Inside the anarchy in Melbourne’s youth jail riots
THE two days of anarchy that gripped the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre was driven by some of the worst young offenders exploiting the centre’s weakest links.
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THE anarchy that gripped the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre for 17 hours spread through the complex’s ceiling space.
That area has for some time been a weak link at Parkville and it was again exploited on Sunday night by a band of young thugs.
The Herald Sun has been told one detainee — a repeat offender regarded as among the system’s worst — scrambled into the ceiling space in the Oakview unit.
From there, he smashed through the top of other teens rooms and dragged them up and out.
A growing mob made its way to the South Bank unit — home of a number of Apex gang members — and set about the kind of destructive spree which has plagued the state’s youth justice system for many months.
Windows were smashed, walls destroyed and security doors, weighing hundreds of kilograms, ripped down.
Hammers, chisels, screwdrivers and lumps of wood were seized from a tool storage area as staff beat a retreat.
The 20-bed Eastern Hill unit was flooded after inmates smashed the sprinklers using stolen tools.
An angle grinder — used in a metal work program — was then used to cut through locks on several doors and breach restricted areas.
Other children, frustrated they were forced into lockdown most of the weekend, began pulling sprinklers in their cells to cause flooding.
More vulnerable youths tried to escape their cells and living units so they would not be affected by the violence.
Left behind was a damage bill difficult to publicly calculate because of the secrecy which has for a long time surrounded such outbursts.
This was on top of Saturday night’s riot which had already left the centre struggling to cope because of the widespread wrecking of accommodation.
It started in the South Bank unit, still under repair from previous vandalism, where computers and game consoles were smashed and litres of paint splashed around.
Inmates from the West Gate unit later joined in, smashing expanses of ceiling, destroying locks and doors, tearing away electrical wiring and ripping out state-of-the-art security cameras.
Some teenagers smashed through the ceiling of an inmate who did not want to take part and beat him.
The nightmare for staff was compounded when, at one stage, they had to change their communications channel because they believed inmates had got hold of a radio and were listening in.
One of the chief agitators in Saturday’s mayhem was a 15-year-old who was born in the juvenile justice system.
He has been in and out of the youth justice system since the age of 10.
The Herald Sun has been told he later extensively damaged an isolation room.
One of his offsiders was a teenager who had been involved in previous expensive damage episodes.
Helping out was a 19-year-old on remand for murder.
The same names have consistently cropped up in the aftermath of a long succession of riots at Parkville and the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre in the past year.
The Parkville centre, aimed at rehabilitation, has a school, oval, two outdoor pools, an indoor pool, four basketball-tennis courts, a gym, a programs unit and access to televisions and video games.
But troubles have steadily mounted in the past 18 months with rioting, assaults on staff and other inmates and widespread criminal damage.
Dozens of youths headed to reclassified prison unit
DOZENS of the worst offenders are destined for a maximum-security prison.
The State Government is in the process of gazetting an entire jail unit as a youth justice centre, to house about 40 of the teens.
A medium-security prison is not an option. The Herald Sun understands the most likely location is the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Melbourne’s western suburbs. The MRC is the home of hundreds of non-sentenced prisoners, among them murderers, armed robbers and rapists.
Authorities were last night grappling with strict legal processes that would make the change possible.
They will be conscious of the need to keep the youth offenders away from the broader prison population for their own safety.
The Department of Health and Human Services would provide staff.
Meanwhile, Mill Park police station in the northern suburbs is housing at least six from Parkville after being hastily gazetted as a youth justice centre. The Governor was asked to urgently reclassify the station’s cells to an A-category facility, a move that sparked an angry reaction from the Police Association.
A Victoria Police statement said the cells would be under the full management of Secure Welfare Services.
“Mill Park police station will not accept adult prisoners while this remains in place,” the statement said.
The Herald Sun understands this situation could remain in place for six months or more due to the chaos enveloping the youth justice system.
Opposition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue said Victorians were paying the price for a soft approach on crime.
“Daniel Andrews and Jenny Mikakos effectively allowed the Parkville Youth Justice Centre to be destroyed and now it is Victorians who are paying the price for their soft approach, with violent offenders being sent into suburban communities and already stretched police resources being diverted away from keeping our streets safe,” he said.
Police Association secretary Ron Iddles said the move to use police stations for other purposes was “bordering on disgraceful” and blamed senior management from DHHS, saying their inaction had led to problems recurring.
“These issues serve to drain already stretched police resources,” he said.