A group of inmates in Perth, Australia, have escaped onto the roof of a detention facility with clips showing some of the offenders ripping up metal slabs and tossing around fire extinguishers
Six youth offenders managed to break onto a roof of a detention centre in Perth, Australia, sparking a tense standoff with prison staff who looked on as the facility got trashed.
The group of inmates at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Canning Vale clambered onto the facility’s roof at around 2.30pm today (Monday, November 24). For some fresh air? No, to rip up the roof and hurl around fire equipment. The criminals allegedly threw bricks, poles and fire extinguishers at the authorities who tried to get them off the roof.
Clips show the young offenders causing damage to the roof, with one man ripping off some of the metal slats. One offender was seen setting off a fire extinguisher. Australian politician and Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas blamed the incident on Western Australia’s “chronic mismanagement” of Banksia Hill, and other youth detention centres.
“There’s no other thing you can say about it – they have failed,” he told ABC Radio Perth. “They’ve failed those children. They failed those inmates and they’ve failed the men and women that need to take care of them.”
The maximum-security facility Banksia Hill holds both young boys and girls aged between 10 and 17 years old.
The Department of Justice earlier confirmed the incident, saying Corrective Services officers were “responding to an incident involving a group of young people”.
Corrective Services Minister Paul Papalia claimed the violent outburst backed the state government’s existing reforms. Papalia said: “It shows the challenging task confronted by our youth custodial officers and reaffirms the need for a purpose-designed facility to house the state’s most high-risk youth, as announced by our government last week.”
The WA Government committed additional funding for a new 30-bed detention centre for high-risk youth offenders. That group is currently held at Unit 18 inside the maximum-security adult Casuarina Prison. Banksia Hill Detention Centre has had several riots in recent years.
The scenes were reminiscent of notorious British prisoner Charles Bronson, who performed multiple rooftop protests in various prisons and high-security psychiatric hospitals during his time in custody.
Bronson was reportedly involved in a total of nine rooftop protests across different facilities over the years. He has mentioned in parole hearings that he “enjoyed every f****** one of them”.
He first protested at Broadmoor in 1982, tearing off roof tiles. He later staged a three-day protest there, causing £250,000 in damage before being talked down by his family.
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