The Victorian Government has announced plans to secure the state’s youth justice centres with staff from its adult prisons.
This follows a riot of 30 detainees at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Facility on 25 January. Fifteen inmates managed to escape after stealing a security pass from a facility staff member.
Police managed to arrest all of them by the next day – but that was after authorities linked four of the escapees to a spate of crimes over that period. "We believe they were involved in carjackings, armed robberies, in aggravated burglaries, using weapons such as knives, baseball bats, where they stole other cars, other vehicles and various other items of property from people," Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.
Around 40 additional staff from Corrections Victoria will run the Malmsbury and Parkville youth justice facilities. This includes “highly trained” response teams, senior management staff and extra prison officers.
Minister for Corrections Gayle Tierney said their priority is to secure facilities to make them safer for staff and the community.
The prison officers will be authorised to use additional weapons consistent with the law, the government said. It did not specify the kind of weapons officers will use.
““I am as appalled and angry about this as the rest of Victoria. More violent recidivist offenders coming into our facilities means we need to have the best resources available to us,” said Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos.
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