Parklea Prison: Rioters hunted for rooftop drugs, union says more handcuffs, training required

Some rioters scrambled onto the rooftop of the western Sydney prison on Monday afternoon to uncover stashed drugs and others lit fires. Read the latest here.

Rioting prisoners at a western Sydney correctional centre scrambled to the rooftop of the facility to allegedly recover stashed drugs and others lit fires in wings.

A source inside Parklea Prison revealed officers were forced to shoot gas cylinders at rioting prisoners on Monday afternoon before calling in a specialist task force to break up the affray as rioters spiralled out of control.

Riot police move in and arrest inmates who were rioting on the rooftops of Parklea prison. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“We watched on as some prisoners jumped on to the roof of the facility, uncovered drugs and shot up there and then,” one source told TheBlacktown Advocate. “We had to mask up and hit the rioters with gas to stop them — it was intense.”

Another Corrections source said inmates were on edge over a lack of drugs being smuggled into facilities through visitation.

“Officers say it is one of the most unsafe facility in the country,” he said. “Prisoners shouldn’t have been able to get onto the roof in the first place, so it doesn’t surprise me that we didn’t uncover the drugs there before the riot.”

The corrections source said prisoners were going to extreme lengths — even having friends arrested and charged in an effort to bring drugs into remand centres like Parklea.

“The drugs are completely dried up, a single cigarette is going for more than $50 right now,” he said.

“Parklea is (also) a Remand Centre, so (some) inmates are fresh and coming down off their fix, so they get desperate and that is why the end up on the roof.”

Riot police move in and arrest Inmates who were holding a protest on the rooftops of Parklea prison. Picture: Justin Lloyd

A NSW Police spokeswoman said inmates were yet to be charged over the affray — which lasted close to four hours.

It comes as union bosses have slammed the management of the privately-run Parklea Correctional Centre for not taking the concerns of officers and staff seriously.

Community Public Sector Union assistant secretary Troy Wright revealed union representatives worked to notify prison governor Paul Baker of concerns around a lack of consistency with welfare calls; failure to pay prisoners; a lack of handcuffs; and the need for more officer training days before a riot broke out.

“For more than two years the CPSU NSW has been ringing the alarm bell about safety in

Parklea,” Mr Wright said. “These warnings, particularly about unsafe conditions for prison officers, have been recklessly ignored.”

In September 2018, NewsLocal revealed prison operator MTC’s history of ‘uninhabitable conditions, violence, abuse and riots’ at MTC private prisons across the US.

Incidents included several riots at MTC prisons between 2003 and 2015.

The first reported riot occurred at a low-security prison in California where 150 prisoners attacked inmates with meat cleavers, knives and fire extinguishers, resulting in the ‘retreat’ of guards and the death of two inmates.

It is understood the facility was shut down two months later.

In 2015 an MTC-run Texas correctional centre was brought to its knees when 2000 inmates rioted over issues surrounding poor medical care.

A report by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons identified the facility as uninhabitable with MTC firing all 400 staff at the facility, following the incident.

“MTC-Broadspectrum is one of America’s largest private prison operators and has a

history of violent, dangerous prisons,” the union boss said. “In NSW we have no transparency about why they were selected to run Parklea — the Berejiklian Government simply handed over the keys and washed their hands of the lives of those who live and work inside Parklea’s walls.

Riot squads move in and arrest inmates on the rooftops of Parklea prison. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“Since MTC-Broadspectrum took over operations in Parklea it has become more dangerous for workers and inmates alike. This is a direct result of cost cutting decisions to squeeze every last cent out of the prison.”

Parklea Correctional Centre Governor Paul Baker said the response team resolved the incident without an injuries to staff.

“We are now investigating the cause of the incident and all inmates involved will be referred to NSW Police,” he sad.

“A thorough assessment is also taking place to determine the extent of the damage and the required remediation work.”

Mr Baker said MTC Broadspectrum were looking at ways to improve procedures at the prison.

“We consistently engage with staff and make any necessary improvements, including providing specialist training and ensuring there is an appropriate level of staff to keep the prison safe and secure,” he said.

“We continue to recruit more staff than required under our contract. Our second Initial Training Course for this year has begun for new officers and a third will be held later this year.”

Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts said there has not been an increase in staff assaults and riots at Parklea Correctional Centre since MTC-Broadspectrum took over management of the facility in March 2019.

Anthony Roberts MP, Minister for Counter Terrorism and Corrections. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“The incident at Parklea Correctional Centre yesterday was the only major disturbance at the centre since March 2019," he said. “The rate of assaults on Parklea Correctional Centre staff in the last 12 months has dropped to an average of 2.2 per 100 inmates, down from 3.4 per 100 inmates in the 12 months prior to October 2019.”

Mr Roberts said the Security Operations Group has responded to incidents of inmates on roofs at a number of correctional centres.

“Each of these disturbances, including yesterday’s disturbance at Parklea, were due to the lack of drugs entering the prison system since introducing the COVID-19 visitor restrictions,” he said.

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