Inside the Alexander Maconochie Centre. Photo: Andrew Finch
LATEST government figures have proven that correctional officers that subdued a Canberra prison riot last year were left little more than sitting ducks
after training fell short of recommended standards.
The blame landed squarely on the feet of ACT Corrective Services operating under the Justice and Community Safety Directorate over failing to deliver all aspects of mandatory training outlined in the enterprise agreement for officers at Alexander Maconochie Centre.
But Minister for Corrections Mick Gentleman attributed a delay in training programs in 2020 to the pandemic after ACT Corrective Services had recommenced they only be conducted in a covid-safe way.
Ceiling and melted skylight in the foyer. Photo: ACT Correctional Services.
THE review into a serious fire at the Alexander Maconochie Centre on November 14 discovered a major security issue after it found that detainees breached a locked door during the incident.
Conducted by the Office of the ACT Inspector of Correctional Services, the review, presented in the ACT Legislative Assembly today (April 20), revealed that the fire in Sentenced Cottage 2, a two-storey low security unit, accommodating both sentenced and remand detainees, was very serious and caused significant damage to the cottage, with an estimated repair cost of about $40,000.
The ACT Inspector of Correctional Services, Neil McAllister said: “It has also raised a major security issue of detainees being able to breach a locked door [after night lock in], which has since been addressed by ACT Corrective Services.”
JACK KERSHAW.
SOME believe that residential development (albeit south-facing) at West Basin (Acton foreshore) can be installed sensitively, reflecting Walter Burley Griffin’s plans.
To achieve that, Parkes Way has to be extensively modified (at great expense, on top of the cost of current reclamation of the lake).
However, WBG couldn’t have conceived of the modern-day function of Parkes Way (an exemplary “parkway”), in moving masses of east-west traffic with the added advantage of enabling motorists and passengers to enjoy the lake and city environments; and so, the parkway and similar roadworks to the south of City Hill, have their own heritage values, definitely worthy of preservation.
IAN MEIKLE.
PENOLOGY hero Alexander Maconochie
, the Scotsman with the surname that tests sub-editors, gets a lot of undeserved bad press because our toxic prison is named after him.
Ian Meikle.
Which is a pity because the poor man died in Surrey, England, October 25, 1860.
More of Mr Mac in a moment, because this past week Winnunga Aboriginal Health Centre’s irrepressible CEO
Julie Tongs, in sharing this column’s call for a public enquiry into the shameful state of the jail, has suggested the AMC be renamed.
“It’s not fair to the reputation of Alexander Maconochie, one of the greatest penal reformers in history, to have his name associated with the prison,” she said.
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