Revealed: What fuelled the Rockhampton prison riot that is being labelled the biggest in its history

Ringleaders who played major roles in the events of Thursday’s 16-hour long riots at Capricornia Correctional Centre will now be moved to other prisons around the state as more details emerged of how it all started.

Ringleaders who played major roles in the events of Thursday’s 16-hour long riots at Capricornia Correctional Centre will now be moved to other prisons around the state.

The prison north of Rockhampton remained in lockdown on Friday as a crime scene was established while police and Corrective Services Investigation Unit piece together what happened during the event and determine what criminal charges and internal discipline will be required.

Initial investigations indicate the events were not premeditated and were simply prompted by a small incident which quickly escalated.

At the height of the drama there were 70 prisoners involved in the protest.

Tensions started rising around 9am on Thursday morning (October 21) when a prisoner “threw an item” at a prison staff member.

Capricornia Correctional Centre General Manager Chief Superintendent Richard Butcher could not confirm what this item was, however he did emphasis the officer was not injured in this initial incident.

This prompted a code alert and things “quickly escalated” in the prison, with multiple prisoners “non-compliant” and they began causing damage to the unit.

The scene of lockdown amid protests and riots by the prisoners at the Capricornia Correctional Centre on Thursday night.

This escalated to two other units and the prisoners managed to break out of the secure accommodation into the secure compound where they continued “riot behaviour” and gained access to the residential compound.

“(The officers) managed to corral the prisoners who didn’t surrender into one area and the incident became a rooftop incident on top of our activities block with about 50 prisoners,” Mr Butcher said.

Police and prison staff negotiated with the prisoners and they gradually surrendered.

The last group of nine prisoners came down from the roof at 2.30am, marking a 16-hour long event.

“The negotiation became passive and over a period of time, numbers of prisoners volunteered to surrender, and they were managed and relocated into secure accommodation,” Mr Butcher said.

While on the roof, the prisoners were “chroming”, the act of sniffing petrol.

The petrol was obtained from the garden shed to which they accessed, and also gained other tools from.

One prisoner fell off the roof, as a result of intoxication from the petrol, and was taken to hospital but did not have significant injuries.

There is “extensive damage” across the prison and it is understood more than half of the residential units are destroyed, along with the secure units, detention units and multiple officers stations.

The prisoners also lit a number of fires which created a lot of the damage.

There were reports the prisoners had hammers and other weapons and were smashing glass, windows, roofs, buildings and officer stations and had made Molotov cocktails.

Shotguns were deployed by prison officers however they were not fired.

“I approved the deployment of shotguns as a deterrent,” Mr Butcher said.

There was also no use of force or gas used on the prisoners.

Loud yelling from megaphones, banging and chaos could be heard coming from the prison late into the night with “what about a shower, what about a TV” heard.

Mr Butcher assured they were no deals or negotiations made with the demanding prisoners.

He also confirmed no people, prisoners or officers, were held hostage during the events.

The Capricornia Correctional Centre was a still scene on Friday morning after the 16-hour riots that went into the night on Thursday.

Mr Butcher made a concerted effort to praise all of the prison staff and supporting agencies for their assistance in the incident.

“Our staff acted in a completely professional, brave manner which they are trained… and achieved a remarkable result in resolving the incident,” he said.

“This was a serious incident and there will be staff that will be affected for it and we will care for our staff accordingly.

“Events like this can build camaraderie and teamwork amongst our officers.

“I absolutely felt that yesterday and a sense of pride.

“We will look at the situation, the learning points.”

Staff from Maryborough Correctional Centre were called in to help with the riots as many of the officers were fatigued.

No prison staff were physically injured in the events and two prisoners were taken to hospital, including the prisoner who fell off the roof, and both had non-significant injuries.

Mr Butcher labelled it as the most significant incident in a Queensland prison in decades.

“This was disgraceful behaviour by prisoners, completely unacceptable,” he said.

Capricornia Correctional Centre General Manager Chief Superintendent Richard Butcher and Queensland Corrective Services Assistant Commissioner Central and Northern Command Darryll Fleming at the Rockhampton prison debriefing about the riot.

Queensland Corrective Services Assistant Commissioner Central and Northern Command Darryll Fleming said more emergency response teams had arrived from Brisbane.

The prison remains in lockdown as evidence needs to be gathered for the investigation before a clean up can begin.

Services including water and gas were also disconnected in the events, and some have been destroyed and need replacing.

While many units are completely uninhabitable, the recent $241 expansion had allocations for double-ups in cells and those prisoners who have lost their cells will be moved into there.

“The recent expansion capacity to absorb prisoners allowed us fortuitously to accommodate prisoners in double up secure accommodation,” Mr Fleming said.

Construction work on site at the prison was stopped when the riot began and tradespeople were forced off site.

A police barricade was set up at the entrance of the main centre for most of the day and only emergency services and prison staff were let through and delivery drivers, suppliers and tradespeople were turned around.

External upgrades construction works that don’t impact the damaged area have recommenced and the internal upgrade works remain suspended until the investigation is complete.

Still scenes at the Capricornia Correctional Centre on Friday as the prison remains in lockdown for the clean up and investigation of the 16-hour long riot the day before.

Rising tensions among prisoners, claims of overcrowding and chroming are expected to be investigated as potential causes of the 16-hour siege.

Tensions have been building at the prison over the past 12 months, with reports in December 2020 that inmates were being kept in their cells longer than stipulated due to a guard shortage.

There were also claims they were prevented from going outside or using the phones.

Michael Thomas from the Together Union said on Thursday that the catalyst for the riots, the biggest in the history of Capricornia Correctional Centre, could have been the overcrowding at the Rockhampton prison.

“It highlights not only the dangers in prison all the time but those dangers we experience with overcrowding,” he said.

“We are very concerned with the state of prisons at the moment.

“Capricornia has increased in size and that has meant a change-up in the demographics population.”

In February this year, whistleblowers claimed a prison officer shortage and in May, delays in the Parole Board assessing prisoner’s parole applications meant more than 1500 prisoners were being held in jail for longer.

The outbreak of violence comes amid heightened scrutiny on the prison, with an external review of the facility underway.

Queensland Corrective Services announced to its staff on July 9 that an independent external review would take place into the workplace culture at the Etna Creek prison, after concerns were raised by prison staff and union leaders.

The last major riot reported at the prison was almost two years to the date, on October 30, 2019, when prisoners damaged the cameras in their cells, escaped and scaled the building and staked out on the roof for three hours.

One prisoner threatened officers with a length of wood and the prison was locked down for a number of hours. Two officers were injured.

Originally published as Revealed: What fuelled the Rockhampton prison riot that is being labelled the biggest in its history