Police diverted from community patrols to fight violence in youth prisons
WILD bashings and unruly behaviour have rocketed inside Victoria’s troubled youth jails, forcing police to divert crucial resources from the streets in order to crack down on prison violence.
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EXCLUSIVE: Wild bashings and unruly behaviour have rocketed inside Victoria’s troubled youth jails, forcing police to divert crucial resources from the streets.
The Herald Sun can reveal assaults at Parkville’s Melbourne Youth Justice Centre rose to a staggering 161 in 2017, from just 31 the year before.
Officers at North Melbourne police station have written to superiors pleading for a special taskforce to tackle the problem.
YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEM ‘IN CRISIS’
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said several stations whose officers were called out to Parkville and to Malmsbury were now under immense pressure.
He said there were serious concerns that police were being tied up dealing with crimes committed in youth justice centres, which “need to get better at managing themselves”.
“Police should not be called to them every day ... or even several times a day,” Mr Gatt said.
Mr Gatt said while crimes in jails and youth justice centres must be investigated, this diverted police officers from dealing with matters in the broader community.
He said: “Youth justice centres and adult prisons are controlled environments, and every effort needs to be made to minimise harm to people in custody.”
GREEN LIGHT ON YOUTH JUSTICE GUARDS
In 2016, Parkville recorded five incidents of disorderly and offensive conduct; last year, there were 51. At Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre, assaults rose from 47 to 69 in that time.
Both centres have been plagued by riots and escapes in recent times. Recently, a Malmsbury worker required hospital treatment after being hit in the head by an inmate.
Mr Gatt said the youth justice centres needed to have better security, similar to that provided in adult prisons.
The State Opposition’s spokesman on corrections, Edward O’Donohue, blamed the Government for mismanagement, and said that more must be done to “stop the chaos, violence and lawlessness in the youth justice system”.
“Whether it’s on the streets, in our homes, or within Victoria’s prisons, crime is out of control under (Premier) Daniel Andrews, and he doesn’t have the solutions to fix it,” he said.
Adult jails have also recorded an increase in crime in the past 12 months, and Mr Gatt confirmed that police stations with those prisons in their jurisdictions were also experiencing greater workloads and were under strain.
In Barwon Prison, there were 47 assaults in 2017 compared with 28 in 2016. It also recorded 17 property and deception crimes last year, but just one the previous year.
At Fulham Correctional Centre, crimes against the person rose from 103 in 2016 to 183 in 2017, and assaults at the Melbourne Assessment Prison rose from nine to 44.
A government spokeswoman said the planned $288 million Cherry Creek youth justice centre, along with other measures, would address problems at the centres.
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“The previous Liberal government left us with a broken, overcrowded prison system. We’ve made the investments needed to fix the mess they left behind, including more than 1900 new beds, with a further 470 funded to be opened in prisons … and an additional 520 prison staff since 2014.”
A Corrections Victoria spokeswoman said staff were comprehensively trained and worked tirelessly to deter and address any crimes.
