Steve Asling, hitman for Carl Williams, sparks security incident at Barwon Prison
A killer has climbed on top of his maximum security prison unit as tensions build over visit bans implemented to prevent inmates from being exposed to coronavirus.
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A notorious killer has climbed on top of his maximum security prison unit as tensions build over coronavirus bans on visits.
Gangland war triggerman Steve Asling sparked a lockdown at Barwon Prison when he and another inmate reached the top of their unit on Saturday.
The pair are being kept in the Banksia management unit, a particularly controlled section of the state’s most secure jail.
Many inmates at the state’s major prisons are upset at the visits ban.
It was introduced on Friday as the nation takes unprecedented measures to combat the spread of the deadly condition.
Staff are mindful of the chaos which erupted after a new smoking ban led to the 2015 rioting at the Metropolitan Remand Centre which left a damage bill of more than $100 million.
“The visits and the phones are the two biggest things for prisoners,” a legal source said.
Asling is in jail over the December, 2003, murder of prominent underworld identity Graham Kinniburgh, a killing committed on the orders of drug boss Carl Williams.
His accomplice in the Kinniburgh killing, Terrence Blewitt, disappeared the next year and his remains were found more than a decade later at a waste facility in the northern suburbs.
Asling is believed to remain a person of interest to police investigating Blewitt’s death.
The other man who climbed on the roof was one of those charged over the MRC riots of five years ago.
Victorian authorities will be keen to avert any repeat of the kind of prison chaos which has erupted in Italy since the coronavirus took hold in that country.
Containment measures in the country’s prisons have led to deaths, riots and escapes.
A State Government spokeswoman said the Barwon incident was unacceptable and would be investigated.
The spokeswoman said the move to suspend all prison visits has not been made lightly and was in response to a fast-evolving situation.
“Corrections Victoria are increasing phone access for prisoners where possible and appropriate,” the spokeswoman said.
CV is also looking at trialling video calls to inmates can have face-to-face contact with family and friends.
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