Pressure builds over Risdon prisoner Graham John Enniss’s escape

Questions have been raised over why career criminal Graham John Enniss was being housed in a minimum security prison and how he was able to escape.

SERIOUS concerns have been raised about the “system pressures” that allowed career criminal Graham John Enniss to allegedly escape from the minimum security section of Risdon Prison using scaffolding and bedsheets.

It comes as a damning report revealed inmates actually preferred to be locked up alongside medium and maximum security criminals because the Ron Barwick facility in question was “cold and run down”.

Since Enniss’s escape from Risdon Prison on Monday morning after accessing a roof and clearing a fence,union bosses and politicians have questioned how a prisoner could escape from what should be a well-secured custodial facility.

PRISON ESCAPEE ARRESTED IN BUSHLAND

REVEALED: HOW PRISONER ESCAPED RISDON

Enniss was captured by police in bushland off Risdon Vale’s Downham’s Rd about 11.40am on Tuesday having led officers on a 27-hour land and air search around the Risdon Vale and Geilston Bay areas.

A knife was among dozens of household items recovered by police in the area he was captured.

CACHE OF ITEMS FOUND AFTER ESCAPEE’S ARREST

Police take Graham John Enniss back into custody. Picture: WIN NEWS

Police Association president Colin Riley said it “doesn’t seem right” that Enniss was being held in minimum security given his rap sheet.

In 2016 Enniss was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for shooting at police.

Six years prior to that he pleaded guilty to attempting to escape from custody and to two charges of assault for which he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment.

ESCAPED PRISONER HAS VIOLENT GUN PAST

“I just question why he was in minimum security, noting he has shot at police and has been reported to escape quite a bit,” Inspector Riley said.

“We don’t want to have a repeat. This ended peacefully but I do know some officers in the North-West were concerned about what might happen.

“Given the information I’ve got, minimum security doesn’t seem right. I think that’s only reasonable and I think the public think that’s reasonable.”

Graham John Enniss is back in police custody. Picture: SUPPLIED

Insp Riley said the key issue about Enniss’s escape was that it consumed a large number of police resources that could have been directed to “crime reduction strategies”.

A 2017-18 Custodial Inspector report into conditions at Risdon Prison found the Ron Barwick minimum security facility revealed the increase in prisoner numbers created “system pressures” such as some prisoners being located in facilities outside of their prisoner classification.

REPORT DETAILS EXTENT OF OVERCROWDING AT PRISON

“Some prisoners report that they would prefer to be accommodated in the medium or maximum security precincts of Risdon Prison Complex, because the minimum security prison is cold and run down,” the ombudsman report read.

Community and Public Sector Union secretary Tom Lynch said Risdon Prison’s classification system, which is “seeing prisoners having their classifications downgraded”, was a result of the pressures of prison overcrowding.

Graham John Enniss is alleged to have escaped from Risdon Prison. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS

Minister for Corrections Elise Archer thanked police for their “incredible dedication and hard work” in recapturing Enniss who escaped alongside an accomplice who was apprehended by prison officers during the attempted getaway.

Ms Archer said a full review was underway into the escape and that she would consider all recommendations.

On Monday, Ms Archer said she would immediately request a full review of prisoner classifications following questions raised about why Enniss was being held in the minimum security facility.

The Mercury understands Enniss used bedsheets and scaffolding to escape — a topic hotly debated in State Parliament on Tuesday.

Labor MP Shane Broad questioned Ms Archer about how a “very dangerous criminal like Graham John Enniss, with a long rap sheet, came to be in minimum security next to a scaffold” where he was able to clear the fence.

In response Ms Archer said these things should not be talked about publicly because “you are criticising those who work at the prison”.

When asked details about Enniss’s escape, a Department of Justice spokesman said “it would not be appropriate to comment as this matter is subject to investigation”.

Labor Corrections spokeswoman Ella Haddad said the claims Enniss escaped using scaffolding and bedsheets were “extremely concerning and must be immediately, thoroughly investigated”.

“This is a result of the Hodgman Government’s budget cuts and understaffing of Risdon Prison, and with more cuts to come, the situation is likely to get worse,” she said.