Second major security breach at Ravenhall Correctional Centre in six months

A union has labelled an incident in which a prisoner climbed into a roof cavity at Ravenhall Correctional Facility a “serious security breach” as it called for management to provide answers.

Ravenhall Prison community 5 area. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A medium-security prison west of Melbourne is at the center of its second major security breach in little more than six months.

The Herald Sun understands a male inmate scaled a roof cavity inside a unit at Ravenhall Correctional Centre on Thursday afternoon, where he remained for about five minutes.

Specialist support staff from the Security and Emergency Services Group were sent in and the prisoner surrendered soon after.

A spokesman from the Community and Public Sector Union said it was concerning.

“We consider this a serious breach of security,” a CPSU spokesman said.

“The Commissioner (of Corrections) should be calling in GEO (who runs the prison) for an explanation.”

It comes just months after a major security operation took place at the facility after another inmate climbed onto the roof.

Vision at the time showed the man wandering the roof as police negotiators worked to return the man safely to the ground.

In January it was reported GEO Group Australia, which operates the facility, admitted it was experiencing “staffing challenges”.

A spokesman would not be drawn on specific details of Thursday’s incident.

“We can confirm that emergency services responded to an incident at Ravenhall Correctional Centre this afternoon,” the spokesman said.

“The incident has been resolved.”