Parkville Youth Justice workers regularly bashed, spat on by inmates
An alarming catalogue of nasty incidents inside the Parkville Youth Justice Centre has been exposed, revealing how staff were assaulted and threatened by teen detainees.
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An alarming catalogue of nasty incidents inside the Parkville Youth Justice Centre has been exposed.
The list, compiled over the past three months, reveals staff were regularly bashed, spat on and threatened by detainees.
Troubles at Parkville are back in the spotlight after an inmate climbed on the roof of a unit on Wednesday and threw rocks, damaging property.
INMATE ON ROOF OF PARKVILLE JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTRE
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The list of 111 incidents included claims of sexual assault, a pen used to attack a worker and an officer being attacked in an attempt to steal keys.
One worker was assaulted with an Xbox controller and another was also hit with a game controller. Two security officers were kicked in the head, another was bitten and nurses were spat on.
Centre workers say they are dealing with a new class of detainee, usually with gang links and in custody for extremely serious crimes.
The Community and Public Sector Union has expressed alarm about the level of risk to Parkville staff.
Youth Justice Minister Ben Carroll said Wednesday’s incident was referred to police.
“No one accepts what happened,” he told parliament.
Mr Carroll said there were “inherent challenges” with the Parkville buildings.
Asked about the rate of staff assaults, revealed by the Herald Sun, Mr Carroll said there were “workforce challenges” and the government would give youth justice workers “the support they need”.
Opposition youth justice system Brad Battin said Mr Carroll needed to “get his facts straight” because staff assaults were a major problem.