Fight At Troubled Youth Jail
Sun Herald
Sunday September 19, 2004
JUSTICE Minister Diane Beamer wants an inmate at the Kariong Juvenile Justice Centre transferred to an adult jail after more trouble at the Central Coast institution yesterday.
Staff had to restrain two detainees who became violent and threatened staff with lengths of piping ripped from sinks in their cells.Yesterday's incident follows recent scandals including video footage showing a convicted rapist performing a sex act inside the same visitors' centre room as young children, and the revelation that a group of pensioners unwittingly drove into the centre through security gates as part of a day trip in March.The violence yesterday arose when two detainees were upset after sniffer dogs found drugs on two female visitors in the visitors' area of Kariong. Two male inmates charged a security gate and knocked a youth officer to the ground before being placed in isolation. The youths ripped piping from under a sink inside the cell and threatened staff at the centre before being forcibly restrained. Ms Beamer said the department's director general would apply for the transfer of at least one juvenile detainee to adult jail following the violent incident.
© 2004 Sun Herald