Inmate on roof of Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre
A teenage inmate has scaled the roof of Victoria’s main youth jail, where he made obscene gestures, shouted at media and threw rocks, sending the trouble-plagued centre into lockdown amid increasing tensions.
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A teenage inmate scaled the roof of the state’s main youth jail, amid increasing tensions at the trouble-plagued centre.
Millions of taxpayer dollars were spent repairing and fortifying Parkville Youth Justice Centre after riots in recent years caused huge damage — but the inmate made a mockery of the upgrades on Wednesday.
Shirtless and vandalising the roof, he made obscene gestures and shouted at the media as authorities tried to get him down.
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Using a T-shirt to mask his face, he threw rocks from the roof during the stand-off. The teen later gave himself up and may face charges over the incident.
A Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said the prison would remain in lockdown overnight as part of standard procedure.
“The prison is locked down at 8pm each night regardless of an incident occurring or not,” she said.
“The matter will be reassessed overnight to determine measures taken in the morning.”
The roof invasion comes as the Herald Sun can reveal alarming levels of fear among workers at the complex. Staff, some afraid of being assaulted, are increasingly not turning up for work.
They regard the state’s youth justice facilities as more dangerous than working in adult prisons.
“If this was a building site or a mine, it’d be shut down. Nurses or police wouldn’t have to put up with it,” one said.
The absenteeism has resulted in a higher number of lockdowns, which has contributed to detainees’ anger and assaults.
The Community and Public Sector Union said there had been more than 100 incidents against Victorian youth justice staff in the past three months.
They include staff being bitten, spat on, having boiling water tipped on them and other assaults, as well as verbal abuse and threats of rape or harm to their families.
The danger was demonstrated last month in an attack in which a boy, detained in connection with a homicide, stabbed a security and emergency response team officer in the head with a pen.
He was the second officer from that team to be assaulted in January.
An investigation by the Herald Sun also found large numbers of staff are quitting youth justice, and WorkSafe has been monitoring the level of assaults on staff.
Workers say the staff shortages partly generated by the difficult working environment exacerbated the risk of assault, because it meant inmates spent more time locked up, building frustration.
Another source said they were simply “babysitters” for the inmates.
The centres have lost a raft of experienced staff, replaced by those with little or no experience. “It adds pressure because the kids can see that the new staff are s------- themselves, which makes them a target,” a source said.
A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman said it was critical that staff were supported within their challenging work circumstances.
The spokesman said more staff had been recruited, security upgrades performed and improved case management training implemented — and all incidents had to be accurately reported.
“Violent behaviour or assaults in youth justice centres are absolutely unacceptable, and any allegation of criminal behaviour is immediately reported to Victoria Police,” he said.
The department pointed to what it claimed was a 60 per cent drop in serious incidents, and that
$14.3 million had been spent on security.
A Commonwealth and Public Sector Union spokesman said Parkville was more dangerous for staff than adult jails.
In response to Wednesday’s incident, the CPSU spokesman added: “This was bound to happen. Violence against staff … more than one a day across almost every shift (leaves the) facility short-staffed.
“We’ve gone two steps backwards at Parkville, unfortunately.”
PARKVILLE’S LONG HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, CHAOS
The Parkville Youth Justice Centre has a long history of violence and chaos.
On Wedneday an inmate climbed onto the roof of the youth jail, despite massive security upgrades after a series of wild riots two years ago which cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
In 2016, riots on May 6 and August 17 caused extensive damage, including big holes in ceilings and walls, smashed doors and windows, and destroyed office equipment with youths spending hours on the roof at the facility.
In November 2016 teen thug inmates charged at prison guards with metal poles, pieces of wood and a fire extinguisher as they took control of the facility.
An internal report, ordered after the incident, said a 28-strong group of teens engaged in a five-hour rampage where they targeted other vulnerable inmates, threatened staff and caused extensive property damage.
They also tried to set fire to a 15-bed accommodation unit.
Other inmates told guards the teen ringleaders also accessed prisoner personnel files so they could target sex offenders.
The report also revealed inmates were overhead threatening other prisoners to join in or “suffer the consequences”.
The teens also broke into the Melbourne Programs Centre and stole an angle grinder and other woodwork tools. The mob removed doors, smashed windows, vandalised walls with spray paint and overturned furniture.
It took 18 hours for police and prison staff to negotiate the surrender of the rioters.
In January 2017 youths threw an unauthorised pool party at the facility just before going on another rampage.
On that occasion the Herald Sun was told the teens jumped in the pool and refused to get out.
An insider said the out-of-control youngsters broke pool fencing to use as makeshift weapons before breaking another detainee out of a cell after getting into a roof cavity.
About 35 police brought the situation under control over a six-hour period, with the seven youngsters subsequently moved to Malmsbury and the Grevillea Unit at Barwon Prison.
That same month, dozens of teens rampaged at Malmsbury, escaped, hijacked cars and went on a crime wave.
About a month later, up to 40 security response members entered the Barwon facility when 20 teens rioted.
The riots at Parkville and Malmsbury caused at least $3 million worth of damage and the state government went on to spend $72 million in the 2017-18 budget to fortify the troubled centres.
The government also announced plans in 2017 to build a 300-bed youth jail, a $288 million facility to be built at a site called Cherry Creek, next to the Werribee tip and quarry.
The new youth jail is due to be completed in 2020.
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