Sex offender Jackway wanted to be ‘top dog’ in jail

A prison officer has lifted the lid on notorious paedophile Douglas Jackway’s life behind bars – where he preyed on the weak, but ‘shit himself’ when faced with stronger inmates.

QUEENSLAND’S most notorious paedophile Douglas Brian Jackway was a predator in jail and “picked on the weak people” but pleaded to be segregated to the detention unit whenever he faced being transferred to live with stronger prisoners, an officer says.

Jackway, who has been released on a supervision order to live at the Wacol precinct with other sex offenders, was housed in Wolston jail for much of his prison life.

The jail has the state’s worst sex offenders and high-profile murderers such as wife killer Gerard Baden-Clay, Brett Cowan who killed schoolboy Daniel Morcombe and triple murderer Max Sica.

Douglas Brian Jackway

“I’ve dealt with thousands of paedophiles in the years and he would be in the top few of the worst, no doubt,” the officer told The Courier-Mail.

“He was very disliked by prisoners and staff.

“He tried to be aggressive. It was like a show. You’d close the door and he’d scream and yell and as soon as you opened the door he’d just hide in the corner and drop to the floor.”

Jackway was jailed in 1995 after he abducted a young boy, who was riding his bicycle, and sexually assaulted him.
He was released in 2003 but was convicted of raping a little girl in 1991, when he was aged 14.

He was a one-time suspect in the disappearance of Daniel Morcombe.

The officer said Jackway was a target inside jail.

“He always picked on the weak people,” the officer said.

“Prisoners wanted to gang up on him. Even the other paedophiles wanted to belt him. He was scared of his own shadow.

“He would ask to be locked up all the time. He wouldn’t go into a unit with stronger prisoners. He’d only want to be in a prison with other weaker prisoners.”

The prison officer said Jackway would put on a turn when they tried to move him between units.

“We’d say you’re going from (unit) s7 to 5 or 4 and he’d say he’d only go in S7 because they’re all old and weak,” the officer said.

“Basically he’d shit himself and put on a turn or cry until he got his own way and got to the DU (detention unit). It was just a merry-go-round. He’d be in the DU for two months.”
After Jackway’s release, a corrective services spokesman said the convicted rapist would have to be escorted by corrections staff if granted permission to leave the housing area.
Jackway is under a 24-hour curfew, wears a GPS tracker and is banned from alcohol or drugs and can be tested at any time.
A change.org petition objecting to Jackway’s release to the Wacol precinct now has about 25,000 signatures.