Watch: Rare glimpse inside Maryborough Correctional Centre
For the first time take a look behind the bars at one of the state’s notorious prisons to see what life is really like for some of the state’s most heinous criminals. VIDEO TOUR
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For the first time take a tour and rare glimpse at what life is really like behind the wire at Maryborough Correctional Centre.
The Maryborough prison will commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2023 and, for the first time, the state is offering a digital walk-through to the public.
As part of a first release we take you exclusively behind the scenes and show all parts of the prison which employs 300 people.
The secure blocks accommodate prisoners with higher security requirements.
Some of the state’s most notorious prisoners have been housed at the Wide Bay jail including current inmate Matthew Bradley James Tench, who killed a 58-year-old Thai sex worker he arranged to meet after he found her through a classified ad.
Each block has a control room which monitors day-to-day movements. It operations all cell doors going in and out. Each control room is monitored by one officer.
An female employee at the facility said checking mail for contraband and prohibited items was one of her favourite things about the job.
Declaring she “loves finding contraband in the mail, I get very excited”.
At the prison, there are seven general purpose dogs and two passive alert drug detection dogs that form the correctional centre’s dog squad.
The general purpose dogs are used to de-escalate emergency situations while the PADD dogs are used to detect and prevent the entry for contraband into the centre.
Prisoner life is also about pitching in and many have to work in the facility, including in the kitchen, where 2000 meals are produced every day.
The kitchen employs about 50 prisoners, with 25 allocated to each shift.
Every year 730,000 meals are prepared, ranging from spaghetti bolognaise to sweet and sour pork and fish and chips. About 400 dishes are washed each day.
In the education block, 3000 hours of course programs are provided each year. Prisoners can complete pre-course assessments on literacy and numerously, writing and reading.
There is a sew room and between 50 to 60 items can be made per day. Anything from prisoner clothing to mattresses, pillows and bed sheets.
There is even a horticulture and gardening area. About 100 prisoners work across the industries area making products like farm gates, panels for cattle crushes where between 10-15 tonnes of steel are used.
For First Nation prisoners, the cultural team comes together to plan for events like NAIDOC Week and there are also art programs.
The prison also offers a residential unit, where lower risk prisoners are housed.
It can accommodate up to 240 prisoners and the units have their own common areas including a kitchen and laundry.
General Manager Chief Superintendent Kris Winter said it was important to acknowledge the work of staff and officers on the frontline of public safety.
“This virtual experience is about showing the different kinds of work officers do every day to address offending behaviour and improve the vocational and life skills of prisoners to assist in their rehabilitation and reintegration back into the community,” Chief Superintendent Winter said.
From visits processing to the role of dog squad officers and how prison mail is processed, in the recent video tour people are taken on a journey through different areas of the centre as with just a few clicks.
“And for those who are considering a career in corrections, they hear from officers about what it is like working in a high-pressure environment to ensure the Queensland community is safe,” she said.
The walk-through allows the public digital access into Secure, listen about the role of a cultural liaison officer and what happens inside the gatehouse.
“Working in a correctional centre is undoubtedly challenging, but it is also a very rewarding career, and I am incredibly proud of our officers for the work they do to build safer communities.”
SEE THE VIRTUAL TOUR IN FULL HERE https://corrections.qld.gov.au/mccvirtual/
PRISONERS OF MARYBOROUGH
On November 3, 2018, Matthew Bradley James Tench, who was then 22, and Linda Lovett, a 58-year-old Thai sex worker, arranged to meet for sex.
After sex he approached Ms Lovett and stabbed her multiple times to her head, neck and upper body.
Other guests and the manager heard screams and saw Ms Lovett stumble from the room, covered in blood.
She did not make it far outside the door before she succumbed to her wounds, which included a cut to the neck – later determined as the cause of death due to blood loss.
One of Queensland’s most notorious murderers died at Maryborough Correctional Centre in June 2021, taking his secrets to the grave a week before the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing inquest was due to begin.
Garry “Shorty” Dubois took his own life in his single-occupant cell at Maryborough Correctional Centre, where he was found unresponsive.
He was convicted for the 1974 murders of Brisbane mother Barbara McCulkin and her young children in 1974.
In 2016, Dubois was sentenced to life in jail for raping and murdering Leanne McCulkin, 11, and her sister Vicki, 13.
He was also found guilty of the manslaughter of their mother Barbara McCulkin, 34.
The McCulkins bodies have never been found.
Killer William Kelvin Fox was out on bail for the April 1992 attempted murder and kidnapping of Barbara Hellwich at a Miami caravan park when he murdered his ex-wife Patricia Gaye Atkinson and injured three others near Gympie in August 1996.
Fox, now 67, remains incarcerated at the Maryborough Correctional Centre, where he is serving two life sentences.
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