Today the Department of Corrections released its full report into the riot at Spring Hill Corrections Facility in June 2013.
This came after numerous attempts for the report to be released were rejected by the Department of Corrections.
The report is concerning for a number of reasons. Although it is heavily biased and uncritical of Corrections’ policy, there were a number of worrying findings that slipped through:
- Prisoners were being kept in 22-hour lockdown for nearly 5 months prior to the riot. Every two days they would spend 26 hours in their cell at a time.
- Prisoners allege that the riot started immediately after a prisoner was seriously assaulted by a Corrections Officer. This section of the report has been heavily redacted (and will be subject to a complaint to the Ombudsman) and Corrections, of course, has rejected this allegation.
Spring Hill, at the time, had a prison capacity that was 52% higher than it was originally designed for. - The report, however, places all blame for the riot on the prisoners and not the inhumane conditions they were living through. It was also compiled by one of the most senior officials at Corrections, not an independent body.
We are calling for an independent inquiry into the Spring Hill riot. The rioters at Spring Hill were enduring seriously inhumane conditions and their voices deserve to be heard.
