Juvenile inmates spend the night on jailhouse roof and light fires in lengthy stand-off with guards

Juvenile inmates spent the night on the roof of a detention centre and lit fires in a stand-off with staff following days of attacks and staff walkouts.

Up to eight inmates at a juvenile detention facility outside of Sydney have spent more than 12 hours on the roof of the jail since Sunday, refusing to come down and lighting fires.

At least two of the inmates remain there today, about 17 hours after they first made their way onto the roof at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre in Kariong near Gosford.

A Department of Juvenile Justice spokesperson downplayed the severity of the event, telling news.com.au the disturbance was not “large scale” and happens from “time to time”. The time taken to get the inmates down from the roof is considered standard by the department, news.com.au understands.

The situation is being handled by staff at the state’s largest juvenile detention facility.

Fires were lit on the roof of the facility, however news.com.au understands they were all extinguished and nobody has been hurt.

The centre, opened in 1999, houses juvenile male offenders aged between 16 and 21 years of age. The centre’s official capacity is up to 120 inmates.

It remains unclear why the inmates are on the roof or lighting fire, however the incident would be subject to an investigation, a spokesperson said today.

Detainees in the centre line up after playing sport in 2015. Picture: Peter Lorimer

A cell block at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre in Kariong in 2016. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The incident comes after staff from four NSW juvenile detention facilities walked off the job after two violent attacks on officers by inmates in two days, including an officer being assaulted at the Frank Baxter facility.

On Saturday night, the night before the disturbance involving eight inmates on the roof, an officer was assaulted at the Central Coast centre by an inmate.

On Friday night, another officer suffered a broken nose, a broken eye socket and a concussion when he was punched eight times by an inmate at the Cobham Centre in Werrington in Sydney’s west.

The Public Service Association claims staff are being forced to endure “worsening and escalating” violence when working in juvenile facilities.

“Not a day goes by where there isn’t some kind of violent incident across the state in these juvenile justice centres,” said Troy Wright, acting general secretary of the Public Service Association.

“For two-and-a-half years we’ve been calling for therapeutic units within the centres, to not only help the officers manage high-risk offenders but to improve rehabilitation opportunities.”

However, soon after the staff walked off the job, an emergency hearing was held by the Industrial Relations Commission, and the staff were ordered back to work on Sunday.

That night, the riot began at the Frank Baxter centre.

“The whole system is in crisis,” Mr Wright told news.com.au today.

“Assaults on staff have been escalating in frequency and severity.”

Mr Wright hopes the recent events serve as an “illuminating” moment for Michael Coutts-Trotter, the secretary of the NSW Department of Justice, and former minister for corrections David Elliott.