Former prison guard Michael Parker wins payout after being assaulted on the job
A former youth corrections officer has won a payout from the Allan government over a litany of “horrendous” ordeals he endured while working at Parkville, demanding more protection for staff as prisons prepare for an influx of detainees.
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Michael Parker has not set foot behind prison walls for three years.
He can’t – the memories of the brutal assaults and vulnerable teenagers threatening to take their own lives are still too fresh.
The former youth corrections officer has lifted the lid on the hell he endured behind prison walls after he was repeatedly coward punched, covered in blood during vicious brawls and attacked by young inmates.
Mr Parker, 29, has demanded the state government do more to protect correctional staff as prisons prepare for an influx of detainees, after he reached a private settlement with the Department of Justice and Community Safety over a litany of ordeals he endured when he worked at Parkville Youth Justice Centre.
Horrific incidents included suffering a dislocated knee while trying to break up a fight on the basketball court between eight inmates in a “black spot” inside the facility – places not captured on CCTV – and being forced to keep quiet because of the facility’s “toxic masculinity” where weakness was ridiculed or downplayed.
The former youth justice worker told the Herald Sun that recalling the terrifying ordeals still affected him physically and psychologically.
“Speaking about this makes my armpits sweat, hands and feet sweat, heart race and anxiety go through the roof,” he said.
“I have flashbacks consistently to images of distressed young people covered in their own blood or other people’s blood, passed out on the floor, hurting themselves, crying, engaging in body mutilation, head banging on walls, ripping their own hair out, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness.”
Mr Parker said desperate staff had repeatedly warned authorities about not having enough back-up during gang riots and mental health episodes in which young inmates threatened to harm themselves, but nothing had been done.
“The anxiety, stress, lack of support and fear I experienced … simply for wanting to work in an environment that prioritised my safety and that of my colleagues, was horrendous.”
Of the basketball brawl, he said: “The request to have cameras put into this specific location was stated over 30 times prior to this incident”.
Mr Parker said that the constant strain placed on his damaged knee following the brawl on the basketball court in the “high maintenance” unit left him unable to stand up while supervising the most vulnerable inmates.
“This damage happened throughout my over 300 mechanical restraints in Parkville over my career there,” he said.
“I eventually brought (a) young person I had handcuffed to an isolation room where, due to lack of staff, I had to perform observations standing on one leg for approximately 10 to 15 minutes before I was relieved and escorted off the unit in a wheelchair.”
Mr Parker said that in 2018, before he had even completed his training shifts, an 18-year-old boy launched at him, punching him in the temple multiple times.
On another harrowing occasion, inmates had launched so many assaults against one another over a weekend that his knees were left bloodied from being forced to step in and break up the brawls.
He claimed that there were at least 100 assaults within a single prison unit in one year.
Mr Parker also recalled having to control at least 12 violent inmates with just one other guard by his side.
He said he has suffered ongoing knee problems, post traumatic stress, anxiety and depression as a result of his time at the youth correctional facility, leaving him unable to work since leaving his role in late 2022.
It comes as prisons across the state have been ordered to prepare for an influx of inmates after the Allan government toughened bail laws earlier this month, despite major staffing shortages and most remand prisons currently nearing capacity.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety says it has reduced Category One incidents, the most serious recorded incidents which include assaults against inmates and staff, riots, injury or illness, by more than 36 per cent over the past five years.
But a Community and Public Sector Union spokesman said the changes, which made it harder for repeat offenders to be bailed, would mean settlements, such as Mr Parker’s, would “become a regular occurrence”.
Internal documents have estimated a 20 per cent increase in the number of incarcerated inmates as a result of the changes.
The Herald Sun has documented a litany of attacks in recent years across the state’s adult and youth jail precincts.
At Parkville in October, two inmates held a female guard captive while holding a knife to her throat.
Comanchero bikie Richard Ene was late last month charged with assaulting an on-duty officer at the maximum security Barwon Prison.
Mr Parker is just one in a string of current and former staff members who have launched action against the government over allegedly traumatic ordeals they endured working as youth justice officers.
Others have claimed that a top-down culture of “bullying”, combined with chronic understaffing and a lack of support, left some guards so fearful for their own safety that they relied on young men in custody to help keep fellow inmates in check.
They told of inmates receiving “treats” from guards as incentives to control fellow inmates units and to avoid injuring staff, including pornography, illicit drugs, internet access, extra phone calls and additional time at the pool or gym.
The details of Mr Parker’s settlement cannot be publicly disclosed, but the terms were reached after documents filed with the County Court claimed DJCS failed to properly protect him from the dangers of the job.
Mr Parker’s lawyer, Allanah Goodwin of Arnold Thomas and Becker, said his case showed that the Department had a duty to provide prison staff with better training and support.
“Mike has described his time at Parkville as terrifying,” she said.
“He took the job as he had always been passionate about working with young people at risk, and he had hoped that he could make a difference in their lives.
“Unfortunately, he found himself in an environment that was detrimental to his own physical and psychological wellbeing.”
DJCS would not comment specifically on Mr Parker’s matter, but a spokeswoman said violence towards staff was “totally unacceptable”.
“There are serious consequences for young people who assault custodial workers, including a presumption that if convicted they will serve their sentence on top of any other period of detention,” she said.
Decade of discord
March 2025: Richard Ene assaults an officer at Barwon Prison after being transferred
March 24 2025: A 34-year-old man is hospitalised after a stabbing at medium security Loddon Prison – unclear if he was an inmate or staff
March 15 2025: Comanchero bikie Richard Ene allegedly bashes two officers and stomps on their heads at the Metropolitan Remand Centre at Ravenhall
November 10 2024: Inmates assault staff and steal a staff pass to access a secure area
November 10 2024: Staff threatened by an inmate holding a fire extinguisher
October 11 2024: Two inmates hold a female guard captive while holding a knife to her throat
September 2024: Two inmates stab and beat a fellow detainee at Parkville
July 23 2024: A group set to be sentenced for the 2022 murder of 16-year-old Declan Cutler run rampant at the Cherry Creek Youth Justice Centre and threaten staff with weapons
March 2024: Stanley Vanu, 19, punches a worker and tears her hair out at the Metropolitan Remand Centre
January 31 2023: Seven inmates bash a 34-year-old officer so severely he goes unconscious
March 17 2021: An inmate stabs a worker in the forehead with a metal screw attached to a pen lid
October 27 2020: An inmate is found unconscious in his cell after suffering a seizure
August 2020: Prisoners of War gang caught on CCTV attacking a fellow criminal in Port Phillip Prison
June 29 2020: A prisoner tries to escape via the basketball court
April 7 2020: Two workers and a prisoner hospitalised after an inmate forced their way through a security gate
February 20 2019: A shirtless inmate sparks a standoff with prison staff after climbing onto the roof
January 7 2017: A riot is sparked after a group of inmates who snuck into the pool unsupervised before turning pool fencing into makeshift weapons and breaking another inmate out of their cell. 35 police officers called in
November 12-14 2016: Inmates riot over two days inside the prison, causing major damage
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