Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre staff risk being killed, WorkSafe report reveals
EXCLUSIVE: STAFF at a Victorian youth prison are at risk of being killed by its violent inmates while many female staff are regularly threatened with rape, shocking report reveals.
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STAFF at a Victorian youth prison are at risk of being killed by its violent inmates, a shocking new WorkSafe report reveals.
Some workers at Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre believe it is more dangerous than an adult jail, and female staff are regularly threatened with rape, the Herald Sun has been told.
The report backs staff claims that the prison is in the grip of a frightening wave of thuggery.
A WorkSafe inspector visited Malmsbury, near Kyneton, this week after complaints of daily assaults on staff.
The inspector’s urgent report noted that last month alone saw 41 reported incidents of violence towards staff members and another 20 “stress-related” incidents.
Staff say an influx of violent young gang members is making the job even more perilous. Inmates stage fights to assault staff who intervene. One warder found a released teen brandishing a baseball bat on his front lawn at night.
In the WorkSafe report, seen by the Herald Sun, the inspector writes: “Employees’ health and safety is at risk of serious or fatal injuries due to the amount of attacks and assaults on staff members occurring at this location.”
WorkSafe has served an improvement notice on the Department of Health and Human Services, stating it must introduce safe systems of work, including appropriate staff levels, or risk prosecution.
The DHHS told the Herald Sun last night that it treated staff safety with the “utmost seriousness”.
But Community and Public Sector Union occupational health and safety officer Carl Marsich said the level of trouble in August was just part of an alarming long-term trend.
He said staff turnover and sick leave at the centre, in central Victoria, were high.
“This is ongoing. The abuse and the assaults and the shivs (makeshift knives) continue,” he said.
“But there’s ways to tackle it if you’re committed.”
Mr Marsich agreed with staff complaints that working at Malmsbury had now become more dangerous than at an adult jail.
“It’s worse than (an adult) jail,” Mr Marsich said. “In a jail, they’ve got greater control. They’ve got greater discipline.”
He said one worker was threatened with stabbing and verbally abused recently after trying to establish “basic client boundaries”.
He said the matter was reported to police but that staff member had to continue supervising the same youth for two weeks, until a colleague was attacked.
“A search was conducted of the threatening client’s room after the assault and two shivs were found.
“He stated that the shivs were intended to be used to attack (the staff member who set the boundaries),” Mr Marsich said.
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