Man airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after assault at HM Barwon Prison

A man remains under police guard at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne after a brutal gang attack at Barwon Prison.

Emergency services arrived at Barwon Prison on Tuesday morning following reports of an assault. Picture: Alan Barber

A man remains under police guard at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne after a brutal gang assault at Barwon Prison.

The inmate is in a serious but stable condition after arriving by helicopter in a critical state following a bloody attack at Victoria’s most secure prison.

He was allegedly set upon by up to three inmates.

“A 20-year-old man has been airlifted to a Melbourne hospital with serious injuries,” A Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

It is believed the man was unconscious and bleeding from the mouth.

Police said investigators identified all inmates involved in the alleged assault and said the investigation remained ongoing.

On Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman from the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne confirmed the man was in a critical condition.

Victoria Police attend a separate assault at the facility earlier this year. Picture: Alan Barber

A spokeswoman from the Department of Justice and Community Safety told the Geelong Advertiser no prison officers were injured during the alleged attack.

A former Barwon Prison staffer, who did not want to be named, said inmates “were on edge” following the frequency of recent assaults and stabbings at the facility, northeast of Geelong.

It’s believed the unit of the alleged attack was in lockdown for most of Thursday morning.

“Prisoners get very cautious immediately following these incidents, because if it’s gang related they obviously don’t want to be next,” he said.

“The area would have been secured very quickly and the people involved isolated.

“Usually one of them ends up in hospital and the perpetrator is taken away to be interviewed by police.

“It’s a tense environment.”

It comes as the union representing concerned guards at the prison called for an investigation into the alarming number of violent assaults.

A CPSU spokesman told the Geelong Advertiser pressure from prison management to operate without enough staff was a major cause of the recent inmate violence, and concerns had been raised with the Department of Justice over the running of the Grevillea wing.

“The union has raised concerns about that unit not being fit for purpose as an intermediate regimen unit,” he said.

In May, two prisoners in the Grevillea unit were involved in a knife fight, with one taken to Geelong hospital under heavy police guard.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said the safety and wellbeing of staff was a high priority at the Lara based-jail and was being “taken seriously.”

Originally published as Man airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after assault at HM Barwon Prison