Riots continue at Parkville Youth Justice Centre in Melbourne
RAMPAGING teens at Parkville’s Youth Justice Centre face being thrown in adult jails after trashing units and forcing radical changes to the state’s corrections regime.
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RAMPAGING teens at Parkville’s Youth Justice Centre face being thrown in adult jails after trashing units and forcing radical changes to the state’s corrections regime.
A two-day riot descended into farce yesterday when a Domino’s delivery man arrived during a tense police lockdown, carrying four large Hawaiian and meatlovers pizzas plus garlic bread and soft drink.
TWO-DAY STAND OFF: Youth jail riots end after pizza delivery
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As Families and Children Minister Jenny Mikakos claimed the government would punish offenders, Department of Health and Human Services’s secure services director Ian Lanyon refused to say whether the pizza was a bribe for rioters because it was an “operational issue”.
Later, spokesman for the DHHS David Stockman insisted that “no pizza has been offered to, or given to youths at Parkville Youth Justice Centre today”.
Brazen thugs aged between 15 and 18 barricaded themselves inside the centre yesterday, after the rampage began with clashes with staff and demands for junk food.
Control was finally restored last night, after hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage was caused to security equipment, rooms, and rooftop access points.
In response to a growing crisis, Families and Children Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government would now rebuild the Parkville centre to boost security, and serious young criminals would be moved to adult jails.
New laws would also be fast-tracked to ensure teens who attack youth justice staff are hit with tougher penalties, and it is understood further legislation may be needed to send more serious young criminals straight to jails in the future.
Ms Mikakos wouldn’t say how much the centre upgrade would cost, or which jails would be used to house teens during the two to three year construction project.
Opposition families spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said Ms Mikakos had lost control of youth justice after “months and months” of riots.
“Daniel Andrews needs to step in and tell Jenny Mikakos that these offenders need less pizza and more discipline,” she said.
Ms Mikakos said the 1990s centre was built for “a different type of offender to what we’re seeing at the moment”, who include home invaders and carjackers.
Ms Mikakos said the rioters were remandees, who should be separated from sentenced young offenders in future.
Community and Public Sector Union state secretary Karen Batt said staff had suffered “vicarious trauma associated with assaults, riots and damage being done”.
The warning of staff trauma comes after experts told the Herald Sun youth justice centres should be under the control of the Department of Justice, which runs the state’s adult prisons.
Senior police and youth correctional staff say they fear Parkville chaos has become systemic.
Ms Crozier backed taking responsibility away from the Department of Health and Human Services, while the Herald Sun understands police have held that view for some time.
The CPSU has also criticised DHHS management at the Parkville centre, which aims at rehabilitation and has a school, oval, two outdoor pools, an indoor pool, four basketball-tennis courts, a gym, and access to televisions and video games.
Sources say using agency staff as ``youth workers’’ handed inmates power, while there is a growing dismay at phone privileges, pizza, and coke given as rewards despite poor behaviour.
A gang culture is also present, with some teens attached to organised crime groups.
“They’ve (agency workers) got no relationships with the kids,’’ one source said.
“They’re scared sh---less of them. That’s why the kids are running the centre now. You’re just trying to stay alive until the end of your shift.’’
At least a dozen inmates led the most recent riot, with one inmate a known ringleader.
Police and the canine unit were inside the facility late yesterday as rioters continued to hold fort in an inaccessible area of the centre.
— with Anthony Galloway, Andrea Hamblin