

Another inmate involved – 22-year-old Alex Graeme Stevens – was sentenced to 12 months’ jail in Maroochydore District Court in July. The three others charged are yet to be dealt with.